Legendary Irish accordion champion John Whelan teams up with the acoustic Americana band Low Lily for an evening of Transatlantic roots music! Exploring the musical traditions of Ireland and America, this diverse and energetic show will showcase the fine talents of these seasoned performers. Alongside fiery uptempo Irish jigs and reels will be traditional American folk songs, original songs and instrumentals on button accordion, fiddle, guitars, mandolin and lush, layered vocals. This show brings the generations together for a fresh new take on Roots music from both sides of the pond.
Low Lily consists of Liz Simmons (vocals and guitar) Flynn Cohen (vocals, guitar, and mandolin) and Lissa Schneckenburger (vocals and fiddle) and they are masterful players with deep relationships to traditional music styles ranging from bluegrass, to Irish, Scottish, New England, and Old Time Appalachian sounds. They have all traveled the world extensively, performing with an impressive variety of well known musicians. When you combine this with stellar composition skills and inventive arrangements you get music that is rooted yet contemporary. John Whelan, accordion player extraordinaire, originally from Dunstable, England and of Irish stock moved to the US in 1980 and now lives in Connecticut. He has recorded and performed with Johnny Cunningham, Tim O’Brien, Jerry Douglass, Kathy Mattea, and many others. He has recorded some 20 albums, including his most recent one, Passage of Time. This will be a great show!
Tickets are $20 for adults and $5.00 for children and Caltech students. They can be purchased on the phone (626-395-4652) with a credit card (a service charge will be added per order), purchased at the Caltech Public Events Ticket Office in the Spalding Building (California Blvd. and Wilson Avenue) for face value (open Monday-Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ), purchased online (coming soon- click on red ticket below, service charge added per ticket and sales end 2 days before show), or purchased at the door for cash or check (no credit cards.) You can call the Ticket Office at (626) 395-4652.
The Memorial and Celebration of the life of Rosalie Sorrels that we co-sponsored on August 20 proved to be a fine and fitting farewell to this very special performer. We thank Mitch Greenhill, Lee Boek, Susan Krebs, Gary White, Ross Altman, Roberta Levitow, and the others who made this possible. If you missed the program, or if you want to re-live just a bit of it, you can hear Tom Russell’s wonderful tribute, Pork Roast and Poetry, though unfortunately, without the photos that were shown at the event. One song we did not hear at this program is the sad, but beautiful Standing in the Rain, Rosalie’s tribute to her son, David, who committed suicide in 1976.