The Gothard Sisters are a dynamic all-female Irish music and dance group from the Pacific Northwest, USA. Recently returning from a national US tour, their live show is under large demand as high-energy, family-friendly entertainment steeped in Celtic folk roots, classical violin chops, champion Irish step-dancing and lots of fun. The three sisters perform and record new arrangements of well-known traditional songs and tunes, as well as their own original compositions from their recorded studio albums.

After spending nearly 40 years as founder/leader of the legendary Wolfe Tones (named after the 18th century Irish Revolutionary Theobald Wolfe Tone), Derek Warfield is revered as a singer, songwriter, historian and entertainer in all parts of the world where Irish roots have been put down. The Wolfe Tones enjoyed phenomenal success with 13 best-selling albums, 3 number one hits, many television appearances and shows in esteemed venues such as New York’s Carnegie Hall and The Royal Albert Hall in London.

Since breaking away from the Wolfe Tones in 2001, Derek’s solo career has yielded 11 albums to date, the most successful of them being On the One Road, The Bonnie Blue Flag and Let Ye All be Irish Tonight. With the formation and ongoing success of The Young Wolfe Tones, Derek Warfield’s musical journey continues.

LEGACY – THE YOUNG WOLFE TONES

In 2006 Derek put together a band containing some of the finest musicians and singers in Irish music – The Young Wolfe Tones.

Derek Warfield’s 50 years of experience coupled with the talent and energy of The Young Wolfe Tones brings the old tradition of Irish balladry into a new age. Derek Warfield and The Young Wolfe Tones deliver Ireland’s traditional music and folk songs with an energy and skill that shows the quality of contemporaries within that tradition. The patriotic spirit of Irish music carried through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s by the Wolfe Tones now marches on in the dynamic sound of The Young Wolfe Tones.

Antti Martikainen is an independent composer from Finland. He creates music from a huge range of different styles, ranging from Celtic, medieval, folk and world music to sci-fi, electronic, epic orchestral trailer and metal music. He has done virtual instrument based music for around four years and has experience of around 15 years in composing and producing music. Since 2013, Antti has released six huge albums and a Celtic trailer music album for Sub Pub Music.

Since their first show in June of 2009, the Saints have continued to pound through blistering, high-energy live sets that keep people wanting more. They’ve played hundreds of shows in pubs and venues from Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland to Virginia, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. They have several large Irish festivals under their belt, including Celtic Classic, Great American Irish Festival, Celtic Fling, ShamrockFest, Annapolis Irish Festival and the Wildwood Irish Weekend. Along the way, the Saints have shared the stage with many notable acts: Dropkick Murphys, Reverend Horton Heat, The Rovers, Albannach, Icewagon Flu, Barleyjuice, Scythian, Screaming Orphans, Black 47, The Young Dubliners, Carbon Leaf, and the Red Hot Chili Pipers, to name a few. In short, Kilmaine Saints are equal parts Irish swagger, Scottish pride, and whiskey. This explosive, high-energy Celtic rock band from central PA will lift your hearts, your spirits, and your pint when you’re not looking!

The Fighting Jamesons deliver a traditional style of music with an aggressive and energetic modern-day approach. Forming in 2010, The Fighting Jamesons quickly gained a strong presence on the East Coast. They’ve shared the stage with legendary Irish rock acts such as Dropkick Murphys, The Saw Doctors, and Young Dubliners

Antti Martikainen is an independent composer from Finland. He creates music from a huge range of different styles, ranging from Celtic, medieval, folk and world music to sci-fi, electronic, epic orchestral trailer and metal music. He has done virtual instrument based music for around four years and has experience of around 15 years in composing and producing music. Since 2013, Antti has released six huge albums and a Celtic trailer music album for Sub Pub Music.

“It is simply impossible to imagine an audience that wouldn’t enjoy what they do,” says the Boston Globe speaking of Cherish the Ladies, the long-running, Grammy-nominated, Irish-American super group that formed in New York City in 1985 to celebrate the rise of extraordinary women in what had been a male-dominated Irish music scene and has since toured the world, played the White House and the Olympics, recorded 15 outstanding albums including their latest, “An Irish Homecoming” which was also videotaped for an Emmy nominated Public Television Special that is airing across America. Under the leadership of All-Ireland flute and whistle champion Joanie Madden, who recently became the first Irish traditional musician to win the prestigious USA Fellowship Award from United States Artists in addition to being named by The Irish Voice Newspaper as one of the Top 25 Irish Americans of the Past Quarter Century, these ladies create an evening that includes a spectacular blend of virtuoso instrumental talents, beautiful vocals, captivating arrangements, and stunning step dancing. Their continued success as one of the top Celtic groups in the world is due to the ensembles ability to take the best of Irish traditional music and dance and put it forth in an immensely entertaining show. The New York Times calls their music “passionate, tender, and rambunctious,” and the Washington Post praises their “astonishing array of virtuosity.” They’ve won recognition as the BBC’s Best Musical Group of the Year and named Top North American Celtic Group by both the Irish Music Awards and NPR’s Thistle and Shamrock – not to mention having a street named after them in the Bronx! They’ve collaborated with such musicians as The Boston Pops, The Clancy Brothers, the Chieftains, Vince Gill, Nanci Griffith, Pete Seeger, Don Henley, Arlo Guthrie and Maura O’Connell as well as being the featured soloist with over 250 nights of symphony orchestras.

BrunuhVille is an independent composer from Portugal who creates a world of magic and fantasy between the fusion of Gothic, Orchestral, Celtic, Folk, Movie, Ethnic and World music.

Formed in 2006 over pints of cheap beer at East Vancouver’s notoriously violent Ivanhoe Hotel, the Dreadnoughts cut their teeth in the roughest dive bars in the city. They started by opening for (and earning the praise of) celtic-punk grandfathers The Real McKenzies, and since then have never looked back. Hauling a fiddle, an accordion, a mandolin, a tin whistle, guitars and drums into every venue that would have them, they quickly became known for their powerful, chaotic live performances. In four short years they have slowly but surely joined the ranks of Canada’s punk rock elite, bringing their insanely energetic and dangerous live show to the four corners of the globe.

The Dreadnoughts aren’t just a band, they’re an advocacy group, ruthlessly promoting the idea that folk and punk music form a perfect union. They’ve been literally destroying stages and swilling ciders the world over, spreading their gospel to anyone and everyone who will listen.

Musically, the Dreadnoughts travel where many fear to tread, embracing a huge range of European folk traditions. For proof, look no further than their new release, “Polka’s Not Dead”. This recording is strewn with polkas, gypsy dances and sea shanties, each infused with the raw energy of street punk. The Dreadnoughts take folk tradition seriously, and they take punk music seriously, and “Polka’s Not Dead” is their definitive statement.

Kila have been bringing their world-beat, hip-shaking, smile-making music into the world for over 25 years. Their music has traversed the five continents and has been used in Oscar nominated films (The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea). Always exploring, always inventing, always innovating and composing, each member of Kíla at once stays young as they age.