Liz Carroll: Fiddle View Official Website
Liz Carroll, the much-honored Irish fiddler and composer, is happy to have fellow Chicagoan Robbie Fulks as a guest for this concert. With the Irish Fest´s emphasis on the connection between Irish and American bluegrass music, Robbie is a natural choice. From his beginnings with the Special Consensus bluegrass band (he played on their Grammy-nominated 1989 album *A Hole In My Heart*), Robbie, who´s had a varied career in country, folk and rock, has recently returned to his bluegrass roots. Chicago itself has long had a tradition of country music, and has often been at the intersection of folk and bluegrass collaborations, starting with the WLS Radio National Barn Dance program in the 1920s and 30s, to the work of Steve Goodman with mandolin legend, Jethro Burns in the 70s and 80s. Liz and Robbie, along with pianist Cormac McCarthy from Cork, will explore some shared influences, along with some tasty licks between Robbie´s guitar and Liz´s fiddle.
Cormac McCarthy: Piano
Cormac McCarthy is a Cork-born composer and pianist living in Chicago. He began studying piano aged four and soon after discovered the joy of composition. His teenage years saw him develop both disciplines in tandem, studying with masters of both disciplines across various genres. He has always performed and composed in a wide range of musical genres from classical to jazz to Irish traditional music. Such a diversity in range has led to public performances throughout Europe and the U.S., often featuring Cormac's own compositions.
Robbie Fulks: Guitar
Forget the labels… “Insurgent,” “Retro,” “Alternative,” … and focus instead on the music. Some might try to copy old music, but ROBBIE FULKS knows it, loves it, and brings its spirit, its humor, and its otherworldliness to his own work. He’s the man who famously gave Nashville the middle-finger salute-in-song and then devoted an entire album to rare and obscure country songs that almost no one in latter-day Nashville had even heard. And while most current country music is calculated to form an inoffensive backdrop to the suburban shopping experience, Robbie Fulks writes songs that make you think and feel and quite often laugh outloud.