Brobdingnagian Bards Perform
with The Chieftains

Nancy and I just got home from The Chieftains concert, and oh my gosh! What an experience!

I want to tell you the story of our performance with Irish Music Ambassadors of the world, but first, I want to go into a little detail to give you some background about my experience.

Getting Started with Irish Music

I started playing Irish music just two years ago. My dad listened and played a bunch, but honestly, until Donnelle McKaskle of KOOP Radio invited us to perform with The Chieftains, I really hadn't listened to their music at all. After the holidays, I frantically borrowed and LP from my dad, and gave them a listen. I heard some wonderful music, to be sure, but they were playing a lot of reels and from the pictures, it didn't sound like it was a very interesting performance.

You see, we don't play a lot of "tunes" as one woman called it today. We play "songs". Music with words. We only do a couple reels and jigs and even those have lyrics.

So here, we're going to see a band who's style is WAY different from our own. We're going to join in an Irish session with songs we most likely don't know. And to top it off, we're going to watch X number of musicians sitting in chairs as they play. I was leary.

Defining the Plan

The plan for the evening was we would join up with other Austin musicians to jam with The Chieftains at the end of the show. We met up with one another at 5-ish at the Crown & Anchor near the University of Texas at Austin campus. Then we headed over to Bass Concert Hall.

In all, I think there were ten of us from some of Austin's finest Celtic bands, including: Two O'Clock Courage, Doc Grauzer, Poor Man's Fortune, Tarbolten, and of course, yours truly, the Brobdingnagian Bards. We went inside and sat down as The Chieftains did their sound check. The woman who I thought originally was the Stage Manager (turned out to be a singer), told us the plan.

Basically, we would watch the show until Joan Osborne's third song. Then we would head into the back during their grand finale. Then they would call us out on stage, and we would play three tunes in a nice reel fashion. The songs that the group chose were Maid Behind the Bar, Cooshies (?), and Christmas Eve.

Now, I was vaguely familiar with Maid Behind the Bard. Fortunately, most reels and jigs are played in D or G, so that made it very easy on me. Pick a chord "wing it".

So then we headed backstage and started to tune. Then we opened for The Chieftains.

Opening for The Chieftains

Yes, we opened for The Chieftains...well sorta. Basically, Andrew
said, "Hey, you wanna go play out front?"

"Mm? Okay." Says I.

So we grabbed our instruments, got clearance from the gaurds and went out in front of Bass Concert Hall to warm up the growing audience. We played a dozen Irish classic "songs", plus a few of our own. We got a heck of a response from the people outside. A few gathered and took seats out in the cold to listen.

Let me tell you, there is a burning in people to hear good Celtic music.

Finally around 7:30 pm, we took our instruments back stage and went to watch the show. As we walked in Andrew joked, "So...uh, technically, we opened for The Chieftains, huh?"

Showtime

We were a bit disappointed before the show began, because there were no programs. Thus, everything I'm tell you is from memory. That and struggling with some Irish accents in the mic made me uncertain who some of the performers where. But showtime, blew me away. I was not prepared for the incredible performance ahead of us!

The show opened with a fantastic, stirring reel. And some incredible instrumentation. Yes, as if there was any doubt, they are wizards on their instruments. Kevin Conneff, the bodhrain player was the first to come up and sing a beautiful, vocal-only ballad. That was followed by a pair of Irish dancers dancing incredibly to the reels that were playing. I felt "Riverdance" had come to Austin. And as quickly as they came, they left.

Then Paddy introduced a female fiddler and dancer from Nova Scotia. Natalie Macmaster came on stage and now I know why I hear her name some much on the Celtic mailing lists I subscribe to. Not only is she an incredible fiddler, but then as the tune went from mellow to vibrant, she began dancing as she played. Wow!

You know, when we started, I wore cowboy boots to all of our shows because our performance locations had great floors for adding percussion. But I have yet (still looking forward to it) been able to actually dance and play. Natalie was phenomenal in fiddle, dance, and let's not forget her beautiful voice.

Next up came some local dancers followed by a local juvenile Irish dance group, another pleasant surprise. T'was then I realized the brilliance behind the performance. No big cast to pay for, have some locals do it all for free. Great idea!

Then out came Joan Osborne seeing a Dublin favorite of Paddy's. For those not familiar with her, Joan received a Grammy (or at least she was nominated) for her song "What If God Was One of Us". She has magnificent voice, and she showed how good it was again for us at Bass Concert Hall.

The first half ended. And I was thinking a lot about the performance which is what really struck me the most. When Andrew and I perform, we work a LOT off each others movements and actions. It's essential since most everything we do is impromptu. So we've learned to work really well together as a result. And sadly, I don't see a lot of musicians actually playing off one another, whether they are joking around or responding to changes in the music.

But after 39 years together, The Chieftains were incredible at doing the same, only with a lot more style and smoothness. Yeah, it was inspiring.

Brobdingnagian Bards on Stage at Bass Concert Hall

Second half of the show started up and we got to hear a lady
singing a Spanish song from Galacia (another Celtic region). The guitarist who, I think, was actually from De Dannan (he recently relocated to Austin) did some splendid flamenco-style Spanish guitar while the lady I mentioned earlier I thought was the stage manager beautifully sang the Spanish song. Joan Osborne came out and joined her for another tune, and then out came more dancers.

Finally, our cue came. Joan sang "Foggy Dew" (one of my personal favorites now and new addition to our repetoire). So we got up and made our backstage to wait while The Chieftains entered into the Finale that ranged all over musically, (the harpist went over to a piano and played some ragtime). While we waited Andrew directed my attention to Joan Osborne in a chair, waiting for her turn in the finale. She soon ran out, and I got a great backstage look at the band and a moment to reflect.

From backstage, everyone looked smaller and more human than I anticipated. Paddy is a very short guy. And Natalie looked almost like she could be going to school at UT. The instruments were all warmed up and ready to go, and I relaxed and soaked it all in.

Finally, during the encore, we were invited out on stage. Andrew and I glowed the whole time as they asked our group to start the reel. We had no trouble pulling together the tune into a nice sounding ensemble (but then with The Chieftains, how can you go wrong?) All of the entertainers came out, took their bows and we exited the stage.

The Afterglow

After leaving the stage, we got to stop and talk briefly with the flutist. We got a few pictures before heading back to the Green Room to meet people. Sadly, Paddy left. Many of the others were there, but no opportunity arose to get any interviews or really get to Know the band. But I think amongst the lot of us, we should have a few great photos up on our site real soon.

I did, however, run into Magaret Moser though with the Austin Chronicle (she reviewed two of our CDs), and she was thrilled with us being out there and of course our success on MP3.com.

Now I'm now at home. Over an hour has passed since I started writing and I'm exhausted, but wired.

But that's all the news from Brobdingnag...where the women are enormous, the bards are playful, and The Chieftains are forever burned in our memories