Blaggards (no "The”, pronounced BLA’ GUARDS or BLA’ GHERDS, depending on where you’re from) formed in
July, 2004, in Houston, Texas. They play what they call Stout Irish Rock, traditional Irish music mixed with rock n’ roll, informed by everything from the Dubliners, the Wolfe Tones, and Elvis Presley to the Horslips, Thin Lizzy, and Black Sabbath. As music critic John Nova Lomax puts it, “Their formula is straightforward: Take trad Irish music, combine it with rock and ratchet up the pressure till the rivets start to pop.”
Blaggards are lead vocalist/guitarist Patrick Devlin, bassist/vocalist Chad Smalley, and drummer Eric C. Hughes.
Patrick grew up in Dublin, Ireland, and tended bar in Irish pubs and music venues for many years before starting his first band. Their line-up also now features Heide Riggs on fiddle. Heide recently published Fiddler’s Full Circle, a book about her journey in learning and performing Celtic music, and style tips for playing traditional tunes.
Blaggards maintain a rigorous schedule, playing frequently throughout Texas and touring nationally several times a year, plus an annual tour of Ireland. They have listeners all over the globe, with over 19 million streams on Spotify and over 69 million streams on Pandora. Their version of the traditional sea shanty “Drunken Sailor” is hugely popular and has garnered nearly 35 million streams on Pandora alone. Their original instrumental “Kerfuffleful” appears in the New Line Cinema motion picture How to Be Single. “Drunken Sailor” and “Big Strong Man” from their first CD, Standards, were both featured on the CBS series The Good Wife. Blaggards released their latest album BLAGMATIC in July 2021, and their latest single release “Come Out Ye Black & Tans” hit streaming services in March 2022.
House of Hamill
Bitterroot Celtic Games & Gathering
Entertainment 2023 - Updated as we book!
Back by popular demand - these guys ROCKED IT in 2022!!!!
Again - back by popular demand - these guys make the BCGG what it is!!
Swagger has been honing their original brand of Celtic music at festivals and concert halls across the United States since 2007. Well known for their high-energy stage performances and catchy original songs, Swagger’s music is the expected Irish celebration of drink, mischief, and music, which also dares to explore oppression and take an emigrant’s perspective on the virtues and vices of the Irish-American culture.
Swagger has released 4 studio albums, Trouble on the Green (2008), The Grave (2010), America Land (2013), and Gypsy Road (2017). The band has shared stages with The Young Dubliners, Brother, Albannach, Carlos Jones, The English Beat, Andy Frasco, Eric Dodge, and Howard Jones, just to name a few.
Swagger’s line up is as varied in their influences as they are in their origins. Calling on their musical backgrounds in rock, ska, funk, jazz, classical, bluegrass, and country, the band is constantly writing new material and changing up their offerings from festival to festival. Their musicianship and live performances give their audiences a truly complete entertainment experience to remember.
Spreading Joy through Musical Performance.
The Katie Jane Band is all about spreading the joy of Celtic music to their listeners. The talented group has a fiery energy that is only rivaled by their unmistakable on-stage chemistry. Not only do these talented musicians perform original arrangements of high-speed AmeriCeltic fiddle tunes and heart-warming original songs, but their dynamic performance gets toes tapping and dancers dancing in every venue they attend. Katie Jane Lubiens is exploding with pure joy while she plays, and her sweet dulcet voice could melt an ice cap. Alongside her is Adam Easley's multi-instrumental accompaniment, whose unique rhythmic melodies blend to create a perfectly balanced musical counterpart. The Katie Jane Band brings to life the Celtic melodies that remind us of home, with a fiery twist that ignites the fires of a deepened love for fiddle music.
Aoife Scott is an award winning folk singer and songwriter based in Dublin, Ireland.
Born into the legendary Black Family, Aoife is steadily rising to the top of the traditional and folk music scene, and has long enjoyed success as an established artist in her own right. Aoife has a unique sound - fragile and ethereal one minute and strong and vibrant the next, her dynamic and profound vocals explore the emotional depths of her lyrics, leaving the audience entranced.
From her highly celebrated debut album, Carry The Day, which was launched at the Temple Bar TradFest in 2016, Aoife’s single “All Along the Wild Atlantic Way” hit the number 1 slot in Ireland, knocking Ed Sheeran off the top spot, and was named “Song of the Year” at the Irish Folk Music Awards in 2017.
In 2019, her song “The December Letter” won Single of the Year at the ALSR Celtic Music Awards (US) and was the most played Christmas song on RTE Radio 1 for December 2018. Her career successes have seen Aoife and her cousins, Róisín O & Danny O Reilly from The Coronas, release their single “Grace” which went straight into the number 1 slot on iTunes in Ireland. This performance gained half a million views on YouTube with their performance from Kilmainham Gaol as part of the Centenary program on RTE1.
Aoife Scott released her much anticipated second album, HomeBird, at the Temple Bar TradFest in January 2020. Produced by 12-time Grammy winner, banjo and guitar virtuoso Ron Block (Alison Krauss & Union Station, & ‘Oh Brother Where art thou), her second album is in many ways a turning point in her musical legacy. Recorded in Nashville and Dublin, “HomeBird” is an impressive collaboration featuring the best of Irish folk musicians and Grammy award winning Bluegrass musicians Sierra Hull, Stuart Duncan, and producer Ron Block. The album reached the iTunes No 1 - Ireland Album Charts, and was Album of the Week - RTÉ Radio 1, and was the ASLR Celtic Music Awards Female Vocal album of the Year in 2021.
In October 2020, Aoife Scott released a new single, "Sweet October", born out of the downtime of a cancelled summer festival season and looking forward to a brighter future, in collaboration across the Atlantic with the producer of her last album, Grammy award winner Ron Block. Featuring her co-writer Andy Meaney, with multiple award winning musicians Ron Block and Barry Bales and her Irish Band.
Teton Skye formed in early 2017 and have been sharing a wide mix of antique and modern music with a Scottish-American twist. They released their first album, Teton Skye. in 2019, and their second, Hearts in the Highlands, in 2020. Teton Skye delights all ages with heart-tugging ballads, toe-tapping folk rhythms, and tunes that become your new favorite each time you listen.
Katie Jane Band
Hunter Koss
Bitterroot Celtic Games & Gathering
PO Box 1774 Hamilton MT 59840 US
406-274-8886
bitterrootcelticsociety@outlook.com
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Hunter Koss is a teenage solo harpist who performs Celtic and traditional folk music.
For centuries, audiences have enjoyed the magic and song of the harp. This beautiful instrument can trace its origins through time and cultures. Ireland, Scotland, the Far East, the Middle East, ancient Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia are just a few.
Within this context of a harp’s rich tradition and enduring appreciation, Hunter Koss brings the musical strings of a Celtic lever harp to life. She favors Celtic, folk and traditional tunes. Hunter’s original compositions and musical ideas are inspired by deep connections with family, friends, life experiences and the natural beauty of the Inland Northwest she calls home.
Hunter aspires to be a professional harpist, and she dreams of being a popular stage performer. Along the path of making her dreams a reality, Hunter has been honored to perform at many locations in the region; this includes hospitals, professional offices, conferences, schools, the VA Home, Union Gospel Mission, Sandpoint’s Panida Theatre, Scottish Highland Games, Spokane Interstate Fair, private gatherings and other special events. It is always a guess to say who enjoys her performances more: Hunter or her captivated listeners.
Now a teenager, Hunter has played the harp since eleven years of age. Who knows? If she is blessed with a life of good health and longevity, she may be one of the privileged to give the harp its next century of existence
House of Hamill owes its existence - almost entirely - to a series of cancelled flights.
Rose Baldino and Brian Buchanan first found themselves onstage together at the 2014 Folk Alliance International conference in Kansas City. Rose’s band Burning Bridget Cleary was scheduled to perform, but inclement weather prevented two of her bandmates from flying. Desperate to salvage the showcase, Rose approached Brian, who she knew fronted Canadian Celtic rock band Enter the Haggis. She thrust a guitar into Brian’s hands, pulled him onstage, and the two just clicked.
Four years and hundreds of shows later, the duo was booked to play a closing slot at a Colorado festival, so they hired a bass player and drummer to fill out their sound. By the oddest of coincidences, their hired bandmates’ flights were canceled the day of the show. A frantic Facebook post introduced Brian and Rose to local musician Caroline Browning, who joined them on bass for the weekend. Once again, the chemistry was undeniable, and House of Hamill became a trio.
Today, Pennsylvania-based House of Hamill is a fixture on festival stages across the US, and have shared their music and stories on the country’s premier folk stages. Their version of “Pound a Week Rise” rose to #1 on the US folk DJ charts, and the video for their all-violin cover of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” amassed over 16 million views on Facebook, where it was shared over 400,000 times. Their latest album, Folk Hero, captures perfectly the frenetic energy and eclecticism of their always engaging live show. A lively collection of original instrumentals, reimagined folk ballads, and new songs that showcase the trio’s versatility, Folk Hero is the third House of Hamill album to be funded entirely by their fans.
Whether they’re ripping through a set of original jigs and reels, adding lush three-part harmonies into traditional folk ballads, or cracking up an audience with stories from the road, House of Hamill puts on a show that captivates audiences from the very first note.