Concert Preview—

Expect Another Sterling Concert

When Liz Carroll & John Doyle

Return To The Meeting House

By Andrew Carey

The last time Irish fiddler Liz Carroll and guitarist John Doyle appeared at Newtown Meeting House, in January 2004, there was some concern that the show might be snowed out. Fortunately, the day, although cold, was clear, and fans from as far away as New Hampshire packed the Borough’s Colonial gem for a riveting concert by one of Irish traditional music’s top duos.

This year, the Shamrock Traditional Irish Music Society will bring Ms Carroll and Mr Doyle back to the meeting house on Wednesday, August 30, at 7:30 pm. Although the weather will be warmer, it is safe to say that those who attend will enjoy the same sterling quality as that lucky audience in 2004.

Longtime fans of Ms Carroll’s fiddling and Mr Doyle’s songs and guitar will hear both old favorites and new material from their CD In Play (Compass Records, 2006), as well as whatever the duo might choose from their own compositions and the vast well of music that is the living tradition. Newcomers will have the pleasure of encountering for the first time a pair of musicians who make a smashing success out of bridging the gaps between Ireland and America and the past and present of Irish traditional music.

Born of Irish parents in Chicago, where she still resides, Liz Carroll wrote her first tune at the age of nine. She won the All-Ireland Fiddle Championship in 1975 and was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship, America’s foremost honor in folk and traditional arts, in 1994.

After decades of performing around the country and the world as a solo artist, in the band Trian with guitarist Dáithí Sproule and accordionist Billy McComiskey, and with the String Sisters, an Irish-Scottish-Norwegian-American ensemble of women fiddlers, Ms Carroll was named The Irish Echo’s Traditional Musician of the Year in 2000.

With more than 170 tunes to her credit, Ms Carroll is one of the most active composers in the Irish tradition today.

“It’s great fun to work [Ms Carroll’s new tunes] out and put a bit of your own stamp on them as well,” Mr Doyle said, adding that Ms Carroll is also an ideal person with whom to discuss his own new compositions. “She has a great perspective,” he said, “and she’s great to bounce things off,” until the tune is truly original, not a near-copy of one learnt years before and since forgotten.

Dublin-born John Doyle now makes his home in Asheville, N.C. He began playing guitar at the age of 12, and names among his influences the Irish singer-guitarist Paul Brady and bouzouki-player Dónal Lunny, the English singer-guitarists Martin Carthy and Richard Thompson, and the Grateful Dead.

Perhaps his most important influence, however, is his father, Seán Doyle, a Dublin police officer, now retired, and lifelong Irish traditional singer who released his first album in 2004, the critically-acclaimed The Light and the Half-Light (Compass Records). This past June, father and son played a series of concerts in the US, including a stop in Easton at the barn owned by Connecticut folk luminaries Will and Katie Tressler.

John Doyle began his career as a professional musician at age 16, with the group Chanting House. Living in America in the 1990s, he founded the supergroup Solas with multi-instrumentalist Seamus Egan, accordionist John Williams, fiddler Winifred Horan, and singer Karan Casey. He was later a member of the Eileen Ivers Band.

Since that time, he has performed and recorded extensively, both solo and with a wide range of musicians, including American old time mandolinist Tim O’Brien and English folk singer Kate Rusby. Long known as a guitarist showing an unusual range and depth of expression, from subtle lyricism behind delicate songs and airs to driving rhythmic pulse and solid basslines behind dance tunes, Mr Doyle has won greater recognition of his skills as a singer, songwriter, and composer with his solo albums, Evening Comes Early (Shanachie Records, 2001) and Wayward Son (Compass Records, 2005).

Although each already knew the other by reputation, Ms Carroll and Mr Doyle first played together in the recording sessions for Ms Carroll’s second CD, Lost in the Loop (Green Linnet Records), released in 2000. Mr Doyle backed Ms Carroll again on her third CD, Lake Effect (Green Linnet Records, 2002), and in numerous concerts before they began touring as a duo.

To make reservations for Wednesday’s concert, call 203-256-8453 or send email to tmquinn@optonline.net.

Newtown Meeting House is at 31 Main Street (Route 25, at the flagpole). For more information about the Shamrock Traditional Irish Music Society and the August 30 concert, visit ShamrockIrishMusic.org. For more information about the performers visit LizCarroll.com and JohnDoyleMusic.com.