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Celtic Spring
http://www.celticspringband.com

Sometimes described as a Celtic Von Trapp family. In the summer of 2007, 12 million people watched Celtic Spring on the #1 rated TV show of the season, NBC's America's Got Talent where millions of viewers voted them on to the finals.

They appeared on such top TV programs as the Today Show, Good Morning America, PBS, and as far away as Japan’s Nippon Television. In 2002 the band was named Grand Champion of the Performing Arts at the 7th annual World Champion of the Performing Arts.

This 8-member band performing on fiddle, and backed on other instruments by their very talended parents, combines outstanding step-dancing with equally accomplished fiddle. Very high energy, and very well received by audiences of all ages. This summer, the band will bring its enthralling show to yet another continent. In 2008 they have performed at the international festival, World Youth Day, in Sydney, Australia.

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Gaelic Storm
http://www.gaelicstorm.com

Since its inception nearly ten years ago, Gaelic Storm continue to broaden the musical horizons of the Celtic music genre by creating compelling originals and fresh arrangements steeped in Irish traditional melody and acoustic instrumentation combined with their unique blend of world rhythms. Released on July 25, 2006, the band's latest album Bring Yer Wellies (Lost Again Records) debuted at #2 on the Billboard World Chart, #16 on the Internet Sales Chart and #31 on the Independent Album Chart. The 14 new tracks capture the contagious energy of Gaelic Storm's renowned live performances. Channeling the rowdy communal feel of an Irish pub on raucous sing-alongs, driving pipe sets and spirited fiddle tunes, the band's sixth studio album was recorded in a one-month fury in April 2006 at The Zone recording studio in Austin Texas.

The new album comes on the heels of the band's first concert DVD, Live In Chicago, released in January this year. The Hi-Def DVD was taped on September 14, 2005 before a packed audience at the House of Blues Chicago. The 2-hour video showcases the trademark energetic performance and enthusiastic audience interaction that make the band a front-runner in the Celtic music genre today.

Touring aggressively and playing over 125 dates a year, Gaelic Storm routinely breaks attendance and merchandise sales records, pushing their popularity beyond the World music genre and into the mainstream music consciousness. Gaelic Storm performed on The Rock Boat 2004 along with mainstream rock bands such as Cowboy Mouth, Tonic, Sister Hazel and Gavin Degraw and set the Rock Boat CD sales record. The band was invited back to The Rock Boat in 2006 alongside acts such as Better Than Ezra and Marc Broussard. Gaelic Storm broke the attendance record previously held by Alan Jackson at the Albuquerque, NM Bio-Park and they continue to headline some of the largest Celtic and Folk festivals in the world including Festival Interceltique in Lorient, Brittany, the Pittsburgh Irish Festival, and Dublin Irish Festival. Remarkably, the band has headlined the largest U.S. Irish Festival, Milwaukee Irish Fest, for 4 straight years, and has become an exception to the festival's usual policy of not inviting artists to perform in consecutive years.

Gaelic Storm released their fifth album "How Are We Getting Home?" in August 2004 (Lost Again Records) which debuted at #3 on the Billboard World Music Charts and #10 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart and re-entered the September 2005 World Albums Chart at #3. Their previous four albums (Higher Octave Records/Virgin-EMI) have all charted high on the Billboard World Music Chart, including reaching the #2 position on three different occasions. Since their selftitled first album (#5 on Billboard's World Music Chart) and their appearance in the film Titanic, Gaelic Storm continues to thunder onto stages around the world.

On St. Patrick's Day, 1996, co-founders Patrick Murphy of Cork City, Ireland (vocals, piano, accordion, spoons, harmonica) and New Yorker Steve Wehmeyer (bodhran, vocals, didgeridoo) officially joined forces with Steve Twigger of Coventry, England (vocals, guitar, mandolin, bouzouki), at O'Brien's pub in Santa Monica, California. Their first performance was such a hit that the crowd refused to let them off the stage for the next act. In 1997, Gaelic Storm was catapulted out of their formative pub haunts by an appearance in the blockbuster film Titanic. Cast as the "party band" in the steerage scene, they landed the part while still drinking pints and playing weekly at O'Brien's. After the film's release, the band was met by huge crowds on their first tour. However, they still pride themselves on remaining as accessible as ever and sharing "a pint" with fans whenever possible.

Gaelic Storm also includes: Ryan Lacey on drums and world percussion (graduated twice from the Los Angeles Music Academy, once for hands and once for sticks), Pete Purvis of Merrickville, Ontario on uillean pipes, tin whistle, daeger pipes and highland pipes (a Grade 1 piper who toured with award winning pipe bands including the Braemar Pipe Band and played at 2000 Sydney Olympics) and the newest member of the band Jessie Burns on fiddle (originally from Suffolk, England, now living in Colorado).

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Seamus Kennedy
http://mcnote.com/seamus

Seamus Kennedy, originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, has been entertaining audiences all over the United States for the past 32 years. With a ready wit and a vast store of songs, he travels from Alaska to Florida, Maryland to California, performing for audiences which range from Popes and presidents to bartenders and bricklayers, from college students to kindergartners.

In concert or festival, in pub or club, in colleges or high schools, Seamus Kennedy has the repertoire and the ability to make folks forget their cares for a while, to relax and enjoy themselves. He encourages the crowd to sing along to silly lyrics and daft ditties or act out the choruses of children's songs. When he plays a lively Irish jig or a reel, Seamus will often coax someone to jump up and dance to the music of his guitar or bodhrán - to the delight - and often amazement - of their friends. His audience participation songs and tongue-twisters have amused the ablest of participants and the nimblest of tongues.

Seamus has an endless supply of rib-tickling jokes, stories and one liners which can leave an audience breathless from laughing so hard. Many a crowd has gone home from one of his shows giggling to one another, "Do you remember the one about...?" (Ask him to do the routine about Moms And Kids, the Nuns, or Murphy and the Snails.)

But the Irish have their serious side too, and when Seamus performs one of the more somber ballads such as Tommy Sands' "There Were Roses" or Pete St. John's "Dublin In The Rare Old Times" you can hear a pin drop as the words sink in. That moment of silence before the applause can raise goosebumps. Seamus' greatest influences have been the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem, the Dubliners' Luke Kelly, and the Irish Rovers, so it is no surprise to find many songs that they made famous, such as "The Wild Colonial Boy", "The Wild Rover," or "The Black Velvet Band" in his performance. So come and enjoy the music and mirth of one of Ireland's most popular exports - Seamus Kennedy!

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POGEY
http://www.pogey.ca

For the last 5 years, POGEY has been bringing audiences to their feet all over Canada and the United States with their unique blend of traditional and contemporary music. POGEY's six members combine fiddle, mandolin, acoustic guitar and banjo with electric guitar, bass, drums and four part vocal harmonies to produce their trademark "Nova Scotia Sound". POGEY's high octane and fully interactive stage shows have kept the band in high demand at major festivals, conferences and top clubs.

After a showcase at Canada’s 2008 East Coast Music Awards, POGEY was recruited to perform the Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Great American Irish Festivals. The band is no slouch in their small home town of Antigonish Nova Scotia either – averaging 8000 at the annual “Canada Day POGEY Party” held at Oland Stadium as the only band on the bill. Other highlights include headlining at International Tall Ships Festival and performing the official 2006 Juno Awards after party; both held in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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Scythian
http://www.scythianmusic.com

Fresh off performing at a St. Patrick's Day Presidential luncheon for President Bush and Ireland's Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Scythian (sith-ee-yin) played kicked-up Celtic and world music with hints of gypsy and klezmer, all infused with a touch of punk-rock sensibility. Voted 2006 DC Fan Favorite by the Washington Area Music Association and two more nominations in 2007 for Best Contemporary Folk Group and Best Contemporary Folk Recording, 2007 proved to be a pivotal year in the band's career. Highlights include sharing the stage with Guster and opening for Flogging Molly at ShamrockFest (DC). With the July 2007 release of their third album, Immigrant Road Show, Scythian has accumulated several nominations for their efforts, including a best song nod for Immigrant Stomp from CelticRadio.net, a spot in PaddyRock.com's Top 20 Albums of 2007 list, as well as the aforementioned nominations by the Washington Area Music Association.

Scythian first broke onto the festival scene in 2006, performing in a handful of Celtic Festivals in the Northeast. It did not take long for the word to get out about their incredible live performances, and thanks largely to grassroots promotion and word-of-mouth, their popularity has exploded. In 2007 - just their second festival season - Scythian tripled their festival appearances over the previous year. They booked 25 festivals in 2007, and are on pace to top that number in 2008 along with a formidable schedule of venues, concert series, and in-studio performances. In 2008, Scythian will share the stage with internationally touring acts such as Joan Jett, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Gaelic Storm, and Flogging Molly. This year marks the band's first international appearance as they travel to Sydney, Australia to perform three shows at World Youth Day 2008 for an estimated audience of 225,000 youth from around the world.

With catchy, quirky original songs such as "Technoccordion" and "Highway 81," and new twists on traditional favorites, Scythian has created their own unique sound, which defies genre classification (although "speed folk" has been used on more than one occasion). Virtuosic talents and unfailing energy are the tools these lads use to create an electrifying connection to their audience that keeps fans on their feet and screaming for more.

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Slide
http://www.slide.ie

.Named after the liveliest and most exciting of the tune rhythms from the South of Ireland.

They have braced many of the main stages & festivals at home and abroad; from the National Concert Hall, Ireland to the Cambridge Festival, England and from the headline act of the German Folk Festival Tour to the Inerceltic Festival of L’Orient, France through to the renouned festivals of Whetland MI and Dublin OH in the USA.

Formed with an all-star line up of award winners, Slide is living proof of how innovation need not compromise tradition.

From IMM ‘best newcomers 2001’ to Music Network’s ‘Young Musicwide award winners 2006’ to Arts Midwest 2008 selected Spotlight Showcase, Slide continue to encapsulate and develop the ever growing, living tradition.

2008 saw Slide adding the USA to their string of successful touring territories. New show additions including dance and new singing have proven that Slide is going from strength to strength, each of their 4 CDs and ever wide reaching live shows being received with constantly increasing acclaim.

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