Karan Casey Trio and The Alt

Tuesday, September 13, 2022 IMT presents Karan Casey Trio and The Alt (co-bill)

Saint Mark Presbyterian Church | 10701 Old Georgetown Rd, Rockville, MD 20852 | 7pm

Tickets: $30 advance/$35 at door (Children & Students w ID) $25 advance/$30 at door  (+$2 service fee)

Karan Casey Trio
Legendary Irish folk singer Karan Casey has released 11 albums to date. She has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Japan, singing songs charged with a sense of social responsibility in a career spanning over 25 years. Karan is joined by Niamh Dunne on fiddle and vocals, and guitarist and accordionist Sean Óg Graham (both of the Irish folk band Beoga). The evocative trio have toured together for several years and this show premieres new material developed and recorded since the start of the pandemic as well as favourites from Karan’s back repertoire. The songs draw inspiration from a wide range of sources from the personal to the historical and political, touching on themes of family, loss, love, the empowerment of women and Irish revolutionary struggle.

Touring extensively throughout North America, Europe and Japan, Karan Casey
has collaborated with such diverse musicians as James Taylor, Bela Fleck, Boston Pops
Orchestra, Liam Clancy, Maura O’Connell, The Chieftains, The Dubliners, Peggy Seeger,
Karen Matheson, Tim O’Brien, Solas and Lúnasa.

The Alt
The beautiful mountain Knocknarea in Ireland’s County Sligo is said to be the final resting place of the ancient Irish warrior-queen Maeve. The ‘Alt’ is a storied glen on the side of Knocknarea, and it was in the shadow of this glen in the little village of Coolaney that the three master Irish traditional musicians in The Alt—John Doyle, Nuala Kennedy, and Eamon O’Leary—first gathered to rehearse. Each player in The Alt is a leading light of today’s folk scene and though this could be easily called a supergroup, at its heart The Alt is really a celebration of friendship and song. The old ballads, winding tunes, and freshly discovered songs that each artist brought to the table reflect the pure love of the song that has made Irish music so beautiful and compelling over thousands of years. It’s this same love of the song that the Irish brought to America, nestling into their new homes in Appalachia and forming the bedrock that would bring us American country, bluegrass, and old-time music. The Alt are fully aware of this history, and in fact chose to record their debut album in the quiet isolation of a small cabin in North Carolina’s Appalachian mountains. Alone with just the scurrying sounds of little mice accompanying them, each of these master musicians was able to use their partnership to touch at something deeper in the music, something swift and beautiful and magical that has always run beneath these songs.