Mark Bickford started playing Irish music on mandolin as a graduate student in Madison Wisconsin. After moving to Austin Texas in 1983 he started a session there and met Ken Fleming at Texas Irish music events (and was even at Ken and Peggy's wedding reception). He took up concertina, tenor banjo, and button accordion (B/C initially, switching to C#/D two decades later). He now lives in Ithaca New … [Read more...] about Mark Bickford
Shay Black
Shay Black is an avid songcatcher, musician and singer and is known for his extensive knowledge of songs and music from the Irish, English, Scottish, and North American traditions. Born in Dublin, Ireland, he moved in 1994 to Berkeley, CA from Liverpool, where he had lived for the previous twenty years. While in Liverpool, he toured and recorded with Irish band Garva, the celebrated Stan Hugill … [Read more...] about Shay Black
Michael Black
Michael Black hails from the foremost family of Irish song, which includes siblings, Mary, Frances, Shay and Martin. He has been playing music and singing songs all his life and though from Dublin, he has lived in Limerick, London before emigrating to the bay area of San Francisco. His repertoire is very broad and includes old Dublin street songs, stories of emigration and history, folk songs from … [Read more...] about Michael Black
Lexie Boatright
Alex Boatright is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, performer, and teacher known for her effortless musicality and sensitive musicianship on Harp and Concertina. Alex is the Artistic Director of the Baltimore-Washington Academy of Irish Culture, a non-profit that she founded together with Fiddler Mitch Fanning, which provides children in the DMV area with a rich education in traditional … [Read more...] about Lexie Boatright
Angela Botzer
A Washington, DC native, Angela Botzer has played traditional Irish music on the fiddle in the Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia area since the early 1980’s. She was a member of the DC-based bands Sodabread, and The Hedgerows, and has played for numerous ceilis and contradances. Angela has also had performances at the Irish Embassy in Washington, DC. When living in Oklahoma City, OK, she … [Read more...] about Angela Botzer
Daire Bracken
Daire Bracken is well known as a creative fiddle player and founding member of the successful bands Slide, Danú and the Munnelly Band. Hailing from a musical family located close the CCÉ Headquarters in Monkstown, Co. Dublin, afforded him great exposure from a young age to some of the country’s finest musicians as they passed through the capital. Absorbing these influences, his exploratory … [Read more...] about Daire Bracken
Harry Bradley
Harry Bradley was born in South Belfast. The vibrant recording heritage from the 1920s and 30s has had a huge influence on his flute-playing style as has the playing of musicians such as Seamus Tansey, Dessie Wilkinson and piper Seamus Ennis, to name but a few. Noted for his unique tone and driving rhythm, Harry has come to be recognized as one of the most distinctive flute players in Ireland … [Read more...] about Harry Bradley
Erica Braverman
Erica Braverman has been playing the concertina since 2014 and teaching beginner lessons in Austin, TX for the past three years. Playing tunes and dancing with friends always makes her smile on the inside, but it took a while for her to learn to play her instrument and smile on the outside at the same time - one of her proudest moments was when she heard that "you don't look like you have lockjaw … [Read more...] about Erica Braverman
Tara Breen
A worthy descriptions “a musical wizard” by Music Network ,Tara Breen is the fiddle player with the legendary band The Chieftains. She is a highly talented multi-instrumentalist from Co. Clare, has achieved All-Ireland titles on fiddle in every age category over the years, culminating with the All-Ireland Senior Fiddle Title in 2012. Tara is also an All-Ireland winner on the flute and … [Read more...] about Tara Breen
Myron Bretholz
A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Myron Bretholz has lent his talents as a percussionist to nearly fifty recordings of Irish, Scottish, and other folk music, including albums by Irish fiddlers Brian Conway and Jim Eagan; singers Aoife Clancy, Danny Doyle, Lisa Moscatiello, and Grace Griffith; Uillean piper Jerry O'Sullivan; accordionists Billy McComiskey and Patty Furlong; flutists Jimmy Noonan and … [Read more...] about Myron Bretholz