Calendar

Molly’s Revenge and special guest vocalist Christa Burch with the Rosemary Turco Irish Dancers will present an evening of music, song and dance associated with the festive season. The performance will include Christmas songs both old and new, all played with a Celtic twist, as well as selections from the band’s new album.

The California-based group has toured internationally since 2000 as a four and five-piece acoustic band, releasing eleven CDs and working with producers John Doyle and Aaron Jones to release their previous two albums. Earlier this year, Molly’s Revenge released of an all-instrumental collection titled Trio, recorded at a remote windswept retreat in the redwoods of the Mendocino coast. Trio is a compelling collection of fierce and beautiful tunes encompassing Scottish pipe sets, driving Irish reels, jigs, polkas, slides, and hornpipes, French Canadian fiddle tunes, and even a set of American old-time melodies featuring Highland pipes.

Molly’s Revenge, whose lineup includes bagpipes, fiddle, whistle, guitar, mandola, and bodhran, have toured extensively in the USA as well as Australia, China and Scotland.  The band is known for its unique and infectious on-stage enthusiasm. Their arrangements of traditional jigs and reels bring these dance tunes up to date with a driving, hard-edged accent that always leaves audiences shouting for more.

Guest vocalist Christa Burch possesses a singular voice: warm, supple, expressive, intimate, and instantly recognizable. Part of a vibrant new generation of American folk singers, Christa deftly marries intuitive musicianship and storytelling through song. To balance the gentle beauty of Christa’s songs, the Rosemary Turco Irish Dancers bring a percussive, joyful, and colorful exuberance to the stage. This 8th Annual Celtic Christmas Celebration will capture the traditional spirit of the season and warm the hearts of all.

The classic 1920 film The Golem will be presented with an introduction and new live piano accompaniment by composer Beth Karp.  The program will be free, with no tickets required.

Scottish fiddle and pipes.

LEGENDS OF THE CELTIC HARP is a musical journey into the heart of a legendary instrument. Three of the premier Celtic harpers in the world, Patrick Ball, Lisa Lynne and Aryeh Frankfurter have created a dramatic ensemble that takes you deep into the myths, magic and fabled history of this most captivating instrument.

There will be a brief opening set by local Eugene musicians David Helfand and Justin Lader playing Celtic harp & viola.

Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising is all about the stories, and the stories of everyday America are what you get from these four personable entertainers.  Members include the 2008 RMA Bluegrass Songwriter of the Year, the 2010 City Love Music Songwriter of the Year, and lead singer who’s songs have been compared to those written by Woody Guthrie and Bruce Springsteen. Warm hearted, personable and fun, Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising are an ensemble who not only connect with the audience from the stage, but who also make every effort to give back to the community.  With multiple CD’s receiving airplay around the world, this group has fans everywhere they go, and they work social media well to stay connected with those fans at all times. This group is guaranteed to deliver.  Connecting with people is what they do.

The group both began and ended 2013 with releases that were the #1 CD’s downloaded for radio airplay in their genre – IN THE WORLD.  Their concert at Troubadour Music will take the audience on a journey through their five original CD’s – sharing the stories that are truly the stories of  every one.

This concert has turned an all around celebration of welcoming fiddle/mandolin player Tim Crosby to his new hometown of Corvallis.

Blues & Sunshine features two of LB’s own, Ron Sharman & retired English prof Tom Chase, joined by Steve Sever, the inspirational mentor & father of nationally known singer/songwriter Matt The Electrician. These local guys are a garage band in the truest sense of the words. Come join the fun.

Singalong with JUDY FJELL on songs from Judy’s Open Your Heart songbook, all are welcome

Rousing Celtic Music from
Lark, formerly known as Three Fingered Jack, which draws from the broad Celtic repertoire to give an energetic and richly layered performance. The Corvallis band consists of Jennifer Parke (fiddle), Bruce Marbin (guitar and bouzouki), Beth Brown (cello and whistles) and Colleen Kitchen (bodhran, pipes).

JUDY FJELL – songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist

with Crystal Reeves on violin, vocals, and mandolin and Tami Pallingston on bass

“A Window Into the Emerald Isle”

We have 17 workshops this year that cover Irish music, Irish dance, Irish crafts, Irish language, Genealogy, History and Rules of Hurling (the national sport of Ireland) and Irish Bogs.

Irish performances at the festival:

• The Eugene Highlanders
• Murray Irish Dancers
• Sheldon Choirs
• Brian O’Hart
• Harp Circle
• Irish Stories
• Three of Hearts
• Ceili Mhor.

Closing concert – The Nettles.

Activities:

• Irish Social Dance with instruction
• Hurling Tournament
• Irish Session
• Family Activities where people of all ages learn about Irish history and culture.

Many of us are accustomed to seeing Dave and Sharon Thormahlen in the vendor halls at the various harp festivals selling their beautiful harps. This CD gives us the opportunity to step into their harp shop and enjoy listening to the music this couple makes on the instruments that Dave builds. The wonderful blending of the instruments and musical lines is a lovely testament to these two talented people being exceedingly comfortable making music together.

The CD features harp, guitar, mandolin–all built by Dave–as well as a vintage banjo. I was smitten by the sound of the 1929 Vega and how incredibly it blended with the gorgeously full tone of Sharon’s harp on “Gander in the Pratie Hole.” The sultry arrangement of Sharon’s “Sweepin’ the Clouds Away” is an excellent example of a harp and guitar duo; the chord inversions on the guitar enhance the chords played on the harp. The Thormahlens give fun and delightful treatments to the several Alfredo Rolando Ortiz selections. Their version of “Autumn Moon” by Frank Voltz is deliciously seductive. The collection of music is easy on the ears, but has a variety of tempos and feels that make it interesting, intriguing and fun.

The instruments blend beautifully; perhaps that has something to do with most of them having been built by Dave. The consistency of the blending of instruments shows not only the musicians’ talent in creating and playing these arrangements, but also the excellent ear of the sound engineer. Throughout the CD the instruments take turns gracefully trading places providing melody, harmony, rhythm, and groove.

If this is the music that’s played in the Thormahen’s harp shop, I want to go and hang out there!
-Martha Gallagher, Folk Harp Journal

If you’ve not been to Imagine, it is a really nice gathering place just west of the Philomath Blvd./53rd Street intersection. There are friendly baristas serving up hot and cold drinks, (including Charlie’s favorite, Brownie in a Cup), as well as pie and other pastries. We really love playing this venue because it’s so comfortable. If you’ve not been, here is a link that gives you just a tiny glimpse: https://imaginecoffee.net/ . (On the events page it says we start playing at 7:30, but we always start at 7:00 as we have so many songs to play… we hate leaving too many out.)

The Flow (Mike Grattan, Rita Brown, Bill Smyth, and Jed Irvine) is especially excited that it looks like their new CD, Spring Wind, will be available at the concert. This CD was a long time in the making; so long, in fact, that they had a backlog of songs. This CD has 14 songs on it!

The Flow will be playing songs from the new CD while hoping to create the perfect mood for you to enjoy some pie and ice cream, a monster cookie, brownie in a cup, and/or a cup of tea.

They hope that you are enjoying the spring winds we’ve been having here in Corvallis these past couple of days.

David Roth strikes many chords, hearts, and minds with his unique songs, offbeat observations, moving stories, sense of the hilarious, and powerful singing and subject matter. As singer, songwriter, recording artist, keynote speaker, workshop leader, and instructor, David has earned top honors at premier songwriter competitions – Kerrville (TX) and Falcon Ridge (NY) – and taken his music, experience, and expertise to a wide variety of venues in this and other countries full-time for more than two decades.

David’s songs (“Rising in Love”, “Earth”, “Manuel Garcia”, “May the Light of Love”, “Nine Gold Medals”, “Spacesuits”, “Rocket Science”, and many more) have found their way to Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, several Chicken Soup for the Soul books, the Kennedy Center, Peter, Paul, & Mary concerts, NASA’s Goddard Space Center (“Rocket Science” went up on the Space Shuttle Atlantis’s May 2009 mission to repair the Hubble Telescope), the classic folk song book “Rise Up Singing”, and 10 CDs on the Wind River and Stockfisch (Germany) labels.

“David has reached our hearts. With voices like his still singing, there’s a certainty that the candle will remain lit, the hope reasserted and the dream still sung…”
-Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul, & Mary)

Please walk, bike or carpool, as there is limited parking on site.

In 2004, Brian Hart (Brian O’ hAirt) was the first American to win the ballad singing competition in the senior division at the All-Ireland Fleadh.

Len Graham is one of Ireland’s best-known singers, having gained an international reputation for his inimitable singing style.

Through many seasons of collaboration, the two have distilled the best of these traditions into a performance that weaves stories, songs, tunes and dance into “the one tradition”.

Please walk, bike or carpool, as there is limited parking on site.

Esme Patterson

“Splitting the difference between indie pop, folk-rock and coffeehouse jazz”, Esme, from Denver, is a founding member of the band Paper Bird.

Paleo

“The man once wrote and recorded 365 songs in a year, and he’s still cranking ’em out … and they’re good!” -USA Today