I’m excited to play with Eamon O’Leary (of the Murphy Beds) and some great musicians for this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Sojourn with Brian O’Donovan. Eamon and I are currently working on an album of traditonal songs, and we’ll be playing some of them at these shows.

Saturday, March 17th at 8:PM
Zeiterion Theatre, New Bedford, MA,

Saturday, March 24th at 8PM
Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA,

Tickets: $20 – $45, (WGBH member discounts apply)

Tickets on Sale Through: Sanders Theatre Box Office.

http://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/boxoffice/

Zeiterion Theatre Box Office

http://tickets.zeiterion.org/

WGBH will present the seventh annual St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Sojourn with Brian
O’Donovan in two locations again this year. Last year, the show sold out quickly at
the beautiful Sanders Theatre in Cambridge and also for the first time at the Zeiterion
Theatre in New Bedford. This year, each theatres is again slated to present the show.

For the past six years, St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Sojourn Concerts have introduced a wide
range of new and familiar musicians alike to audiences eager to celebrate the holiday in
true Irish style.

Local, regional, and national broadcasts of O’Donovan’s radio program, A Celtic
Sojourn over the past 25 years have proven extraordinarily popular. This concert follows
the format established for the burgeoning Christmas Celtic Sojourn series of concerts
which, during this past December, played to almost 10,000 people in Boston, New
Bedford, Worcester, Rockport, and Portsmouth, NH.

These March concerts, called A St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Sojourn, were first produced
in 2004 and reflect the easy, relaxed and diverse offerings of O’Donovan’s weekly
program.

Artist Line-up:

“One of the strongest, most expressive voices to have come out of
Ireland” is how the Boston Globe describes Dublin-born Susan
McKeown who will join this year’s line-up. She will be accompanied
by newcomer and rising star Michael Brunnock who recently recorded
songs for Sean Penn’s newest movie This Must be the Place.

The Bee Eaters have been turning heads and ears over the past four years and will
bring the string talents of Tristan and Tashina Clarridge and hammer-dulcimer player
extraordinaire, Simon Chrisman to the stage. Simon wowed audiences around New
England this year with his mastery of the instrument as part of A Christmas Celtic
Sojourn.

Jeremy Kittel has been called “One of the most accomplished and
gifted string players of his generation” and as part of a generation
known for innovation and excellence in roots music, that’s saying
something! His new CD, Chasing Sparks has been getting a lot of
attention from listeners to Brian’s weekly show, and so he thought of
inviting him in. Jeremy also regularly collaborates with the Bee
Eaters.

Jefferson Hamer and Dublin man, Eamon O’Leary

make up two thirds of the group, the Murphy Beds who

were part of a memorable Guest Street

Session with Brian during this past year. Jefferson

has also collaborated extensively in the past with
the Bee Eaters, and Eamonn with Susan McKeown.

Kieran Jordan, a long time Dancer Director for Christmas Celtic
Sojourn and frequent collaborator with O’Donovan, will return with a
group of hand-picked dancers to bring variety and percussive spice to
the gatherings. She will be joined by Jackie O’Riley and Kristen
Kelly. And local fiddle phenom Tina Lech will be joined by Uilleann
Piper Joey Arbata, and founding member of the band Touchstone,
Mark Roberts. add the required touch of “pure drop” playing to the
evening’s activities.

“St. Patrick’s Day – indeed the whole month of March – is a time for many in the Irish
Diaspora to celebrate roots” says Brian O’Donovan, producer and host for the concert.
“For many others, with no ethnic connection whatsoever to the country, it is a time to

explore a music and dance culture that is at once sophisticated
and accessible, while tracing its origins back hundreds, even
thousands of years. Everyone is welcome to our party on St. Patrick’s
Day!”

This will be a lively, varied and relaxed concert in two of the most delightful theatres in
the region, each hosting so many great concerts over the years.

“Last year, we sold out both Sanders and the Zeiterion and we are so much looking
forward to returning to each. (The Zeiterion also sold out quickly for the Christmas
Celtic Sojourn concert in December, so South Eastern Mass definitely supports what
we do at WGBH!) I am very excited to present the wonderful Irish musical connections
in such hallowed spaces. These theatres perfectly suit our needs and we are looking
forward to making this series of concerts a tradition in each” added O’Donovan

More information and ticket details: www.wgbh.org/celtic

Michael Brunnock

http://www.michaelbrunnock.com/

Jefferson Hamer and Eamon O’Leary

http://www.jeffersonhamer.com/

Jefferson Hamer is a singer and guitarist based in Brooklyn, NY, praised as an “appealing voice” in 2011 by the New York Times. Tashina Clarridge is a Grand National Fiddle Champion, renown for her work with the new acoustic group The Bee Eaters and Grammy winners Laurie Lewis and Mark O’Connor. These two hard-traveling artists draw from a transatlantic range of influences, performing original songs, Texas-style fiddle tunes, Irish trad, long-form instrumentals, and Appalachian old-time music. These unique, yet related genres are framed by voice, fiddle, and guitar- a classic instrumentation which diminishes regional differences and accentuates the fundamental traits common to all styles of folk music.

House Concert :: Tashina Clarridge & Jefferson Hamer

When :: Fri, Feb 3, 2012 (7:30 PM Concert / 6:30 Potluck)
Where :: Inner SE Portland. Please RSVP for directions and to reserve as spot!
Cost :: Suggested donation $15.00 gen // $10 students
Contact :: Abbie Weisenbloom, (503) : 233-4945 / abbiew@froggie.com

Saturday, Feb. 4

Corvallis, OR

Troubadour Music Center

I’m excited to return to my hometown of Lancaster, MA on Sunday, October 2, for a concert at the historic Bulfinch church. My mom was the organist there for years. According to my dad:

Your family Signed the Book, we occupied pew 18, your brother was baptized there, I was member of the Church Standing Committee and was named by the Board of Selectmen to the Lancaster Historical Commission. I ran the grill at the Horse Shed Fair, I procured the chicken for the chicken salad at the Strawberry Festival. Your step-mother sang the in the Lancaster Choral Society and church choir for eleven years.

here’s a repost from the Bulfinch Fund website:

Posted on September 5, 2011 by The Bulfinch Fund

Join Us for an Amazing Concert by Nationally Recognized Musicians Jefferson Hamer, (Lancaster’s native son on guitar), Tashina Clarridge (fiddle) and Maeve Gilchrist (harp). 

Sunday, October 2nd, 7 pm
First Church of Lancaster (The Bulfinch Church) 725 Main St. Lancaster MA. 01523

Tickets $15
email Info@TheBulfinchFund.org to order or buy now using Paypal (you don’t need to have a PayPal account just a credit card)l.

Parking available off of Harvard St. (behind the Library).

This event sponsored by Skinner Inc. & Dunn & Co.

RSVP to this event on Facebook