Winners of the 2017 MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards’ Folk Band Of The Year, 2015 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ Young Folk Award and nominees of the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ Horizon Award, Talisk are one of the fastest rising bands on the UK folk scene in recent years.

Mohsen Amini (concertina), Hayley Keenan (fiddle) and Graeme Armstrong (guitar) create a captivating, energetic and dynamic sound that, in just a couple of years, has earned them multiple award wins, unwavering nationwide media praise, and standing ovations far and wide. Atop their collective titles, Amini was the 2016 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year and is currently the BBC Radio 2 Musician Of The Year adding to a trophy cabinet that far belies their years.

So too does their touring history, though – with appearances at world-leading festivals including the Cambridge Folk Festival, Denmark’s Tønder, Celtic Colours in Cape Breton, Fairport’s Cropredy Convention and Celtic Connections, as well as countiess others alongside live sessions on both BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio Scotland’s flagship folk programmes. With further tours and showcases throughout Europe and the US on the horizon, theirs is a star firmly, and rapidly, on the ascent.

The Dirty Wellies is based in the Chicago area.  The band formed in 2013 to hold open sessions at a popular pub in the Chicago suburb of Brookfield.  The band's focus is on traditional Irish and Scottish music, both tunes and songs.  Modern tunes and twists have come into the repertoire along the way, but the focus remains trad.

The band has played at festivals, pubs, college campuses, street fairs, and private gatherings.  We have opened for a local bluegrass band demonstrating the Irish roots of that music genre.

Four of the six members of The Dirty Wellies are natives of Ireland.  We have ….

Regina Garrity (Bekan, County Mayo) on the accordion, Margaret O'Callaghan (Bekan, County Mayo) on the fiddle, Frank Gleeson (Dublin and County Tipperary) on mandolin, banjo, guitar, and vocals, Vincent O'Callaghan (County Kerry) on bodhran, and vocals, Jim Aman (roots in County Mayo from a 1770 immigration) on whistle and bodhran, and Kevin Branigan on guitar and vocals.

These are some digital realizations of music I've written. Look at this page as a kind of online sketchbook. Need some music like or unlike what you see here? Let's talk. When I'm not composing, I teach orchestra, play viola with the Fox Valley Symphony and other groups, perform at the Bristol Renaissance Faire, and play Irish music on fiddle with Ogham and Paddygrass. Thanks for stopping by.

Celtic Rock from the heart of Texas
“A band that knows how to rock, but hasn’t forgotten how to think.”
– Brian McNeill

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