Hildaland / Liz Simmons with Casey Murray

Orkney (Scotland) born fiddler Louise Bichan and Indiana (USA) mandolinist Ethan Setiawan present a collaboration and meeting of their musical worlds in Hildaland. A path steeped in the fiddle traditions of their respective sides of the Atlantic, the journey taken wends through Scottish, old time, and Swedish inspired music intertwined with contemporary compositions. Bichan’s fiddle is a melodic foil to Setiawan’s counterpoint and harmonic depth, and the two weave in and out seamlessly. Born in San Francisco to musician parents, Liz Simmons (most well-known for her work with the band Low Lily) spent her early childhood traveling through the wilds of North America. Her parents were itinerant musicians, moving from California to Oregon to Alaska, and finally settling in New England. Inspired by her beginnings and after a brief foray into classical music, Liz found her way back to folk and roots music, founding the bands Annalivia and Low Lily with husband Flynn Cohen, as well as performing as a backing vocalist for Livingston Taylor, Tom Chapin, Melanie, and others. Embracing traditions of the past and discovering innovations for the future, Berklee graduate Casey Murray (of Corner House) forges a creative musical path as a rhythm and tune player on the cello.

“To Warm the Winter’s Eve” is a musical celebration of the Celtic mid-winter and Christmas season by acclaimed Irish harpist/singer Áine Minogue. Minogue has done extensive research into Irish and Celtic winter traditions and has unearthed some unusual and haunting selections from Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and of course, Ireland. The concert is a spellbinding journey through Celtic lore and tradition, mixing music and poetry. By turns solemn and joyous, “To Warm the Winter’s Eve” offers an emotional musical experience that will warm any winter day. As traditional Irish music continues to enjoy phenomenal success both here and in Ireland, Áine Minogue (pronounced On-ya) is an artist who has long explored its themes and who captures its very essence. With a dozen solo albums to her credit, her ethereal singing reflects the lyricism and richness to be found in Irish music, mythology and poetry with a voice undeniably her own. Born in County Tipperary, Áine’s family encouraged her to pursue a number of instruments but it was at age 12 that Áine discovered her true love – the harp – which she decided to pursue in lieu of the others. Áine takes this ancient art form, exploring its underpinnings but adding her own creativity to each piece. Áine’s music, in styles including Celtic, World, Folk, Spiritual and New Age, has appeared on compilations for labels such as BMG, Virgin Records, Rounder, and Putumayo. Her music videos have been aired on PBS’s “Out of Ireland” and she has provided solo instrumental harp music for a number of soundtracks.

New Orleans jazz exponents Soggy Po Boys, native to New England, will return to Blackstone River Theatre for a Saturday matinee show to celebrate the release of their 6th full-length album, “Leave the Light On.” Spreading the good news of New Orleans music across the northeast and beyond, the Po Boys formed in 2012 to shake the walls of a local club on a Fat Tuesday but have honed their sound and become more than a Mardi Gras centerpiece. Exploring the vast musical traditions of New Orleans and expanding their repertoire to look beyond NOLA jazz, the band performs traditional Caribbean tunes (it’s been said that New Orleans is the northernmost city in the Caribbean), as well as Meters funk, soul, and brass band / street beat music. Their latest record captures the 7-piece band’s mission of embracing tradition without becoming a museum piece. By blending traditional and original songs, the album embraces themes of joy, frustration, loneliness, love, and sadness, and explores these feelings with the group’s trademark humorous sincerity. “These guys have done their homework, worked it out on the bandstand and put in the hours in the studio. It all adds up to a party you can bring with you when you want to treat your friends to a real good time,” says Ben Schenck of New Orleans’ Panorama Jazz Band. We couldn’t agree more!

Celebrating their 46th anniversary, Southern Rail has been delighting acoustic music audiences, coast to coast, for decades. Southern Rail’s bluegrass is high energy, exuberant fun with stunning harmonies, irrepressible good humor and sparkling banjo, guitar and mandolin. The group has 11 recordings to their credit, one of which (a special all Bluegrass Gospel compilation) was nominated for a “Gospel Recording of the Year” award by the International Bluegrass Music Association. The band’s two founding members, guitarist Jim Muller and bassist Sharon Horovitch, were recently inducted by the Rhode Island Bluegrass Alliance into their Bluegrass Hall of Fame. They are joined by Rich Stillman on banjo and harmony vocals, and John Tibert on mandolin and harmony vocals. “One of the most significant groups in contemporary bluegrass … on the cutting edge of creativity.” – Bluegrass Unlimited 

Tish Hinojosa is a Mexican-American singer songwriter born in San Antonio, Texas and living most recently in Austin, Texas. She is the youngest of 13 children born to two Mexican immigrants who, as stated in her song “West Side of Town,” “made a good life the hard way…” Her songs blend the genres of country, folk and Hispanic music in a way that can only be described as a musical melting pot; unique and insightful. Her expressive vibrato voice and delicate guitar playing sets the scene with her new CD, “With A Guitar & A Pen,” featuring her longtime guitarist, Marvin Dykhuis. “This album is a collection of songs I chose to record that reflect where I’ve been, where I am, and where I’m dreaming of going,” says Tish. Hinojosa sings and writes in Spanish and English and has many bilingual songs, including a full album of children’s songs that has often been used by teachers as a tool for teaching the Spanish language. The Chicago Tribune put it succinctly, “Simply put, Hinojosa is a first-class songwriter.” Her songs have been covered by many other artists and she has written and worked with Peter Rowan, Joan Baez, Kris Kristofferson and Pete Seeger. Hinojosa’s music catalog now includes 16 studio albums as well as live albums and retrospectives. She was inducted into the Texas Songwriters Association Music Legends Hall of Fame in 2018. Tish has toured extensively throughout the United States, North America, Europe and Korea in her 40 plus year career. She has recorded as an independent artist as well as for A&M, Warner Bros, and Rounder Records and has been a featured artist on Austin City Limits, A Prairie Home Companion and other NPR programs. This is her Blackstone River Theatre debut!

Boston-based Fellswater is one of New England’s most exciting Celtic ensembles. Exhilarating, passionate and artfully arranged, Fellswater has performed traditional and contemporary music from Scotland, Ireland, Galicia, and across all Celtic cultures since 2008. Instrumentation ranges from fiddle, flute, whistle, guitar, vocals, and Scottish smallpipes, to cello, harp, nyckelharpa, hardanger, reelpipes, Northumbrian pipes, fife, mandolin, banjo, percussion, and accordion. Their diverse repertoire traverses the centuries with fiery instrumentals and songs that bring the rich heritage of Celtic people to new audiences. Fellswater is Dave Cabral, Kyle Forsthoff, Elizabeth Ketudat, Sarah MacConduibh, Andrew McIntosh, Chris Myers, and Diane Myers.

Four of the finest players in New England’s traditional music scene shine a renewed light on the tunes of the Northeast with excitement and respect. From festival stages and concert halls to raucous August nights at fiddle camp, the Flyers are here to make sure New England music has a seat at the table as a distinct and vital American tradition. All residents of Portland, Maine, Katie McNally (fiddle), Emily Troll (accordion), Owen Marshall (guitar), and Neil Pearlman (piano) cut their teeth playing for contra dances and learning from the greats. Individually, they’ve toured the world playing Irish, Scottish, and Quebecois music and they bring this wellspring of knowledge and technical prowess to the American music that was born from these traditions. Each member of the band brings years of experience and dedication to their craft: Marshall and Pearlman have taught at Maine Fiddle Camp since they were teens, Troll plays in the acclaimed contra dance band Anadama, and McNally performed for over a decade with New England supergroup Childsplay. Momentum is growing for the Flyers and in their first year as a band, they’ve toured internationally and domestically, gracing the stages of festivals such as Celtic Connections, Celtic Colours, Festival of Small Halls, Ossipee Valley Music Festival. While New England tunes may not be well known outside of the Northeastern United States, the Flyers are proving that their musical heritage is as vibrant and vital as any American folk tradition.

Skye Consort & Emma Björling perform trans-Atlantic arrangements of songs and tunes from Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Scotland, England, and Québec, as well as original compositions. They find enchanting stories and melodies, then bring them into the 21st century with worldly chamber-folk settings. Each musician brings their own individual interpretation to these traditions to create this extraordinary collaboration, consisting of voices, fiddle, nyckelharpa, cello, bouzouki, banjo, and percussion. Collectively, the band present an assortment of whirling polskas, groovy reels, passionate love songs, breathtaking hymns, and original compositions. Emma Björling (lead voice, shruti box, percussion) is an award-winning Swedish singer, composer, arranger, active in the renowned Scandinavian bands Kongero and Lyy. Both bands have toured the world and are active in the European folk-trad scene. Joining Emma is Alex Kehler (fiddle, nyckelharpa, vocals), Amanda Keesmaat (cello, vocals), the principal cellist of Arion Baroque orchestra, and Seán Dagher (cittern / bouzouki, banjo & vocals), the artistic director of La Nef and an active performer, arranger, and composer of music from various folk and classical music traditions.

Many Celtic music fans know Conor Mallon from his successful tours of the U.S. with the band Connla. While Connla is still a focus for Conor, the covid shutdown gave him time to work on a solo project that had been percolating for years. The result was “Unearthed” – a beautiful album that honors tradition while exploring the potential of the uilleann pipes. Mallon, from Keady, Co. Armagh, started his musical career with the Armagh Pipers Club where he attended Uilleann Pipe lessons. He progressed through ranks to become one of the senior teachers at the club before touring in a full time capacity. Conor was the first recipient of the ACNI/BBC NI Young Traditional Musicians Platform award and subsequently was a guest musician with the Ulster Orchestra and with the award winning Foden’s Brass Band. Conor is a Senior County, Ulster and All-Ireland Champion on Uilleann Pipes in the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann and has won many other awards. The Unearthed band includes Jack Warnock on acoustic guitar and vocals and Fintan Mulholland on bodhran and whistles. In his own words, “The project itself was created during this reflective period in which I decided to focus my attention into my own compositions and arrangements. “Unearthed” has a number of meanings to me in relation to this project; unearthing my own solo adventure with the project, unearthing the many unique sounds of the Uilleann Pipes and using them in combination as a percussive element within my own original compositions. ‘Unearthed’ nods to traditions from the past, cast from deep passion and respect, to push boundaries of innovation and creativity whilst never losing sight of the source. I composed and recorded original contemporary Irish music alongside more common repertoire, and used the authentic and unique sounds of the Irish Uilleann Pipes as programming samples – as percussion and rhythm underneath the melody of the track.

The Gothard Sisters are three sisters  – Greta, Willow, and Solana. They are contemporary Celtic folk multi-instrumentalists, composers, performers and songwriters. Blending Celtic, folk, world, classical and new age musical influences, the Gothard Sisters bring songs to life with violin, acoustic guitar, mandolin, bodhran, djembe, whistle and vocal harmonies, creating music that is inspirational and captivating. Their special brand of Celtic-inspired original music pays respect to the older traditions of folk and classical music, while reintroducing them to a modern audience through beautiful new arrangements.The sisters’ theatrical flair also brings a youthful feel to the tradition of Celtic music, bridging the gap between modern pop music and Folk-Rock with an upbeat style that has been described as “beautifully-arranged Celtic folk-pop.” Raised and homeschooled by artists in the Pacific Northwest, their music takes inspiration from folk music traditions around the world, timeless stories, new age and classical records, and nature itself. The band has released 10 albums, performed over 2,000 live shows, and had global plays of 34 million over the course of their career. The Gothard Sisters were favorites at our 2015 Summer Solstice Festival and last joined us in 2018. We are excited to have them return to kick off BRT’s 25th season!