celtic | Musicosity

celtic

Touchstone

There are multiple bands named Touchstone:
1. One of the forerunners of the traditional Irish music craze in the USA, formed in Chapel Hill, NC in 1979. 2. A modern Progressive Rock band from England. [1] Called “the most compelling sound in Irish music”, Touchstone combined the subtle mysticism & driving energy of traditional Irish songs and tunes with the earthy exuberance of old-timey American country music and the relentless thrust of rock and roll.

Artist Type: 

SMOOVE & TURRELL

Smoove & Turrell is a collaboration between beat-maker Smoove & soul singer John Turrell. “Antique Soul” is the sound of one of the finest beat producers in the UK hitting his stride. That man is Smoove and this is his second full album release – his first having been snapped up by the legendary Acid Jazz label. Ask anyone on the funk or breaks scene who’s dropping a rocking beat and “A Man called Smoove” is the earnest reply. So far so good. A Nu-funk legend is dropping his latest album – should be good.

Artist Type: 

Bushplant

On the go since 1990, Bushplant have long been County Clare's best-kept secret. Perhaps the last of the great Irish folk-rock bands, they are hitting the road now to show the rest of the world what it's been missing. The first free track here "Make Somebody Happy Here", is a pounding beast of a thing, a bastard offspring such as might occur after an illicit encounter between Alabama3 and S-Express at a Clare Fleadh, a mutant fostered by Hawkwind and all the while delicately embroidered with the silvery fiddling of Mary Custy, a star in her own right with 3 solo albums of her own.

Artist Type: 

Isla Grant

Isla Grant was born in wigtonshire scotland UK
In a business where the failures far outnumber the successes, and artists' rise and fall are equally dependent upon trends and the whim of the public, this Scottish born entertainer struggled long and hard to achieve her star. Like others whose music has found a welcomed niche in easy listening, gentle country surroundings, Isla found success outside of her native homeland, across the water in the Emerald Isle.

Artist Type: 

Oysterband

Oysterband (or The Oyster Band, as it used to be) are one of the few outfits still burning with the fire of punk, but managing to combine it with the ideals and knowledge of English folk music - a balancing act they've made into a fine art over the years. And they have deep roots in the U.K. folk scene, emerging from both the Whitstable Oyster Co. Ceilidh Band, which formed in 1975, and Fiddler's Dram, a group put together in 1973 by Dave Arbus, whose fiddle work had graced releases by East of Eden and The Who.

Artist Type: 

John Doyle

John Doyle (b. Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish musician. For four years he served as acoustic guitarist with the Irish/American band Solas, and is also an active solo artist. He has written many traditional-sounding songs and has collaborated with Kate Rusby. Doyle has also producing credits, as well as performing, on the solo CDs of the singer from Cherish the Ladies, Heidi Talbot's, Distant Future, on which she sings his composition, "I dream of you", his current touring partner Liz Carroll's CDs, and his father Sean Doyle's CD, The Light and the Half Light.

Artist Type: 

Sharon Shannon

Sharon Shannon is an Irish musician from the village of Ruan in County Clare. She is best known for her work with the button accordion and her violin fiddle technique, but has also played the tin whistle. Sharon Shannon is going on tour with the Magners Irish Sessions. A series of gigs celebrating the Irish tradition of spontaneous music. Each night in a different UK city, Irish legends Sharon Shannon, Mundy and Damien Dempsey will take to the stage with a selection of their closest friends and fire the place up for a classic Irish session.

Artist Type: 

Alasdair Fraser

Alasdair Fraser is a Scottish fiddler who is based in California and runs his own record label, Culburnie Records. He also founded the Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddle School, which has been attended by many of today's prominent young fiddlers, including Hanneke Cassel, Laura Risk, Athena Tergis, Brittany Haas, and Lissa Schneckenburger. He has often collaborated with pianist Paul Machlis and Scottish guitarist Tom McManus, among others.

Artist Type: 

Scocha

Scocha was born when Iain SCOtt and David CHApman (SCO-CHA) got together to share their love of music and song. Both from Hawick, a town with a long standing fine tradition in song, they began to play local gigs and functions around the Scottish Borders. They were soon spotted and commissioned to make 6 “Clans” TV programmes which were broadcast on ITV. The combination of Iain’s strong vocals and noted talent in musical arrangement combined superbly with David’s natural feel for an audience and quick-witted banter.

Artist Type: