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Wine, Dine & Hoot it up with Eileen Ivers & Band – July 15, 2017 June 26, 2017 - Ticket price includes specialty hors d’oeuvres buffet, post-concert mix and mingle with Eileen and the band. Order online at www.CelticMusicFest.com or by phone 888-950-8807. Tickets will also be available at […]

Summer Gala: Eileen Ivers & Band in Concert – 15 July 2017, 3 PM May 25, 2017 -

Announcing our 2017 Lineup May 15, 2017 -

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UPTOP GHOST TOWN
Old La Veta Pass

Hwy 160, MM 281 or 276

Uptop Ghost Town Comes Alive ~ “Eileen Ivers will change the way you think about the violin.”

“Ivers electrifies the crowd with a dazzling show of virtuoso playing …” – The Irish Times

“…the audience loved every minute.”
– The Los Angeles Times

Historic Uptop ghost town – listed on the National Register of Historic Places – is situated along Old La Veta Pass off Highway 160, MM 281 or 276.

Tickets $45

Ticket price includes specialty hors d’oeuvres buffet,
post-concert mix and mingle with Eileen and the band.

Order online at www.CelticMusicFest.com or by phone 888-950-8807.

Tickets will also be available at North By Southwest in La Veta,
the World Journal and La Plaza Inn in Walsenburg,
or at the door. Seating is limited, so reserve early.

YouTube Video: Eileen Ivers – Crossroads Album: Beyond the Bog Road

Facebook Videos: Eileen Ivers & Band

Facebook Video: Introduction to Eileen Ivers & Band

Facebook/BandsInTown Tour Date Info
Click above and choose “I’m Going” or “Interested”

Welcome to the 2017 Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival: Crossroads of Tradition

Hundreds, maybe thousands of years ago, Spanish Peaks Country became an intersection of cultures and traditions.  Indigenous natives, Spanish explorers, mountain men, traders, work seekers, and homesteaders migrated from foreign lands to hunt, mine, farm, and survive in the region.  Over time folks began to gather together in places they named La Veta, La Plaza de los Leones (now known as Walsenburg), Gardner, and Cuchara.

People of many backgrounds were brought together by shared stories, music, song, and dance.

Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival (SPICMF) has been perpetuating these customs during the last full weekend of September for over a decade.   It has been a preferred place to meet with others who share a passion for the various sounds from Celtic cultures that have been often separated by time, miles, and local traditions.  Musicians have come from Ireland, Scotland, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain to teach and perform.  In the process, musical connections have been made and enjoyed not just through regional representations but also from spotlighting connecting genres from Jazz to Americana.

The folks behind SPICMF will again bring some of the best musicians in the world to perform, inspire, and experience the magic of Spanish Peaks Country September 21-24.  Festival-goers will come from near and far to listen, learn, sing, dance, and celebrate.  The events of the days ahead are designed for all levels of interest and budgets and are offered in a relaxed environment.   SPICMF encourages you to be open to the unique festival opportunities – whether you just want to dip in a toe or immerse your whole being, this is your weekend.  Enjoy!

Thanks again to our volunteer festival staff and folks who support this event with their time, talents, and resources, and the performers and festival-goers who make this fest happen.

All the best,

Pat McCullough, Artistic Director

2017 Featured Performers

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Old Blind Dogs

Jonny Hardie, Aaron Jones,
Ali Hutton, Donald Hay
www.OldBlindDogs.co.uk

Since forming in the early 1990s, Old Blind Dogs have stood on the cutting edge of Scotland’s roots revival. The band has developed its own trademark style with an energetic mix of songs and tunes. Dynamic percussion, polished vocals, soaring fiddle, and stirring pipes fuel the delicately phrased melodies and traditional songs.

The Dogs, one of Scotland’s most highly touted traditional folk bands, are not known for shying away from change. A strong, shared musical vision has allowed the group to ride out inevitable line-up changes. The Dogs popularity has never dimmed though and the current foursome of Jonny Hardie (fiddle, vocals), Aaron Jones (bouzouki, guitar, vocals), Ali Hutton (Border pipes, whistles, vocals) and Donald Hay (percussion, vocals) have proven more than capable of carrying on the tradition of the band that the Montreal Gazette called …”a Scots neo-traditional super group with a bracingly modern musical attack.”

The Dogs have released 13 albums and have won numerous awards including the prestigious title of Folk Band of the Year at the 2004 and 2007 Scots Trad Music Awards.  Their latest CD, Room With A View, is their first studio album in six years.

“The skill, talent, and verve with which they played belied their laddishness and the crowd responded with thunderous applause. Folk is the new rock and roll.”  – Evening News

“The Old Blind Dogs play with a compelling energy and intoxicating rhythm; players and audience seem to share a wild ecstasy of emotion.” – The Scotsman

“Old Blind Dogs have mastered the tricky art of innovating within a musical tradition while faithfully revealing its essence.” – Acoustic Guitar

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Old Blind Dogs

www.OldBlindDogs.co.uk
Jonny Hardie, Aaron Jones, Ali Hutton, Donald Hay

“The skill, talent, and verve with which they played belied their laddishness and the crowd responded with thunderous applause. Folk is the new rock and roll.” – Evening News

“The Old Blind Dogs play with a compelling energy and intoxicating rhythm; players and audience seem to share a wild ecstasy of emotion.” – The Scotsman

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The Screaming Orphans

Donegal, Ireland
www.TheScreamingOrphans.com

Joan Diver ~ Drums, Vocals
Angela Diver ~ Bass, Violin, Vocals
Gráinne Diver ~ Guitar, Vocals
Marie Thérèse Diver ~ Keys, Accordion, Vocals

The Screaming Orphans are four sisters with the good fortune to have been raised in the magical seaside village of Bundoran in County Donegal, Ireland.

Given the great tradition of music in Irish homes – especially in the Gaeltacht or Irish-speaking areas which have produced the likes of Clannad, Enya, and Mairead, Micheal and Triona Ni Dhomhnaill – it comes as no surprise that the girls come from a distinguished musical family and have been singing and playing traditional Irish music from very young ages.

As teenagers, the sisters started their own pop rock band and first gigs were local surf festivals at Bundoran playing covers.  They began writing their own music and travelling to Dublin to play the singer/songwriter clubs including Whelans.  Soon, the band signed with London-based Blue Mountain Music publishing company founded by Chris Blackwell of Island Music.

At a St. Brigid’s day concert in Kildare, the band shared the stage with truly great Irish artists like Christy Moore, Liam O’Maonlai, and Sinead O’Connor.  Something sparked between Sinead and the sisters that day and as a result, the sisters performed as O’Connor’s back-up singers and opening act for her Gospel Oak Tour.  The tour took the band to Europe, the US, and Canada, and they appeared on David Letterman and other TV shows as part of Sinead’s show and as a band in their own right.

The following year the band toured with world music star, Babba Maal, singing at his homecoming concert in Dakar, Senegal, and contributing vocals to his album Nomad Soul.  They have also recorded with Peter Gabriel and were backing vocalists on the Joni Mitchell track “Magdalene Laundries” for the Chieftains Tears of Stone album.

A year later, the sisters signed with Warner UK (WEA) and recorded their debut album in Normandy with the legendary Mike Hedges, who has been producer for the likes of Siouxie and the Banshees, U2, Manic Street Preachers, Texas, and Travis.

While firmly rooted in traditional Irish music, the Screaming Orphans draw on a diverse set of influences ranging from Simon and Garfunkel and the The Bangles to The McNulty Family, with a strong focus on melody-driven songs with pop and rock strains.  The sisters have a musical breadth which belies their youth and inspires them to explore new and exciting song writing and performance concepts.

And if you’re wondering about their name… In their own words,

“A friend of Joan’s came up with it one night and we loved the name because we were going out on the road on our own and we were leaving behind our Mam who had been our lead singer for years and our Da who was our manager/sound engineer, and so we became “orphans.”  The “screaming” bit is what usually occurs when surrounded by family, and we are known to hit certain high notes that could be interpreted as scream-like.  That and our secondary school was once an orphanage, so there you have it.”

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The Screaming Orphans

www.TheScreamingOrphans.com
Joan, Angela, Grainne, and Marie Therese Diver

“These sisters… have some of the most beautiful voices and intoxicating harmonies I have ever heard.”
– Jane Roser, That Mag

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Paddy Keenan

Ireland
www.PaddyKeenan.com

Paddy Keenan was born in Trim, Co. Meath, to John Keenan, Sr. of Westmeath and the former Mary Bravender of Co. Cavan.  The Keenans were a Travelling family steeped in traditional music; both Paddy’s father and grandfather were uilleann pipers.  Paddy himself took up the pipes at the age of 10, played his first major concert at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre at 14, and played with the rest of his family in a group called The Pavees.

At 17, having fallen in love with the blues, Paddy left Ireland for England and Europe, where he played blues and rock.  Returning to Ireland after a few years, he began playing around Dublin with singer/keyboardist Triona Ni Dhomhnaill and singer/guitarist Micheal O Dhomhnaill.  Fiddler Paddy Glackin joined the three, followed by flute player Matt Mollov, accordion player Tony MacMahon, and guitarist Donal Lunny.  The loosely-knit band began calling itself “Seachtar,” the Irish word for “seven.”

After Seachtar decided to turn professional, the band experienced a number of personnel changes, with Donegal fiddler Tommy Peoples replacing Paddy Glackin, and Kevin Burke eventually replacing Peoples.  The band wanted a new name.

Micheal O’ Dhomhnaill had recently returned from Scotland, where he happened across a photograph taken in the 1890s of a group of tattered musicians.  “The Bothy Band,” it was titled, in reference to the migrant Irish laborers who worked in England and Scotland and were housed in stone huts known as “bothies.”  Micheal suggested this name for the band and thus was born one of the most influential bands in the history of Irish music, The Bothy Band.

The Bothy Band forever changed the face of Irish traditional music, merging a driving rhythm section with traditional Irish tunes in ways that had never been heard before.

Those fortunate enough to have seen the band live have never forgotten the impression they made — one reviewer likened the experience to “being in a jet when it suddenly whipped into full throttle along the runway.”  Paddy was one of the band’s founding members, and his virtuosity on the pipes combined with the ferocity of his playing made him, in the opinion of many, its driving force.  Bothy Band-mate Donal Lunny once described Paddy as “the Jimi Hendrix of the pipes”; more recently, due to his genius for improvisation and counter-melody, he has been compared to jazz great John Coltrane.

Paddy’s flowing, open-fingered style of playing can be traced directly from the style of such great Travelling pipers as Johnny Doran; both Paddy’s father and grandfather played in the same style.  Although often compared to Doran, Paddy was 19 or 20 when he first heard a tape of Doran’s playing; his own style is a direct result of his father’s tutelage and influence.

Paddy’s style has continued to mature in the intervening years since the break-up of The Bothy Band as he has pursued a solo career.  He is in demand as a guest artist for prestigious Celtic festivals and weekends, concerts, benefits, and tionols (piping festivals) around the US, and in Canada and Ireland.  Notable among these are Gaelic Roots I and II (Boston College); Eigse na Laoi at University College, Cork; the Washington Irish Folk Festival at Wolf Trap; the Stonehill College Festival in Boston; and the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s Irish Music and Dance Festival.

Dubbed ‘the Paganini of the uilleann pipes,’ Paddy is certainly one of the most brilliant musicians of his generation.  He can rightfully claim his place alongside such open-style legends as pipers John Cash and Johnny Doran.

“In Irish music there are legends and legends and then there’s Paddy Keenan.” – John O’Regan, Rock’n Reel

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Paddy Keenan

www.PaddyKeenan.com

“Paddy Keenan returned to Celtic Connections and presided over one of the most white-hot, gloriously musical displays in… the Royal Concert Hall history.” Rob Adams – Glasgow Herald

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Kevin Burke

Ireland/Oregon
www.KevinBurke.com

“A lyrical player of emotional electricity.”  – The Washington Post

Kevin Burke’s fiddle playing has been at the forefront of traditional music for over 30 years.  Whether solo or accompanied, on record or in concert, Burke is an immensely engaging performer.  He has been established as a first class musician ever since his work in the early 1970s (with such renowned performers as Arlo Guthrie, Christy Moore, and The Bothy Band and with his far-reaching solo album, “If the Cap Fits”).  During his long musical career Kevin has earned international acclaim in both Europe and America as a solo performer, a teacher, and as a member of some of folk music’s foremost groups including Celtic Fiddle Festival and Patrick Street.  He is a featured member of Grammy winner Tim O’Brien’s wonderful crossover band, The Crossing.

The National Endowment for the Arts acknowledged Kevin’s contribution to music awarding him a National Heritage Fellowship, the USA’s highest honor for excellence in the folk and traditional arts.  In Ireland he was given the prestigious Gradam Ceoil award acknowledging him as a master of the tradition.

Although Kevin has spent much of his life playing in a group context, he has never lost his love for solo fiddle music – the “naked fiddle” as he himself sometimes puts it.  This is certainly evident in his live solo release, “In Concert,” a performance of mostly unaccompanied traditional pieces.

“Lyric, fluid and precisely as tricky as he needs to be…probably the greatest Irish fiddler living.” – The Village Voice

“Burke is blessed with a silky touch on the bow that effortlessly moves from one note to the next, creating an aural experience unlike any other in Irish traditional music today.” – Irish Echo

“Burke imparts a rhythmic intensity that is remarkably powerful…a superior instrumentalist in any idiom…impressively virtuosic.” – The New York Times

https://www.youtube.com/Kevin Burke ~ Fairwell to Erin, 2014

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Kevin Burke

www.KevinBurke.com

“Lyric, fluid and precisely as tricky as he needs to be…probably the greatest Irish fiddler living.” – The Village Voice

“Burke imparts a rhythmic intensity that is remarkably powerful…a superior instrumentalist in any idiom…impressively virtuosic.” – The New York Times

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The Hydes

Denver, Colorado
www.HydesMusic.com

 *LiveIreland’s 2017 New Group of the Year*

Sister-brother duo, The Hydes, have recently released an imaginative, fresh, and enthralling take on folk and roots music with their debut album Green & Blue, weaving creatively and decisively through an eclectic musical landscape of Irish, American folk, bluegrass, and beyond.  They merge these acoustic styles to create textured instrumentals and rich vocal harmonies in a way that speaks unmistakably of roots in Colorado and Ireland, as well as visits to places in between.  Guesting with them on this debut are a host of noted Irish musicians including Tadhg Ó Meachair (piano/piano accordion) and Colm Phelan (bodhrán) of Goitse, Alan Reid (banjo) of Arum, and Christina Dolphin (flute), as well as American bluegrass/jazz/folk bassist Eric Thorin.

From gigs in Nashville to Ireland, sold-out shows at home in Colorado and the Western USA, and most recently Iceland, The Hydes continue to expand their collective, exploratory musical scope.  Joanna (fiddle, vocals) and Iain (guitar, mandolin, vocals) grew up in a musical family, traveling the USA to share their music at festivals, house concerts, workshops, and various concert venues from their primary school days onward.  Their focus on Irish music first came by way of scholarships to the Augusta Heritage Center’s “Irish Week,” where they studied with James Kelly, Liz Carroll, and Antoin MacGabhann, as well as the late Jerry Holland of Cape Breton, who left an especially indelible mark as he stayed with them on multiple occasions and played many late-night sitting-room sessions in their Colorado home.

“This is a magical duo to watch” – LiveIreland.com

“Iain and Joanna are big talents.  Big… Joanna’s fiddle work can be blazing, but is always beautifully controlled and tasteful.  She is a fiddle star already…[Iain’s] guitar is VERY current, hip, fab chords and runs—but all very tasteful and intuitively grasping how to support the fireworks being brought by the fiddle…” – Irish Music Magazine

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The Hydes

www.HydesMusic.com

“Iain and Joanna are big talents. Big… Joanna’s fiddle work can be blazing, but is always beautifully controlled and tasteful. She is a fiddle star already…[Iain’s] guitar is VERY current, hip, fab chords and runs—but all very tasteful and intuitively grasping how to support the fireworks being brought by the fiddle.” – Chicago Irish American News

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Tadhg O'Meachair (Goitse)

Ireland
goitse.ie/the-band/tadhg-o-meachair/

“…gleefully virtuosic…” – Songlines

Tadhg O Meachair, a recent graduate of the Irish World Academy at the University of Limerick, has established himself as a force in the world of traditional Irish music.  A recent All-Ireland piano title win is among the various awards for piano, piano accordion, and accompaniment that have cemented this fact in the minds of the traditional music community.  As well as extensive tours of the US and Europe with Goitse (gwl-tcha), he has performed on a variety of stages around the world to huge crowds and esteemed audiences; from Ireland’s National Concert Hall to Music Crossroads in Zambia and from the infamous Festival Interceltique de Lorient to a garden party hosted by Uachtarán an hÉireann, the President of Ireland.

Tadhg has not only made a name for himself in terms of his performing career.  In recent years, he has recorded on many albums and worked with singers and musicians alike, including collaborations with legendary singers Aoife Clancy and Seán Ó Sé.  He was also chosen by none other than Dónal Lunny to be the pianist in his ‘Lorg Lunny’ project which was recorded for an eight-episode TV series and culminated in the formation of the band Ciorras.

Tadhg has taught extensively at festivals across Europe and can teach a variety of classes from piano and piano accordion, to accompaniment classes for a range of accompaniment instruments.  Having grown up in an Irish-speaking home, and having studied the Irish language to University level, he has even been known to teach a few Irish or ‘Gaelic’ classes.

Tadhg O Meachair is one of the busiest individual musicians in Europe today.”
– Niall Keegan, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance

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Tadhg O’Meachair (Goitse)

TadhgOMeachair-goitse.ie

“Tadhg O’Meachair rocked the house on accordion.” – The Columbus Dispatch

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Ed Miller

Scotland/Texas
www.SongsOfScotland.com

A native of Edinburgh, Ed Miller first came to the US for “a year or so” to do graduate work at the University of Texas. Now, over 40 years later, he is still based in Austin and travels throughout North America entertaining and educating audiences with his wonderful songs and droll stories.

Ed did gain a PhD in Folklore from UT, and hosts a popular folk music show, Across the Pond, on sunradio.com. Over the past 30 years, he has established himself as one of Scotland’s finest singing exports, and is in great demand to perform at concerts, folk clubs, coffee houses, Celtic festivals, Burns Suppers, and Highland Games all over the country. In recent years, Ed has expanded his activities to include leading folksong tours to Scotland to meet the singers and hear the songs “on location.”

Ed first learned his craft in the pubs and clubs of Edinburgh during the folk revival of the 1960s, and his repertoire reflects the breadth of that movement. From old traditional ballads and the timeless songs of Robert Burns, to contemporary songs of urban change, emigration, nationalism, and humor, Ed Miller’s performances give a real taste of Scotland and reveal his continuing love for his homeland. Don’t be surprised, however, if he draws musical connections between the old country and his adopted home in Texas.

Reviews of Miller’s performances often use words such as “flawless,” “compelling,” or “refreshing,” while his voice has been described as being “as smooth and satisfying as a really good single malt whisky.”

Ed has nine CDs to his credit, the most recent of which is Come Awa’ Wi’ Me. His earlier Lyrics of Gold, a collection of Burns songs, was featured in Sing Out magazine as one of the four best Robert Burns CDs of recent times. www.songsofscotland.com

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Ed Miller

www.SongsOfScotland.com

“One of the finest singers to come out of the Scottish Folksong Revival… one of Scotland’s best singing exports…”

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Mairtin de Cogain

Ireland/California
www.MairtinMusic.com

Máirtín de Cógáin is a singing, dancing, story-telling bodhrán player extraordinaire who also is a noted playwright and actor. He performs in his native Ireland and all over the US, and between and beyond, too! An infectious personality, Máirtín pleasantly commands the attention of any collection of people, as large as a concert hall or as small as a porch.

Máirtín learned his singing from many famous Irishmen such as Séamus Mac Mathúna, Danni Maichi Ua Súilleabháin, and Ciarán Dwyer. Storytelling has been in his family for generations. Máirtín’s talents are boundless, having garnered recognition as a storyteller (winning two All-Ireland’s), singer (front man for the Fuchsia Band), dancer, and actor (most notably in the film The Wind that Shakes the Barley). A fluent speaker of Irish Gaelic and gifted teacher of Cork’s folk dances, Máirtín makes friends wherever he goes. In a very short time, Máirtín, the Fuchsia Band, and the ‘Project’ have made themselves regulars at some of the most prestigious Irish festivals in the US. Máirtín’s hour-long DVD From Cork with Love, featuring himself and fellow Cork musicians and set in his home county, is beautifully conceived – truly an amazing accomplishment. On the night of a full moon, it is rumored de Cógáin stands at the cross roads playing to the wind. www.mairtinmusic.com

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Mairtin de Cogain

www.MairtinMusic.com

“Mairtin has really impressed me with his passion and knowledge of the Irish tradition – be it singing, inventive bodhran playing, or storytelling. The man has a natural, engaging way with people.” – Jimmy Crowley

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Ben Miller & Anita MacDonald

www.BenAndAnita.com

Combining the fiery edge of the Scottish Border pipes with the rich sounds of the Cape Breton fiddle, Ben Miller and Anita MacDonald merge traditional influences from Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island, as well as the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. This fresh and talented duo pairs driving dance-tunes with expressive Gaelic airs and songs, bringing their listeners a powerful combination of passion and grace.

BEN MILLER
New York/Cape Breton

Ben Miller traces his interest in traditional music to his exposure to the pipes at a young age, in his hometown of Queensbury, New York, as well as his family’s strong connections to its Scottish and Irish roots, through both his American mother and Canadian father. He began studying the Highland Bagpipes around age eight, but by 12 he began to shift his focus to the bellows-blown Scottish smallpipes and Border pipes. Ben is also an academic, holding an undergraduate degree in Music, as well as a Master’s degree in Scottish Ethnology, from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Scottish Studies. His repertoire and style draw mainly on the Gaelic traditions of Western Scotland and the Canadian Maritimes, blended with a healthy dash of Irish tunes for good measure.

ANITA MACDONALD
Cape Breton

Anita MacDonald is an accomplished musician, dancer, and Gaelic singer. She began stepdancing in the family kitchen at the tender age of four, and picked up the fiddle a few short years later, at age eight. Anita has been wowing audiences with her impeccable timing and neatly choreographed steps ever since. Anita’s fiddle playing has a distinctive sound, influenced by the deep roots of her musical family and her teachers throughout the years. Her energetic style has put her in demand as a performer and teacher, across Cape Breton and beyond. She has been a featured artist in the Celtic Colours International Festival, and has toured throughout New England with Cape Breton folk trio, The Goin’s On. Anita is also the recipient of the Frank ‘Big Sampie’ Sampson Award, nominated by the Festival Volunteer Drive’ers Association. Following this award, Anita released her debut album, Stepping Stone, during the 2011 Celtic Colours International Festival.

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Ben Miller & Anita MacDonald

www.BenAndAnita.com

“A cocktail of tradition, distilled like a pure drop of the Canadian Maritimes, their unique blend of driving dance music transcends boundaries – equally at home at a kitchen ceilidh or on a late night festival stage… Fiery, fresh, yet totally traditional.” – Alex Monaghan, Piping Today

2016 Festival Memories

“We are rarely rendered speechless by our experiences on the road but yesterday was one of them! For the last few weeks these HS kids have been rehearsing ‘Schooldays Over’, ‘Goodnight Irene’ and ‘The Boys are Back in Town’ and yesterday we finally got to sing them together. Ladies & Gentlemen, the Walsenburg High School Choral Singers!! After we took this photo we performed these songs live together in front of an audience, including the WORLD EXCLUSIVE first-ever performance of ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ Take a bow boys and girls, each and every one of you were amazing!! #proud — in Walsenburg, Colorado.”

~The High Kings

“I’m hoping you will forward this message to all the Board and the Volunteers who made our weekend so great! We loved it, working with the HS kids in Walsenburg was a highlight, as was the show on Saturday, and then those special talks and performances on Sunday! Thanks to all for your very kind hospitality, we will never forget it.”

~Paddy McPoland
Tour Manager
The High Kings
Dublin, Ireland