The 2007 release of Alex Beaton's The Songs of Robert Burns CD is the latest offering from North America's most popular and beloved Scottish folksinger. Alex's impressive musical career spans four decades and includes the creation of Glenfinnan Music, which offers a collection of nineteen albums dedicated to traditional Scottish music and a triple feature DVD, Alex Beaton's Scotland: A Musical Travelogue of Scotland.
Everywhere Alex performs, this quintessential entertainer delights audiences with his rich baritone voice, virtuoso guitar playing and engaging stage presence. Alex's talent is showcased by a body of music ranging from ballads such as "The Loch Tay Boat Song," to rousing anthems like "Flower of Scotland," to his classic children's favorite "Coulter's Candy."
During a performance, Alex may share some fascinating bit of Scottish history to bring the music to life, or he may sarcastically acknowledge the audience's obvious appreciation of good music as they burst out in laughter when he sings a selection from his album Daft Ditties. His quick wit and passion for his audiences have endeared him to both young and old alike.
Alex is acknowledged by many of the Scottish and Celtic musicians performing at the various Scottish gatherings as the person responsible for introducing traditional music to the festivals.
Already a successful entertainer in the 1970s, Alex recognized a desire among American audiences for traditional Celtic music. He knew that the natural outlet for his music was the Highland Games that take place nearly every weekend of the year all across the continent. After organizing Glenfinnan Music, he began focusing on establishing a market for the traditional singer in a venue long dominated by heavy athletics, pipers, and pipe bands. Now, due in large part to Alex's efforts, the folksinger is there along with the athlete and the piper.
Alex's musical talents, awareness of Scottish history, and his ability to connect with his audience combine to create the Alex Beaton experience rather than just a concert.
Whether you make it to a concert or not, you can, as he likes to say, "take him home with you" by picking up some of his many CDs or DVDs.
The first thing that attracts you to Barleyjuice is their uncanny ability to pen songs that sound like they could be straight from a classic Pogues or Flogging Molly album. The second thing that hits you is their wit and prowess in performing them. This is why they're making waves in the celtic community and beyond... Or maybe it's just that they have nice legs for kilts.
Barleyjuice's eponymous first recording was steeped in traditional bagpipe & celtic singing songs. By their second album, Another Round, Swanson & Brewer had written more than half of the material. Encouraged with numerous comparisons to Shane MacGowan & the Pogues, Ronnie Drew, even the Rolling Stones, they staved on with their own original tunes as well as trad favourites. Their tongue-in-cheek element delights audiences thoroughly, in addition to, as Brewer notes, making it difficult for them to sing properly. The six members pilot a barrage of instruments - guitar, fiddle, accordion, bagpipes, bouzouki, mandolin, harmonica, banjo, tinwhistle, piano, bass and drums. Sometimes they even dance.
In 2006, Barleyjuice released their third album, Six Yanks, and stretched their avid fanbase across America and into Europe with the help of such fan sites as MySpace, and a seamless show.
Celticradio.net listeners voted "What's Up Yours?" Song of the Year for 2005. In 2006, Six Yanks made #14 on Paddy Rock Radio's Top Twenty short list (paddyrock.com), and "Whiskey To The Sea" was listener-voted ShowStopper Track on CelticFolkPod.com, as well as included on iTunes Celtic Essentials Collection.
This year marks the birth of the band's fourth offspring, Bonny Prince Barley, including immediately lauded crowd favourites like Weekend Irish, Swig, and a cover of The Clash's London Calling.
Tartanic
Showcasing traditional and innovative Celtic music from Scotland, Ireland, and Brittany, with a mix of world percussion from Arabia, Africa, and America, Tartanic creates a fusion of contrasting musical conventions which is nothing short of explosive. As the jigs and reels of the past are spun into the musical world of the future Tartanic runs, reels, and romps across the stage taking live performance to heart and creating a high-energy pulse at 120 beats per minute and beyond.
Tartanic fills a much needed niche in Celtic music, taking tunes out of the session and into the sensational with humor and theatrics. This is not just music; this is an interactive spectacle - it is a "Tartanic Experience"
Blending edgy rock guitars, weaving bass, and pounding drums with soaring bagpipes, reeling Celtic fiddles, & tribal didgeridoo, plus add the buoyant melodicism of the best rock radio of the ages, and you will discover Texas-based Needfire. This nationally-touring band takes traditional Celtic melodies into a modern rock context with original lyrics and hard-hitting performances. Electric, acoustic, traditional, original - Needfire combines multiple strands of music into a uniquely refreshing sound- a blend of all-original modern-roots-rock and traditional Celtic music.
Formed in 2005, Needfire has quickly progressed from regional to a nationally-headlining artist at some of the largest arts/music and Celtic festivals coast to coast. Some highlights include headlining the North Texas Irish Festival (largest Celtic festival in the southwest) in Dallas, the Portland Irish Festival (largest Irish festival on the west coast) in Oregon, and the Smoky Hill River Festival in Salina, Kansas. After a very well-received appearance at the 2006 Smoky Hill River Festival in Kansas, the group was brought back a few months later for a special encore performance at the much respected Stiefel Theatre- a venue known for booking legendary acts such as BB King, George Thorogood, Jim Belushi, among others. Needfire also performs at all-ages city sponsored summer concert series and multi-cultural events at colleges. The increasing interest in Needfire grew tremendously in 2007 with a tour schedule that included headlining performances at festivals in Texas, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arizona.
The members of Needfire are accomplished performers with unique backgrounds. The band's primary songwriter, John Cleghorn (vocals, guitar, harmonica), has a background in Texas blues rock and has won songwriting awards, showcased for major labels, and released a solo album on J-Bird Records. Dylan Cleghorn (fiddle, piano, didgeridoo) follows in his father's footsteps. Only 19, he's already composing fiddle tunes that sound like the jigs and reels of traditions past. Richard Kean (bagpipes, whistle) is originally from Edinburgh, Scotland and makes and plays his own bagpipes. He also plays bagpipes from Brittany, Galicia, Bulgaria, and Tunisia. Matt Henthorn (drums, percussion) also has a background in Texas blues rock, and has years of overseas touring experience. Ed Walewski (bass, dulcimer, mandolin) is originally a mandolinist and has had music appear in independent movies and tv shows, and submitted for Grammy Award nomination.
The varied backgrounds of the five-piece Needfire have come together to produce three albums to date. Songs from every album have received airplay on FM radio stations and internet podcasts in multiple states and Europe. In 2006 the official podcast for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland (one of the largest festivals in the world) chose "Gravel Walks" from the debut "EP" as their official theme song. Other songs frequently get featured on Celtic music radio programs and categorized in top 10 lists on podcasts. The band has also been invited to participate in live radio interviews and TV appearances.
Needfire's high energy shows and original sound are well received by music fans of all ages and tastes. After just a couple of high-energy years of touring festivals, colleges, and music venues across the U.S., Needfire is postured for mega success. Needfire has dialed into more than 25,000 fans worldwide on Myspace, and in short order. A bracing and refreshing alternative to alternative rock, Needfire invigorates vintage Irish and Scottish music with a rock & roll heart.
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