01/18/2013
A 3-time All-Ireland Fiddle Champion, Dylan Foley was a student of the great Rose Flanagan (the original fiddler in Cherish the Ladies) and counts Joanie Madden, Brian Conway, Mike McHale, and Monsignor Charlie Coen among his primary influences. He is a vibrant stylist whose playing has been called “impeccable and spirited.” Dylan has played on Jay Unger’s Dancing On the Air show on WAMC four times. Dylan has also performed with the John Whelan Band, Joanie Madden, Brian Conway, Mike McHale, Monsignor Charlie Coen, Dan Gurney. He has also performed at the Catskills Irish Arts Week, Elkins Irish Week, and runs a monthly session at the Dubliner Irish Pub. These days, Dylan is very busy, attending SUNY New Paltz and performing and playing ceili’s and sessions in the NY area.
"One the finest Irish fiddlers of his generation." - Brian Conway
Acoustic guitarist & bouzouki player Sean Earnest’s sensitive yet eclectic accompaniment style has taken him far from his native central Pennsylvania. He is among the most in-demand Celtic traditional music accompanists today and can be heard on stages up and down both coasts of the United States and all points in between. Sean spends most of his time in New York and the greater Northeast, where he can be heard playing and recording with some of the top talents of the genre. Having cut his musical teeth in the vibrant session scenes of Baltimore and New York, Sean honed his guitar and bouzouki craft whilst studying abroad at the University of Limerick’s Irish World Academy of Music & Dance. Friendships forged across the length & breadth of Ireland lead to Sean’s highly successful 2009 tour with Irish supergroup Téada. For the last three years Sean has worked with the legendary McPeake family of Belfast in bringing their signature sound to American audiences. In the summer of 2011 he rejoined ‘McPeake’ for their third critically-acclaimed American summer tour. Also that year, Sean joined forces with one of the most exciting bands to come out of Scotland, the Paul McKenna Band, for two highly successful tours of the U.S. and Canada. Most recently Sean has collaborated with Boston singer/songwriter Kyle Carey and violin player Andrew Finn Magill in ‘The Kyle Carey Trio’, a project drawing as much upon Kyle’s fluency in Scots Gaelic song as well as her interest in Appalachian poetry and American roots music.
Sean currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he offers personal instruction on both the guitar and bouzouki.
25-year-old Dan Gurney, born in upstate New York to artist parents, first picked up an accordion by chance in a toy store. He learned Irish music from Galway-born concertina player Father Charlie Coen. Over the years he has also been heavily influenced by Billy McComiskey, Jimmy Noonan, John Whelan, Joe Derrane, and John Nolan, among many others. After graduating from Harvard University in 2009, he lived in Galway for a year playing with the likes of Dolores Keane, Johnny Ringo McDonagh, Mick Conneely, Ronan O'Flaherty, and Brian Mc Grath. He has appeared on Public Radio International, at the International Accordion Festival, and has won nine medals at various Fleadh Cheoil music competitions.
"Traditional Irish Music on the Button Accordion" is his debut album. It features Brian Mc Grath on piano and was named to the Irish Echo's Top 10 Albums of 2011.
