Caroling with O'Rourke's Feast - December 5

Join me on December 5 for a special Christmas concert with O'Rourke's Feast, my husband's wonderful six-piece Irish traditional band. 

I'll be singing a couple of Irish carols, the Enniscorthy Carol ("Good People All") and the Kilmore carol from Twelfth Night ("Now To Conclude Our Christmas Mirth.")

December 5, 7:30 pm
SAINT PAUL, MN
O’Rourke's Feast Celtic Christmas Concert
Celtic Junction 
836 Prior Avenue North
Saint Paul MN 55104

Come join the musicians of O’Rourke's Feast for a special Irish Christmas concert! The band has planned a feast of not-your-usual holiday fare, including harp tunes from the 17th century, lively jigs and reels, and a couple of ancient traditional carols from County Wexford sung by guest artist Erin Hart.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $7 for children under 12. Complimentary holiday treats will be served. 

Reserve your tickets today:  call (651) 698-2258 or send an email to paddyobrienbox@gmail.com.

The new O’Rourke’s Feast self-titled CD will be on sale at the concert, along with other titles from New Folk Records, and Paddy and I will also have copies of our books on hand to inscribe for holiday giving...

SOME LAST-MINUTE HOLIDAY EVENTS!

November 22, Lunch @ noon, followed by author talks and book signing
CHASKA, MN
Tipped In Book Event — Sponsored by Magers & Quinn Booksellers
Hazeltine National Golf Club
1900 Hazeltine Blvd
Chaska, MN 55318
(952) 556-5400

Featured speakers include: Lorna Landvik, Erin Hart, Jonathan Odell, and Matt Smiley from the University of Minnesota Press. 

Book club members and reading enthusiasts are sure to enjoy this rare glimpse into the world of publishing. Featuring local authors, representatives from major publishing houses, and the staff of Magers and Quinn Booksellers. The perfect time to bring your book club and stock up on holiday gifts!

Tickets are $25, including lunch and program — RSVP to Emily at (952) 556-5400. Books available for purchase.

November 29, 10 am to 12 noon
SAINT PAUL, MN
SubText Indies First — Small Business Saturday
SubText: A Bookstore
165 Western Ave North
Saint Paul, MN 55102
(651) 493-2791

November 29, 12:30 to 2:30 pm
HUDSON, WI
Chapter 2 Indies First — Small Business Saturday
Chapter2 Books
226 Locust Street
Hudson, WI 54016
(715) 220-8818

Two signings in one day to support local independent booksellers! I'll be with fellow Sister in Crime Barbara Merritt Deese at both events, and David Housewright will join us in Hudson. There will be books galore, authors, and lots of good cheer! 

Gettin' Literary at the Irish Fair

One of the things I'm doing (when not working on the new book, of course!) is that I'm coordinating the Literary Corner at the Irish Fair of Minnesota. It's the largest free Irish festival in the nation, drawing crowds of 80,000-100,000 for three days in early August. This year the Fair is August 8-10, and it's held on Harriet Island, across the river from downtown Saint Paul.

This year, in keeping with the 1,000th anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf, the Literary Corner is also focusing on 1,000 years of Irish literature. We're working on getting a calligrapher to speak and demonstrate Irish medieval writing, and we'll also feature 14 Minnesota writers who will talk about and read from their own work, and also about the Irish writers and various literary traditions that have influenced them. And there's going to be a Limerick contest, with winners both Saturday and Sunday. Books by participating authors will be available for purchase and signing.

The Literary Corner will be open Saturday and Sunday, August 9-10, from 11 am. We have a great lineup of talented authors including:

GARY BRUGGEMANN

Gary Bruggemann teaches history at Century and Inver Hills Community Colleges. A lifelong resident of Saint Paul, he has spent the last 35 years researching, writing and teaching Minnesota history. He is the author of numerous works on Saint Paul history, including at least 40 newspaper and magazine articles. In 2012 Gary published Minnesota's Oldest Murder Mystery: The Case Of Edward Phalen, St. Paul's Unsaintly Pioneer, selected as a Midwest Book Awards finalist.


CAROL CONNOLLY

Carol Connolly, Saint Paul’s Poet Laureate, is the author of All This And More (Nodin Press, 2009). Her first book, Payments Due: Onstage Offstage, Midwest Villages & Voices, now in its fifth printing, was first produced for the stage in Los Angeles and then in Minneapolis, running for two years in each locale. Carol curates a monthly series, Reading by Writers, now in its fourteenth year, to benefit Public Art Saint Paul. She is the recipient of the 2011 Kay Sexton Award, presented annually by the Minnesota Book Awards in recognition of longstanding dedication and outstanding work in fostering books, reading, and literary activity in Minnesota. Carol is a Saint Paul native, has seven children, eleven perfect grandchildren, and one perfect great grandchild.

JOHN DINGLEY

John Dingley grew up on a hill farm in Mid-Wales and now lives in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. He has been called a renaissance man who has shown a variety of notable talents. John is an animal scientist and his love of nature has involved him in a major role for wildlife reintroduction—he sits on the board of directors for the Raptor Resource Project and the Decorah Eagle Cam. He is also a master glass cutter and engraver as well as being an accomplished stonemason. John’s love of theater has led to performances in a variety of roles, both in Wales and around the Midwest. A noted storyteller and singer, he can occasionally be discovered performing his one-man show, “John Dingley and the Biggest Pack of Lies You Ever Heard.” John also takes a major interest in urban agriculture, sustainable agriculture, and permaculture and has spent time teaching urban young people about the efficient use of gardening and agricultural hand tools. His nonfiction book, Hard Work in Paradise: When All Our Food and Lives Were Organic, will be published soon. The Timeless Cavern: Marged Evans and The Pebbles of Time is John’s first novel, a young-adult fantasy, and he is currently working on the second and third books in the series: Marged Evans and the Pebbles of More Time and Marged Evans and the Pebbles of Distance. For more visit www.timelesscavern.com.

MIKE FARICY

Mike Faricy is a Saint Paul native who splits his time between the saintly city and Dublin, Ireland. He writes books of no redeeming social value… crime fiction, theoretically with a sense of humor and even some romance. His Dev Haskell series, set in Saint Paul, has earned the #1 Amazon slot a half dozen times, and has been nominated for a Minnesota Book Award. His stories don’t deal with government coups, terrorists or international bank conspiracies, but rather the sort of individuals we all know and wisely prefer to keep at a distance. His characters find themselves in situations due to their own bad decisions—but then bad decisions make for interesting tales! Visit his website at www.mikefaricy.com, on Facebook or on Twitter.

MIKE FINLEY

Mike Finley, with ancestors in Counties Down and Laois, is author of over one million books, including Skibbereen and A Pox on Your Blessings (with master bread baker Danny Klecko). He grew up in northeast Ohio and is now a Saint Paul writer and poet, videomaker, and performance artist who’s been writing and publishing since 1966. Visit his website at www.mikefinleywriter.com.

ERIN HART

Erin Hart’s archaeological crime novels are set in the mysterious boglands of Ireland. Her debut, Haunted Ground (2003), won the Friends of American Writers award and Romantic Times' Best First Mystery, was shortlisted for mystery’s prestigious Anthony and Agatha awards, and translated into eleven foreign languages. Lake Of Sorrows (2004) was shortlisted for a Minnesota Book Award, and False Mermaid (2010) was named by ALA/Booklist as one of the Top Ten Crime Novels of 2010. Her latest, The Book Of Killowen (2013), was also a Minnesota Book Award finalist. Erin lives in Saint Paul with her husband, Irish accordion legend Paddy O’Brien, and travels frequently to Ireland, where she leads tours to some of the fascinating places described in her books! For more, visit Erin online atwww.erinhart.com, read her blog, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

LAURIE HERTZEL

Laurie Hertzel is Senior Editor/Books at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where she has worked since 1996. Previously, she was a writer and editor at Minnesota Monthlymagazine and at the Duluth News-Tribune. She is the author of a memoir, News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist (University of Minnesota Press, 2010), winner of a 2011 Minnesota Book Award, and co-author of They Took My Father: Finnish-Americans In Stalin's Russia (with Mayme Sevander, University of Minnesota Press, 2004). She has received state and national awards for her short fiction, magazine articles and newspaper stories. She lives in Saint Paul. Visit her online at www.lauriehertzel.com or follow her blog.

AMANDA HUGHES

All her life Amanda Hughes has been a "Walter Mitty," spending more time in heroic daydreams than in the real world. At last she found an outlet: writing adventures about audacious women in the 18th century. Her best-selling novel, Beyond the Cliffs of Kerry was published in 2002; The Pride of the King released in 2011, and The Sword of the Banshee in 2013. Amanda is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and when she isn't off tilting at windmills, she lives and writes in Saint Paul. Visit her online at www.amandahughesauthor.com and read her blog.

TRACIE LOEFFLER DONAGHY

In 2001, Tracie Loeffler Donaghy went on a vacation to Ireland and came home married to an Irishman. Her memoir, An American in Belfast, is a personal journey into a darker side of Ireland, one of paramilitaries, bomb scares, and sectarian violence. She has been a guest speaker on local radio and at various literary events, reading from her memoir and discussing her experiences of life in Northern Ireland. Tracie also regularly organizes and hosts Irish pub-style literary readings in the Twin Cities, featuring writers and poets from the local Irish community. She teaches writing and has a master’s degree in Creative Writing from Hamline University.

NORA MURPHY

Nora Murphy is a fifth generation Irish-American Minnesotan whose great-grandfather cut and laid granite for the Saint Paul Cathedral. Author of essays, poems, and nonfiction books, Nora fell in love with Saint Brigid in the Cathedral’s shrine of nations and pays tribute to the great saint in her memoir, Knitting The Threads Of Time: Casting Back To The Heart Of Our Craft.

PADDY O’BRIEN

Paddy O’Brien is an Irish traditional musician and noted tune collector. In 2012, The Road From Castlebarnagh, his account of growing up as a musician in rural Ireland, was published by Orpen Press in Dublin. He has also published a number of poems in a series about the older generation of Irish traditional musicians, and three volumes of the Paddy O’Brien Tune Collection, comprising 1,500 tunes and stories from his vast repertoire. Paddy's encyclopedic knowledge of Irish music is legendary. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he has collected more than 3,000 compositions—jigs, reels, hornpipes, airs, and marches, including many rare and unusual tunes. Paddy is a master of the two-row button accordion and in addition to several All-Ireland titles, he was named Ireland's Traditional Composer of the Year at the Gradam Ceoil Irish Music Awards in 2012. He lives in Saint Paul with his wife, mystery novelist Erin Hart. Visit his website at www.paddyobrien.net, on Facebookor on Twitter.

PATRICK O’DONNELL

Originally from Dublin, Patrick O’Donnell is a college teacher, theater director, literary historian, and author. He teaches writing and literature (with a focus on Shakespeare and James Joyce) at Normandale Community College. He has been the Artistic Director of Cracked Lookingglass Theatre, Titanic Players, and the Celtic Players. He has written such plays as Vampire Moonshine, I’m Switzerland, Dickens in Dublin, and has created a stage adaptation of Joyce’s novel, Ulysses. Patrick’s focus at present is creative nonfiction with an emphasis on the career of Sir Tyrone Guthrie. He has published work in the Irish scholarly journal New Hibernia Review, The St. Paul Almanac, the online newspaper The Daily Planet, and The Irish Gazette, and has contributed an essay on the Guthrie’s Theater’s Irish roots to Polly Grose’s anthology The Guthrie Theater: The First Fifty Years. Patrick also writes short fiction based on Dublin city and its imagined alternative ancient histories. He is married and lives in Saint Paul with his wife and three children.

DAVE PAGE

Dave Page has written and edited several books on the Irish-Catholic writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and his connection to Minnesota, including The Thoughtbook of F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Secret Boyhood Diary, a journal by the young Saint Paul writer. Dave is a member of the International F. Scott Fitzgerald Society and a board member of Fitzgerald in St. Paul, a nonprofit seeking to promote Fitzgerald in his birthplace. Dave currently teaches writing at Inver Hills Community College. 

JIM ROGERS

Jim Rogers is the author of an essay collection, Northern Orchards: Places Near the Dead (2014) and a poetry chapbook, Sundogs (2006). He’s also published many scholarly articles on Irish America, and edited two books on the topic: After the Flood: Irish America, 1945-1960 (2009) and Extended Family: Essays on Being Irish American (2013). Jim edits New Hibernia Review, a journal of Irish Studies published by the university of Saint Thomas, and is a past president of the American Conference for Irish Studies. He has twice been listed as a “notable” in the annual Best American Essays collections.

Celebrating the Book Launch - THE BOOK OF KILLOWEN & THE ROAD FROM CASTLEBARNAGH

What a wonderful night! After worrying about the weather (about eight inches in the morning, and it didn't stop snowing until late afternoon), we went ahead with the launch party for THE BOOK OF KILLOWEN and THE ROAD FROM CASTLEBARNAGH on March 5.

Thanks to our friends and family, and to all who braved the weather to come out on a snowy night to Saint Paul's beautiful James J. Hill Reference Library for a brief visit to Ireland's recent and not-so-recent past! 

The Hill Library, with its shelves reaching all the way to the second-story ceiling, is reminiscent of the Long Room at Trinity College Library, and was a perfect setting for launching THE BOOK OF KILLOWEN, a story that draws upon the history of ancient Irish scholars and scribes and their marvelous handwritten manuscripts.

We had some gorgeous music from our friends Ann and Charlie Heymann—also known by the name of their band, Clairseach—with Ann on wire-strung harp, and Charlie on cittern, accordion, and various other instruments as well. 

Paddy and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting about and reading from our books, and sharing images of the people, places, and artifacts that inspired our stories. Paddy read "Hairpins and Combs," a chapter from THE ROAD TO CASTLEBARNAGH about his first musical instrument, a mouth organ, purchased for one shilling from a peddler who visited his family home in the early 1950s. I read a section from the prologue of THE BOOK OF KILLOWEN, a dramatic tale of murder set in the 9th century.

Many thanks to Alayne Hopkins from the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library and to Beth O'Connor and Dawn Knapek from the James J. Hill Reference Library for all their work in making such a wonderful and welcoming event.

Huge thanks also to everyone who helped with setup and making sure that everything ran smoothly: Bonnie Schueler, Betty and John Rogers, Julie Hart, Karen Mueller, Linda White, Shannon and Mike Nemer, Lisa McDaniel, Laurie Muir, and Sue Zumberge and David Unowsky from SubText: A Bookstore.

Review: The Sailor’s Cravat – Sing Out! Magazine

Delighted to get this swell review of our recent recording THE SAILOR’S CRAVAT, from Sing Out! magazine, one of the most respected institutions in the traditional music world.

Off The Beaten Track / Sing Out! Magazine

Autumn 2011/Winter 2012 Issue
Volume 54, Number 4

THE SAILOR’S CRAVAT

Paddy O'Brien, button accordion

Tom Schaefer, fiddle

Paul Wehling, bouzouki

Erin Hart, vocals

Award-winning two-row button accordionist Paddy O’Brien, aside from being a much-admired virtuoso with a career spanning nearly four decades, is also a noted one-man repository of Irish traditional music, much of which was picked up from living masters during his travels. For the current outing, he has gathered tunes from a variety of sources, ranging from sprightly instrumental jigs, reels, polkas and hornpipes to unaccompanied sean-nos (ancient style) inflected vocal airs. He favors moderate tempos and lightly marked rhythms that allow the overly blithe melodies, most also graced by a melancholy tinge, to shine forth unimpeded. O’Brien is particularly well-partnered, with Tom Schaefer’s weightless yet unfailingly precise fiddle alternately doubling, following, or discreetly augmenting the themes in response to his lead, while Paul Wehling’s bouzouki provides them both with an ornate yet tastefully restrained launching pad. But Erin Hart’s singing is another soft revelation. Her dusky, ripely female voice nimbly negotiates dauntingly complex airs, like “The Flower of Magherally-O” and “Molly Bawn Or The Shooting of His Dear,” spinning out long-breathed ornamental phrases even as a formidable musical intelligence tells her when to leave well enough alone.

— Christina Roden

Preview of Gradam Ceoil 2012 Concert

Short interviews and documentary clips about the 2012 Gradam Ceoil Irish Traditional Music Award winners. The bit about Paddy begins around 10:40...

Paddy O'Brien Honored As Traditional Composer of the Year

I'm over the moon and so proud of my husband, Paddy O'Brien, who was honored as Ireland's 2012 Composer of the Year at the recent Gradam Ceoil Irish Traditional Music Awards in Limerick. The awards are sponsored by TG4, the Irish language television network (now part of RTE, the national broadcasting service).

Paddy joins a long list of Irish traditional music luminaries with this honor, including previous winners Paddy Fahy, Vincent Broderick, Charlie Lennon, Peadar Ó Riada, and Liz Carroll.

WATCH THE CONCERT VIDEO

GRADAM CEOIL 2012 PHOTOS ON FACEBOOK

BACKSTAGE AT GRADAM CEOIL 2012 ON FACEBOOK

The broadcast kicked off with a bang: several of Paddy's compositions, SARAH'S DELIGHT, THE WOODEN CITY POLKAS, and THE SMALL HILLS OF OFFALY, as performed by the ensemble from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance! After a short interview, Paddy also performs a couple of his compositions, TINY THE TROOPER and THE TURF CUTTER, with accompaniment from guitarist Tommy O'Sullivan.

Here's some background on the awards from Paddy's website:

This year’s Gradam Ceoil recipients range over a wide spectrum of talents. Those honored in the various categories include a legendary Donegal fiddler who also spent most of his life in London, a US-based world-renowned composer and scholar originally from Offaly, an Armagh couple whose life has been spend teaching traditional music in that city and county and two young Gaeltacht musicians from Ring and Muskerry who, while still in their early twenties, have already achieved much in their chosen musical disciplines. The full list of TG4 Gradam Ceoil 2012 recipients is:

• Gradam Ceoil (Musician) – Brian Rooney, fiddle
• Ceoltóir Óg (Young Musician) – Caoimhín Ó Fearghail, uilleann pipes
• Gradam Saoil (Hall of Fame) – Danny Meehan, fiddle
• Cumadóir (Composer) – Paddy O’Brien, button accordion
• Amhránaí (Singer) – Nell Ní Chróinín
• Gradam Aitheantais (Contributions) – Eithne agus Brian Vallely, fiddle and pipes

Gradam Ceoil TG4 2012

This year’s awards were presented at the Gradam Ceoil 2012 Concert at University Concert Hall, Limerick on Saturday 24th March. Recipients were joined by a host of special guests in a concert hosted by Aoife Ní Thuairisg and Páidí Ó Lionáird that was also broadcast on TG4 on Easter Sunday, 8th April 2012. The program included performances from:

• Brian Rooney, John Carty, James Carty & Brian McGrath
• Nell ní Chróinín & Eoiní Ó Súilleabháin
• Danny Meehan, Tommy Peoples, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh & Dermot McLaughlin
• Brian, Eithne & the Vallely Family
• Paddy O’Brien & Tommy Sullivan
• Caoimhín Ó Fearghail, Seán Ó Fearghail, Dónal Clancy & Tomás Ó Gealbhain
• Ceoltóirí Dhámh Chruinne Éireann, Rince & Ceol, Luimneach

Past Winners of the TG4 Traditional Composer of the Year Award

Gradam Ceoil TG4 recognizes the importance of constantly adding to Ireland’s vibrant dance music repertoire by presenting Gradam an Chumadóra each year. Much of the work of these composers has already become a part of the tradition, regularly played at sessions and recorded by other artists.

Previous Winners

2001 – Paddy Fahy, Co. Galway
2002 – Brendan Tonra, Co. Mayo
2003 – Vincent Broderick, Co. Galway
2004 – Richie Dwyer, Co. Cork
2005 – Josephine Keegan, Co. Armagh
2006 – Charlie Lennon, Co. Leitrim
2007 – Jim McGrath, Co. Fermanagh
2008 – Peadar Ó Riada, Dublin
2009 – Con Fada Ó Drisceoil, Co. Cork
2010 – John & Finbarr Dwyer, Co. Cork
2010 – Liz Carroll, Chicago, IL  USA

For more information about the Gradam Ceoil TG4 2012, visit:  Gradam Ceoil TG4

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Paddy O’Brien was born in Daingean, Co. Offaly in 1945. He took up the accordion as a youngster and travelled widely, seeking out older players, honing his craft and carefully building up his repertoire. His formative influences included Joe Delaney and Dan Cleary of Offaly, Galway fiddlers Paddy Fahy and Eddie Kelly, Donegal fiddler John Doherty, Frank Mc Collum of Antrim, Seán Ryan from Tipperary and Dublin’s Tommy Potts. Paddy moved to Dublin in 1969, where he often played with Clare fiddlers Joe Ryan and John Kelly. This experience provided a great learning ground where he continuously amassed a wealth of knowledge on tune settings and much anecdotal background information on repertoire and musicians. Given his penchant for collecting tunes, and his predilection towards unusual settings, it was natural, perhaps, that he would turn his hand to composition.

Paddy has been living in Minnesota since 1983, performing and teaching all over North America and Ireland, and was invited to perform in Moscow in 2008. Several of Paddy’s most popular compositions are ‘The Small Hills of Offaly,’ ‘The Antrim Rose,’ and ‘Sarah’s Delight’ which appeared on two classic 1970s LPs entitled ‘Is It Yourself?’ and ‘Spring in the Air,’ with Dublin-born fiddle maestro James Kelly (son of John Kelly, and TG4 Musician of the Year 2006), and Derry-born guitarist (and member of Altan) Dáithí Sproule. Both classic recordings were combined into a single CD entitled ‘Traditional Music of Ireland’ (Shanachie 34014), which continues to influence Irish musicians worldwide.

In September 1994, Paddy received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts that enabled him to record the 500 tunes that comprise The Paddy O’Brien Tune Collection – Volume One: A Personal Treasury of Irish Traditional Music, an impressive and a massive undertaking that has been acclaimed worldwide. Volume Two of this collection followed in 2011, with 150 double jigs, 120 hornpipes, 100 polkas,  100 reels,  and 30 slip jigs. This is a unique corpus, the output of a lifetime’s collection of unusual settings and versions, and some original compositions, with detailed notes.

Over the course of his long career, Paddy has composed approximately fifty tunes, spanning many dance forms within the tradition, including 24 reels, 4 marches, 4 polkas, 1 slide, 9 jigs, 4 airs, and 3 hornpipes. Some of these original pieces have appeared on his numerous recordings, and many were included as part of the Paddy O’Brien Tune Collection. Many of Paddy’s compositions have also been received into the tradition, and played in sessions and recorded by well-respected Irish traditional musical groups, including Solas, Téada, Danú, Trían, Nic Gaviskey, The Boys of the Lough, and Altan, among others.

As a musician, Paddy has played and recorded with a number of different céilí bands and groups since the 1960s: The Ballinamere Céilí Band, The Seán Ryan Trio, The Castle Céilí Band, Ceoltóirí Laighean, Bowhand, Hill 16, and currently O’Rourke’s Feast, Chulrua, and The Doon Céilí Band. His just-released second solo CD, ‘Mixing the Punch,’ features Teresa Baker on piano and guest artist (and fellow Offalyman) Felim Egan on button accordion.

Paddy has a well-earned reputation as a walking encyclopedia of Irish music, and as a highly regarded scholar, composer, and source for tunes. It is estimated that he carries in his head more than 3,000 Irish melodies. His previous honors include a 2006 Artist Fellowship from the Bush Foundation of Saint Paul, Minnesota, and a Lifetime Achievement Honor from the Irish Music & Dance Association in 2010, for his contributions to Irish music and culture in Minnesota.

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For more information, or to schedule an interview with Paddy,

please call + 1 651-698-2258 or e-mail paddyobrien@qwest.net.

PADDY'S WEBSITE:  http://www.paddyobrien.net