A Celtic Evening: Many Thanks for a Successful, Sold-Out Show!
A Celtic Evening continues to be an outstanding and well-received showcase of Alabama's great array of outstanding Celtic talent. The 2003 show featured:  The Birmingham Society of Piping, The Good Fortune Ceili Band, The Birmingham School of Celtic Arts, Redhill, Hooley, Heritage Pipes and Drums, The Alabama Academy of Irish Dance, Henri's Notions, Larry Brown and Co, as well as guest artists Cynthia Douglass, Russell Hopper, Beau Goss, Sinead Maher and Mary Dougherty, Bob and Alex Tedrow, Jil Chambless, Marty Connors and Jim McRae, . ACA is deeply grateful for these artists' participation and support of this annual fundraiser.  Special thanks also go to emcee, Lance Kinney, for being a wonderful host and 'ringmaster', to Event Director Randy Palmer for putting a great show together and to Stage Manager Dan Gainey for his professional guidance and staging of the show !    The people who made the show work behind-the-scenes include:  Barbara Bell (hospitality), Mary Dougherty (sponsors/adv.), Nathan Tucker, Brendan Harkins, Chalmer Wayland, Libby Wayland, Marci Wofford, Leighanne Gray, Leah Copper, Susan Baker, Paris Farzaud, Roberta Stamp and Austin Farley. Thank you all so much!

A Celtic Evening 2003 was supported by:  Guinness, Birmingham Irish Cultural Society, Innisfree Irish Pub, Lamplight Music, Oak Mountain Highland Games, Celtic Heritage of Gatlinburg, The Celtic Music Society of Montgomery, The Tartan Heirs, Homewood Musical Instrument Company, Caledonian Imports and Killarney's Irish Pub and Restaurant.  Thank you for supporting the Celtic Arts in Alabama.  Our continued appreciation and gratitude go to WorkPlay for inviting the Celts to descend on their fantastic venue for another outstanding Celtic Evening!

ACA welcomes Mobile's "Mithril" to the Celtic Alabama Music Page
Mithril is the latest collaboration between Andra Bohnet and Tom Morley, both founding members of the Silverwood Quartet. In 1999, Silverwood performed along with Windham Hill recording artist (and Nightnoise member) Brian Dunning at the National Flute Association Convention, and this experience, among others, sparked an interest in Celtic music in the two musicians which has become an obsession. This passion has resulted in an exciting new band and their debut CD, "Banish Misfortune," which was released in November 2002. You’ll hear Tom on fiddle, guitar, mandolin and Irish bouzouki, and Andra on the traditional Irish wooden flute, fife, whistle and Celtic harp. These amazing players have applied their wealth of musical experience to repertoire which includes energetic reels and jigs from Ireland and Scotland, beautiful slow airs which will bring a tear to your eye, and some exotic tunes from along the Silk Road with a Celtic twist.  "Celtic music and its performance offers us such an incredibly wide range of possibilities," says Morley. "Many people think that Celtic music is just jigs and reels, but it is so much more. The Irish have been influenced by many cultures over the centuries, and their music is reflective of that." To which Bohnet adds, "This is music into which we can pour our hearts, but also express the incredible joy we get from playing our instruments. Passion and energy, what could be better than that?"  Tom Morley has performed professionally in almost every style of music, from country and Celtic, to jazz, pop, and symphonic. Before moving to Fairhope in 1993, he worked for many years as a studio musician and performer in Nashville, where he earned a gold album.  As a jazz violinist, he performs with his own group, Classic Jazz (formerly 78 RPM), was part of two European tours with the New Orleans Jazz All-Stars, and has two CDs in national release. He is a founding member of Silverwood Quartet, which has released three CDs and performed throughout the Southeast and in Japan. He maintains an active teaching studio with many of the area’s top young violinists, and is in demand as a Elderhostel instructor and string workshop clinician.  Andra Bohnet is Professor of Music at the University of South Alabama where she teaches flute, music literature and chamber music. She is the principal flutist with the Mobile Symphony and the Gulf Coast Symphony in Biloxi, MS and has been a featured soloist with both orchestras. Also a founding member of the Silverwood Quartet and their primary arranger, her arrangements have been recorded on all three of the Silverwood CDs. Her interest in traditional styles of flute playing has led her to study and perform regularly at the Boxwood Festival in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and the Wind on the Bay Symposium in East Greenwich, Rhode Island with Celtic flutists Chris Norman and Skip Healy. She was also recently selected to be the artist performer in a groundbreaking research project involving historical flutes from the 19th Century in collaboration with researchers from Australia and Canada.  (submitted by Andra Bohnet)

Welsh Production Company Looking for Welsh Connections to the American Civil War
Welsh production company Element Productions in Cardiff is currently conducting research for a new program they are producing for the BBC. The program idea is based on the Welsh involvement before, during and after the American Civil War. The series will be in English and will be shown by the BBC in 2003.  "We are looking for families who have a Welsh family history relating to

the emigration of the Welsh to America, particularly in 1800's

the Welsh during the American Civil War

the aftermath

"Ideally contributors will posses some sort of memorabilia relating to the period but at the moment we would be happy to find people of Welsh descent who have the above history." The series adviser Geoff Mungham will be in the USA in July and August this year, collecting materials and interviewing Welsh-Americans. He is especially interested in trying to locate Welsh-Americans in your area who can trace their family connections back to the period before the Civil War and would particularly like to meet Welsh-Americans who had family/relatives who fought in the Civil War. Contact Geoff Mungham by e-mail: MunghamG@cardiff.ac.uk or phone:  44+2920+876186  or leave a message with Nerys Evans at Element Productions. (submitted by Billy Price)

WorkPlay welcomes Celtic Spring and Colin Grant-Adams for Celtic Show in March
Celtic Spring is an exciting and unique fiddle and dance band composed of the five Wood family children on fiddles and in dance shoes, joined by their father on the traditional Irish drum, the bodhran. Performing spirited reels, jigs, and hornpipes, dancing in both the graceful soft shoes and the powerful hard shoes, they create the dynamic interaction between the music and the dance.  Ranging in ages from 17 to 6, the Wood children began studying the violin, fiddle and Irish dancing at the age of four!  Referred to as the "Von Trapp Family of Celtic music", Celtic Spring is loved by audiences of all ages.  Featured on "Good Morning America", this show will definitely be entertaining.  For more on this amazing family, visit www.celticspringband.com ! Scottish Balladeer Colin Grant-Adams will also be entertaining this evening with his amazing repertoire of songs and unique brand of Scottish humor!  Celtic Spring and Colin Grant-Adams will take the WorkPlay stage on March 14, 8 P.M. - tickets are $15. For more information, go to www.workplay.com . (submitted by WorkPlay)