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Celtic Cross at Monasterboice, County Louth, Ireland

Photo by Dan Carollo, 2005

* Ireland 2004 Photo Journal: Click here to read more...

* Check out my "other" blog on: celtograss.blogspot.com

August 1, 2010

I have just released new CD: "The Communion of Saints" (meditations for acoustic guitar) -- a collection of hymns and original arrangements for solo guitar, with keyboard accompaniment by Rónán Johnston.   You can purchase now on this site. Click here...

November 4, 2007

Big life change for me in a month or so. In December, my family and I will be re-locating to Dublin, Ireland for couple or so years for my "day job"!  This means my regular, "local northwest" status will be on hold for a while -- except for a couple trips I may be making back to the states each year.  Please check my web-site for gigs near you. However, for the next while or so, most of my performances will be in the Ireland/UK region!  To get further updates, feel free to subscribe to my mailing list (See "contact" page).   Also, stay-tuned for additional notes on my blog:   http://celtograss.blogspot.com

October 21, 2007

I performed the last gig on American soil for a while (see above entry for details).  Eliot Grasso (pipes), and my good friend Ted Yuen (fiddle) joined me for a gig along with the Murray Irish Dancers at McMinnville Covenant Church.  A grand time as usual.  I will miss playing with Eliot, but hoping to hook up with him next year for a gig or two when I visit the states.

May 30, 2006

New CD "Miles From Dublin" to be released within the next couple weeks! Click here to listen to sound samples...

February 27, 2006

Lynn Marshall from the Los Angeles Times interviewed me for this story that ran today.  Didn't get any of my colorful quotes in the story, but got a nice mention of "CeltoGrass", anyway!

February 14, 2006

I thought you might get a kick out of this... My song "Thinking Time" from my solo CD "Waiting For Inspiration" is now being featured on the City of Seattle's On Hold Music program.  See  www.seattle.gov/onhold  Also, see the Seattle P-I article here...

In other news:  Michael Connolly and I are nearing the final stages of our new CD project to be titled "Miles from Dublin", a lively mix of traditional Irish and American tunes, along with a few originals.  Estimated release is May 2006. Stay tuned for updates. 

NOTE: You can receive regular updates by subscribing to my mailing list by just sending email to:  info-subscribe@celtograss.com

Sept. 04, 2005

Check out the new CeltoGrass site on MySpace.com: http://www.myspace.com/celtograss

May 30, 2005

We had a wonderful gig at the Northwest Folklife Festival this year. Fiddle/uillean pipe player Michael Connolly joined me to kick off the "Folklife Shillelagh Smackdown" at the Henry Weinhard’s Northwest Court Stage.

Michael, who plays 6 or 7 other instruments, will also be participating in a new CD project we'll be recording this summer. Connolly, an Irish-American transplant originally from Memphis, Tennessee, is equally at home with old-time American, Bluegrass and traditional Irish music. I'm excited to have him join me for this project.

January 30, 2005

After 2 and a half years of performing with Tacoma fiddle player Ted Yuen, Ted will be taking a break from CeltoGrass as he recently announced accepting the position of Worship Pastor at McMinnville Covenant Church in Oregon. Although Ted will no longer being dong regular gigs with me -- we may try to squeeze in a gig, perhaps at Cannon Beach this year!  Stay tuned.

My two upcoming performances (The Celtic Bayou in Redmond and the Blue Heron Arts Center on Vashon Island) will feature instead fiddle player Stewart Hendrickson -- who I know from the Tuesday night open mics at Ravenna Third Place Books and the Sunday sessions at Fado's.

In a strange twist of irony -- there is actually an interesting connection between Ted and Stewart!  A few years back, Ted had sold his late 19th-century fiddle to Guitar Emporium in Ballard.  Later, the very same fiddle was then purchased by Stewart, who wrote an article about it in the Victory Review! (article here...). Ted happened to pick up a copy and was very surprised to read about his old fiddle!

January 18, 2005

I got an email recently from wonderful chap named Pat Kirby, whom I met on the flight from Chicago to Dublin last October. Pat lives somewhere north of the Liffey (about 30 or so miles outside Dublin).  His 11-year-old son is learning to play the fiddle and really enjoyed my recording of "Ashokan Farewell" (a popular American tune written by Jay Ungar). In fact, he was practicing to the tune for the Dunboyne Comhaltas Ceoltori Eireann Christmas concert.  I'm sure Jay would be thrilled to his tune is getting quite a hearing in Ireland.

Pat tells me my CD goes very well with a bottle of wine. Not sure whether that means my CD inspires a celebratory sort-of feeling, or whether it means listening to my CD is just a little more tolerable after chugging down a bottle or two!

December 25, 2004

Merry Christmas!  Just posted a rough take of "Little Drummer Boy" on acoustic guitar that I recorded on my little home computer mic. Click here to listen...

November 11, 2004

Finally posted my journal of my recent Ireland trip with musician Robert Wade this October. Click here to read more...

September 1, 2004

Stumbled upon another CD review of "Waiting For Inspiration" on CelticChristianTunes.com.  Pretty much what I expected -- they hated the same tracks I do!

August 25, 2004

Plans set to travel to Ireland (Dublin and Dingle) this fall. Will be doing some "musical research" for my next CD project -- due to begin recording in early 2005.

August 7, 2004

Skeptical philosophers often talk about "the problem of evil" as being evidence against God's existence. But the argument seems to cut both ways: For the skeptics, there is also "the problem of beauty".

I was running late for a guitar workshop with local blues guitarist Eric Madis while sitting outside the new Peets Coffee in Freemont slurping on a wonderful cup of jo. The sky had just begun to clear after a rainy morning, the trees glowed in the warm sunshine and I had one of those moments when everything seemed to become suddenly vivid and clear -- The scent of moist Seattle air mixed with the pungent flavor of Peet's Coffee, the bustle of people, a dog walking by, birds pecking at the crumbs on the ground. Then, I went off to a two-hour workshop on Piedmont Blues (a style of blues popularized by "Blind Boy" Fuller and Rev. Gary Davis). Some people say there is no God, but I couldn't help seeing him at work that day, in a St. Thomas Aquinas sort of way.

July 31, 2004

I was pleasantly surprised to get a very positive review of my debut CD "Waiting For Inspiration" in the August 2004 issue of Victory Music Review Magazine.

July 20, 2004

I went to a Pierre Bensusan guitar workshop at Dusty Strings.

Pierre is a world-renowed guitar player who has popularized the DADGAD style of tuning (a style that lends itself well to Celtic and other modal-type music). I confess that I am a DADGAD player myself, and was starting to feel a little guilty for not having played standard tuning for such a long time.

But when I saw Pierre perform that night, the world of DADGAD was raised to a level beyond my wildest imagination.  Now I don't feel guilty about playing in DADGAD anymore! (Although rumor has it I may include at least one standard-tuning song on my next CD).

June 15, 2004

Was selected as "June 2004 Artist of the Month" at KBCS 91.3 FM.