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Special Guests
Saturday, March 8, 2003
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Boys of the Lough
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For over thirty years, the BOYS OF THE LOUGH
have taken the musical heritage of their native highlands and islands
to audiences around the world. Drawing from the distinctly individual
traditions of Ireland, Scotland, Shetland and Northumberland, their warm
and vital performances have won them friends from the village halls of
their native lands to international concert and festival stages, including
Carnegie Hall. Now, with over fifty North American tours, nineteen recordings
and two Grammy nominations, the group has reached legendary status. The
Boys of the Lough have established a reputation for technical brilliance
and integrity combined with a ready wit and sense of fun. Although sometimes
melodically complex and difficult to play, their music remains easily
accessible to the listener through its life-giving dance rhythms. The
group features Cathal McConnell on flute, whistle and vocals; Dave Richardson
on English concertina, mandolin, button accordion and cittern; Brendan
Begley on button accordion, melodeon, and vocals; Malcolm Stitt on guitar,
bouzouki and Highland pipes; and Kevin Henderson on fiddle.
PETER OSTROUSHKO is regarded as one
of the finest mandolin and fiddle players in acoustic music, and he's
well known to A Prairie Home Companion listeners as a frequent guest performer
and as the former musical director for the program. Raised amidst Northeast
Minneapolis' Ukrainian community, young Ostroushko taught himself to play
the piano, mandolin, guitar, and eventually fiddle, banjo, bass, and other
string instruments. In the '70s, Ostroushko's first recording session
was an unaccredited mandolin set on Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks.
Ostroushko has an eclectic list of accomplishments: he's collaborated
with numerous local musicians and with national greats such as Emmylou
Harris and Chet Atkins; he's played ukulele with the Minnesota Orchestra
under the direction of Sir Neville Mariner, barked like a dog on The
David Letterman Show, and appeared on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.
His albums are all beautiful and most are interspersed with wry humor,
with song titles such as "Rumba de los Holsteins," "Whalebone
Feathers," and "The Pig's Eye Reel.” When asked how many
albums, besides his own, he had played on, Ostroushko said, "Played
on... well... Hard to say, exactly... five hundred is the number that
comes to mind. It would be right around that..." He's currently working
on a project of old live tracks of the Mando Boys, and he's also transcribing
music of the great Irish fiddler John Dougherty to put in book form. Peter's
most recent CD is called Coming Down from Red Lodge (Red House
Records), and it's due out on March 11. The Red House Records website
is www.redhouserecords.com.
Peter's website is www.peterostroushko.com.
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