A Prairie Home Companion from American Public Media

Special Guests
Saturday, December 2, 2006

The Boys of the Lough

The Irish Times described the Boys of the Lough's music as "full of guts and technical brilliance." No argument here. The group, which has helped to keep the centuries-old music of Ireland and Scotland close to its roots, was formed in 1967. Since then, they've done more than 60 U.S. tours, in addition to their performances worldwide. Dave Richardson (mandolin, cittern, English concertina, button accordion) is from Northumberland, the border country between England and Scotland, where he grew up in Wallsend-on-Tyne. Cathal McConnell (flute, whistles), one of the founding members of the group, hails from County Fermanagh, in Northern Ireland. Kevin Henderson (fiddle) is from the Shetland Islands. Brendan Begley (button accordion, melodeon) comes from the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, and Malcolm Stitt (guitar) grew up in Fort William in the Scottish Highlands. He moved to Glasgow to study recording and production, but soon found himself playing music full time. The Boys of the Lough's latest album—their twentieth—is aptly titled Twenty (Lough Records).

The Battlefield Band

Named after the Glasgow suburb of Battlefield, where the group was formed by four student friends, The Battlefield Band has spent more than 30 years living up to their motto "Forward with Scotland's Past" and bringing their innovative blend of traditional Scottish and modern music to venues worldwide. Although fiddle, bagpipes and guitar are common instruments in Celtic bands, The Battlefield Band is credited with being the first to add synthesizer. The current line-up features founding member Alan Reid on keyboards, guitar and vocals; Mike Katz — originally from Los Angeles — on pipes, whistles, and bass guitar; Sean O'Donnell from Derry, Northern Ireland, on guitar and vocals; and Alasdair White, from the island of Lewis, one of the Gaelic-speaking Outer Hebrides, on fiddle, whistle, banjo, bazouki, pipes and bodhran. The group's latest CD — with immigration as its central theme — is titled The Road of Tears (Temple Records).

Andy Stein

Andy Stein (violin, saxophone) definitely has far-flung musical leanings, He collaborated with Garrison Keillor to create the opera Mr. and Mrs. Olson, and he's performed with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Eric Clapton, Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles and Bob Dylan.