Wake the Dead

Saturday May 30, 3pm

World's First Celtic All-Star Grateful Dead Jam Band

• As an expression of cultural joy, you can’t top an Irish wake. And what is a wake but a celebration—a toast of appreciation—an expression of love—and a damn good party? So when eight top Bay Area musicians realized they shared as deep a love for the songs of the Grateful Dead as they did for traditional Celtic tunes, some brand-new music sprang up and started partying
• WAKE THE DEAD is a romp that flows seamlessly from rock grooves to hot Irish reels, and from haunting airs to achingly beautiful melodies familiar to Deadheads everywhere. “Sugaree” in waltz time, bracketed by an ancient harp tune and infused with a poignant Celtic longing. “Bertha” thundering out of “China Cat” on a mandolin tidal wave. The eerie lilt of the uilleann pipes, giving a glow to “Bird Song” as if it was always meant to be there. Groove jams to keep the tie-dye swirling. Vocal harmonies that float like clouds. The music takes off, and the band follows, grinning all the way. These aren’t worlds colliding—they’re worlds meshing, coalescing—creating a whole new world of possibility, and true to the spirits of the Grateful Dead and the eternally hopeful Celts.
• WAKE THE DEAD has wowed concert and festival crowds from San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium to the Oregon Country Fair. National radio play and concert tapers are spreading the music wider every day. The first album is a huge success, and the second, Buckdancer’s Choice, is now everywhere on Redwing Records.
• WAKE THE DEAD bands together eight of the best-known and most respected players in the west. Harper Maureen Brennan has performed widely for over 20 years. Her recorded works include three solo CDs and the acclaimed “Harpistry” collection. Bassist Cindy Browne, enlisted from the eclectic world ensemble Next Village, is equally at home in folk and jazz, touring from Jordan to Japan. Singer, fiddler, and fretman Danny Carnahan is a two-time NAIRD “Indie” award winner whose original Irish-tinged songs (including a collaboration with Robert Hunter) are popular worldwide. Kevin Carr is a musical triplethreat, renowned in the U.S. and Canada as a dance fiddler, a pennywhistler, and Irish piper par excellence. Irrepressible percussionist and multi-instrumental dynamo Joe Craven performed and recorded with Jerry Garcia and has toured for the past decade with David Grisman. Sylvia Herold’s delicious vocal phrasing can be heard on her two solo CDs and in her concerts with several popular swing bands. Paul Kotapish is known far and wide for his concerts and recordings with Kevin Burke’s Open House, and for his blazing guitar and mandolin with The Hillbillies From Mars. And percussionist Brian Rice, with his expertise in Latin rhythm, rounds out the band’s groove engine.

Wake the Dead

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