Norah Rendell sings and plays Irish flute and whistle “with a degree of style and sensitivity envied by many” says Tim Carroll of FolkWords. In Canada, Norah has performed live on the CBC and at the Mission Folk Festival, the Rogue Folk Club and venues throughout British Columbia and Alberta as a founding member of Canadian roots band Cleia. In 2005, Norah was awarded a grant from the Canada Council for Performing Arts to study traditional flute and singing in Ireland. She kept busy, earning an MA in Irish traditional music from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in between island hopping excursions to such venues as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Sidmouth and Whitby Folk Festivals with the UK/Ireland-based band The Outside Track. Since relocating to Minneapolis, Norah has joined the ultratraditional Doon Ceili Band led by County Offaly’s Paddy O’Brien.

Esteemed Irish music critic Earle Hitchner writes that “the backing of [Brian] Miller on guitar flexes not just muscle but a fully complementary style.” Also an accomplished singer and flute player, Miller began playing Irish music as a high-schooler in Bemidji, Minnesota. He has been a highly visible character in the Twin Cities Irish music scene since 1998, while often sneaking away to his other adopted home of Cork, Ireland. As a member of a number of groups and duos including The Tommie Cunniffe Trio, Gan Bua, The Doon Ceili Band, 5 Mile Chase and Laura and the Lads, Miller has performed throughout the US, Canada and Ireland. In Ireland he has been featured on TG4, RTE television and RTE radio. The Irish Times called his guitar accompaniment on Tommie Cunniffe’s 2007 solo album “superb”.

Date: Sunday Aug 24th 2008
Time: 7:00 pm
Suggested Donation: $15.00
Reservations: 913-904-1285 or email concerts_AT_bigplain_DOT_com

Mason Brown you know already from our house concerts, with his disgracefully excellent guitar playing, funky banjo chops, warm voiced songs and gentle wit. Jed Marum is known as a gifted singer, a unique and talented player and an accomplished songwriter. He is a warm and comfortable performer with a story to tell and gift for the telling.

Jed Marum albums play regularly on Folk/Bluegrass and Celtic radio programs around the world. His music is also distributed widely on all the major MP3 services. Throughout the US each year Jed plays over 150 shows at festival, club and concert venues and his 2007 touring plans include performance dates in Canada and Mexico as well.

Reflected in his song writing and song selection is a keen interest in history and the passing of culture from generation to generation. Jed performs traditional songs and contemporary songs in musical style that is both Celtic and American, with strong Bluegrass roots.

Nicky Rossiter is host of STORIES on Irelands South East Radio says,

“Jed Marum has his genetic roots in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Those genes must come from a long line of bards and storytellers to judge from his recorded output. I have collected a number of albums from this troubadour and he never fails to deliver.”

James P. Gannon former Wall Street Journal editor and author of “Irish Rebels, Confederate Tigers” writing about one of Jed songs said,

“Prayer from Little Round Top is the song one of the great Irish poets might have written had he marched to Gettysburg with Jed’s Irish immigrant from Alabama. The melody seems to well up from some misty glen in Connemara, wrapping the soldiers sad story in a teardrop. It may mark me as a sentimental Irish man to say this, but if you can listen to this haunting song without finding your eyes moistening, then somewhere along life’s way, you’ve lost your soul.”

Singer/songwriter and canvas artist Steve Howard has been performing his original music in bands, trios, duos in New Mexico, Colorado and Texas for some thirty odd years, and, for past three years, as a solo act in and around Taos, New Mexico. Steve’s unique acoustic sound evolved from many musical influences and might best be described as a popular rock influenced Americana with
a backdrop of C&W.

“I’m traveling Kansas now singing and performing my new CD ‘Last Call at Lascaux’……for any Kansans willing to take a chance on a singer they have surely never heard of, they should come on out and give it a listen….life and live music is a gamble!!”

John Steven Howard

“If you have ever wanted to hear a performer whose songs and lyrics come straight from the heart…listen to John Steven Howard”.
Stewart Herd - Taos New Mexico

“Howard’s haunting melodies, along with his soft touch acoustic guitar style, reveal the temperament of a poet. He also throws in some edgier tunes surrounding his wry social commentary”
Stan Herd - Lawrence Kansas

“Irish music with a wonderfully rich and earthy sound…and an infectious spirit and vitality that translates into bright, uplifting music that will make you smile.”
Dirty Linen

Matt and Shannon met playing tunes in the Irish traditional music hotbed of Chicago. Since then, they have spent many nights playing sessions in the States and Ireland, and performing in festivals, concerts and clubs throughout America. Their shows feature strong and lean acoustic music that leaps from one mood to the next, with a killer sense of time, bucketloads of emotion, and plenty of fantastic stories from the road.

Date: Sunday October 14th
Time: 7:00 pm
Suggested Donation: $15.00
Reservations: 913-620-1821 or email concerts_AT_bigplain_DOT_com