Music road trip New York City: Irish Musicians

New York City has been home, waystation, birthplace, and seedbed for many sorts of Irish and Irish American musicians over the years. Even when they’re playing the strictest traditional music, there is at times a bit of New York energy and edge in the music of Irish musicians steeped in the Irish communities of the Big Apple, and you'll often find them writing original music, and connecting Irish music with other traditions, too.

Celtic Cross offers a mix of Irish and rock to tell their tales of immigration and modern day. Cherish The Ladies started out in New York, and have taken the spirit of Irish music -- and Irishwomen playing music -- around the world for twenty five years now. Founding member Joanie Madden also teamed up with three New York Irish men to record the lively quartet album Pride of New York. One of her popular compositions, recorded by Cherish, is called Bonkers in Yonkers.

Dublin born singer Susan McKeown came to New York with an acting scholarship and stayed to become a part of the music community, keeping deep Irish roots and seeing their connections with the musics of Africa and with Jewish traditions. Eileen Ivers has taken her fiddle playing into collaborations with jazz musicians and orchestras as well as other Irish musicians, and has taken her New York energy into connections with Appalachia and the blues.

Though they’ve moved on to other places. several other musicians you’ve been getting to know along the Music Road also have spent time in the crossroads that is New York Irish music, among them Heidi Talbot, John Doyle, and Cathie Ryan.

During her time in New York, Ryan wrote a song called The Back Door. She was thinking about undocumented Irish who came to New York, but it is a song which goes to the heart of all who face change and hardship with courage. There’s a video of her singing it here.

Many of the artists mentioned above have played at the Irish Arts Center, a vibrant place for Irish music in New York which also has programs and classes on drama, literature, art, Irish language, and other aspects of Irish culture. It's been around since 1972, on West 51st Street in Manhattan.

This is part of The Great American Road Trip, in which I originally partnered up with A Traveler’s Library to add musical ideas to the book and film suggestions for journeys through the regions of the United States which you’d find there. The Library is closed now, but I think you will still find the journeys through music interesting. For more about the road trip (and a look at some great road songs) see Great American Road Trip: Music begins


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patrick season: far from home
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Irish music

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Pride of New York

Pride of New York

County New York has nurtured almost as many Irish musicians as County Dublin and County Clare. As with those counties on the isle Ireland, the music of Irish New York has a distinct edge, born of mixing and mingling of Irish backgrounds and styles and of the energy and exploration that fill the boroughs of New York.

Four New York based and bred players, all highly accomplished in their own rights, put a natural Irish new York spin on a baker’s dozen of sets of reels, jigs, hornpipes, and slip jigs, with the occasional waltz and march thrown in for variety, music itself which was often composed or passed along in the New York Irish community. The musicians draw you in to conversation so well that you can easily imagine you’re sitting in on tunes handed round at a session. Billy McComiskey plays accordion, Brendan Dolan does keyboards,. Brian Conway is the fiddler, and Joanie Madden plays flutes and whistles. Among them they count work with Brendan Mulvihill, Daithi Sproule, Mick Moloney, Cathie Ryan, Liz Carroll, Cherish the Ladies, and Trian, to mention but a few, as well as several All Ireland championships.

It’s the in the moment freshness of their collaboration which really shines here, though, well engineered and mixed by Keith Chirgwin and mastered by Emily Lazar. You’ll find your own way into which of these sparkling cuts you enjoy the most, of course. Two of my favorites are the Redican’s/The Gatehouse Maid/ The Road to Garrison set of reels and Madden’s flute solo, the air Slan Le Maigh.



you may also want to see
Music Road: Green Fields of America

Music Road: Billy McComiskey: Outside the Box

Music Road: Voices: Cherish the Ladies

-->If you'd like to support my creative work,
here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this.Thank you.

Celtic Cross: Shores of America

Celtic Cross
Shores of America

There’s long been a strong connection between New York and Ireland, one that honors the energy, tradition, and family connections on both sides of the water. There’s joy and celebration, and pain and distance and questions in the mix too. All these are here in the latest release from Celtic Cross, a band with deep roots in Irish New York. The music is mainly rock with a Celtic twist and the stories are Irish with an American twist, all of which work well together. With the exception of one set of traditional tunes and one trad melody adapted to new lyrics, all the material is original work. Kathleen Fee, the lead singer, writes most of it, including the powerful title track set in images of 9/11 and current wars. The everlasting triangle of love, emigration, and the pull of home -- whichever side of the sea that is -- are part of Fee’s Going Home and guitarist/singer Walter Ensor’s Chapel Bells. The rest of the eleven tracks are equally good, show the band’s energy and commitment well, and are well set in their driving sound. Other members of Celtic Cross include Fee’s brothers Kenneth Vesey, a champion fiddle player, and John Vesey, whose instrument is the button accordion. Frankie McCormick handle smandolin and banjo in the band, Patrick Dineen is the bassist and keyboard player, and Dave Barckow adds guitar.

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Music Road: now playing: Grada

Music Road: now playing: The Greencards

Music Road: now playing: Crooked Still: Still Crooked

-->If you'd like to support my creative work,
here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this.Thank you.