8th Annual Celtic Appalachian Celebration

Mick Moloney (musical director, tenor banjo, octave mandolin, vocals), originally from County Limerick, was a member of The Johnstons folk group in Ireland before coming to the U.S. in 1973. In America, he teamed up with the much-loved fiddler Eugene O’Donnell while pursuing a Ph.D. in folklore at the University of Pennsylvania. They played together for over twenty years. He also performed during this time and recorded extensively with Robbie O’Connell and Jimmy Keane. Now a professor of music and Irish studies at New York University, Moloney is also a producer and performer in over 60 recordings and several documentary films, author of Far from the Shamrock Shore: The Story of Irish American History Through Song, editor of Close to the Floor: The Story of Irish Dance in America, and the recipient of the National Heritage Award. He currently plays with a variety of musicians including The Green Fields of America, an all-star group he formed in 1978 which helped launch the careers of young artists such as Eileen Ivers, Seamus Egan, Jean Butler, and Michael Flatley. In 2007, his album McNally’s Row of Flats from Compass Records was awarded the title of Best Irish Traditional Music Album of the Year by the Irish Echo and Top Album of the Year by Irish Livies, the latter awarded again for his 2009 album If It Wasn’t For the Irish and the Jews. Most recently, Moloney was awarded a 2013 Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad, and a 2014 Gradam Ceoil Lifetime Achievement Award from TG4.

Photo credit: Amanda Gentile 

Athena Tergis (fiddle) hails from a musical family in San Francisco where she released her first album at age 16. She followed her passion for traditional music to Ireland and joined the Sharon Shannon Band. Tergis was also the featured violinist in the production of Riverdance on Broadway. She spent over a year on tour with Bruce Springsteen’s sax player, Clarence Clemmons. In 2001 she joined Mick Moloney and Billy McComiskey in The Green Fields of America, releasing their self-titled album on Compass Records along with her solo album, A Letter Home, and a PBS documentary, Absolutely Irish! Tergis is a regular principal soloist and composer with the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Photo credit: Amanda Gentile 

Billy McComiskey (accordion), originally from Brooklyn, has been playing the accordion for over 50 years, studying alongside many of the finest Irish immigrant musicians of the 20th century. He has been hailed as “the best Irish accordion player in America” and sits at the center of the revival of traditional music with the trail-blazing group The Irish Tradition, performing in Washington D.C., the Catskills, and his adopted home in Baltimore, Maryland, where he is considered the Godfather of Irish music. An All-Ireland champion in 1986, he has either taught or deeply influenced many prominent traditional Irish musicians throughout the United States and has performed with Mick Moloney since the late 1970s in The Green Fields of America. McComiskey also plays in the quintessential Irish-American trad band The Pride of New York, a first-generation group of tradition-bearers who have played in Ireland and major festivals in the U.S.

Photo credit: Amanda Gentile

Liz Hanley (fiddle, vocals), a native of Boston, is one of the top young musicians in the New York Irish music scene. She plays the fiddle with great energy and flair and sings with a repertoire spanning multiple genres, including rock, hip-hop, classical, and Irish traditional. Hanley graduated from New York University with a Bachelor’s of Music in classical violin performance and has toured the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia. She can be seen playing around New York in seisiúns and with the likes of Mick Moloney and Frogbelly and Symphony. Her debut album, The Ecstasy of St. Cecilia, was released in 2013.

Photo credit: Amanda Gentile

Brenda Castles comes from a rich tradition of music in Co. Meath, having learned concertina and singing from great Irish masters. She has won several All Ireland Fleadh titles—the top honor in Irish traditional music—and traveled around the world including Hong Kong, Rekjavik, and Taipei. Castles is currently based between Dublin and New York, where she regularly performs and teaches music. She released her debut solo album, Indeedin You Needn't Bother in 2016. She's been a performer in two Celtic Sojourn productions and is often a guest performer with the Green Fields of America. 

Niall O'Leary (dancer) is a former All-Ireland and World Champion dancer from Dublin, Ireland. His teachers included Kevin Massey, proclaimed by Michael Flatley to be “the greatest ever Irish dancer,” and Rory O'Connor, the first man to do Irish dancing on radio. The Niall O’Leary School of Irish Dance has been building the Irish dance community and training champions since 1995, and currently has locations in New York City, Miami, and Mexico. Based in New York City for more than 20 years, O’Leary performs regularly as a solo artist, in duet with Darrah Carr, with Mick Moloney’s Green Fields of America, and with his professional company, the Niall O’Leary Irish Dance Troupe. He is a performer, choreographer, master instructor and adjudicator in Irish dance, and most recently a performer and instructor in Celtic Tap Improv, a new genre he created. He is the artistic director of the New York City Irish Dance Festival presented by Irish Arts Center in May each year. O’Leary was honored to be an adjudicator for the 2018 World Irish Dance Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. He has recently recorded a new video, Celtic Tap Improv: Introduction, Instruction and Deconstruction. O’Leary is a regular feis adjudicator and musician, playing piano-accordion and keyboards; he also plays spoons and bodhrán. He was founding chairperson of Úll Mór CCÉ, the first Manhattan branch of Comhaltas (1997), and served as president of the Irish Business Organization of NY Inc. (2010-11). He is founding president of the new Manhattan branch of Conradh na Gaeilge (2017). Additionally, O’Leary practices as an architect. O’Leary has been honored by Irish America magazine as one of the Top 100 Irish-Americans of the Year, and by the Irish Echo as a community champion.

Photo credit: Amanda Gentile

Since Danny’s father Bob Paisley (founder of Southern Grass) passed away in 2004, Danny Paisley and The Southern Grass have made their niche in the bluegrass world. Producing consecutive chart-topping albums, the group has been given over 15 Bluegrass Music Award nominations and won the 2009 IBMA Song of the Year for “Don’t Throw Mama’s Flowers Away.” In 2016, Danny was awarded the IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year. 

With Danny Paisley on guitar, Southern Grass continues the family tradition adding Danny’s son Ryan on mandolin, the next generation of up and coming pickers. Southern Grass continues the rich musical heritage of started by Bob Paisley and Ted Lundy with Danny on guitar and Lundy’s sons, T.J. and Bobby, on fiddle and bass/vocals, respectively. Southern Grass also includes Mark Delaney (formerly with Randy Waller and the Country Gentlemen, and Darren Beachley & Legends of the Potomac) on banjo. 

Photo credit: Soleil Photography

Megan Downes (dancer), artistic director of City Stompers, performs improvisational flatfooting in the Southern Appalachian tradition, contemporary Irish sean nós, and American clogging. She is a dance caller, leading Irish sets, Southern squares, and céilí dances. She'll teach anyone who asks how to move and make rhythm with their feet to the music they love. Take class with Megan at Theatre 80 St. Mark's, where they play Irish music late into the night every Monday. Before graduating from Hunter College High School and Smith College, Megan spent her youth training in competitive step dance with National Heritage Fellow Donny Golden. She spent 17 years with Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble directed by Fiddle Puppets co-founder and Green Grass Cloggers alumna Eileen Carson and Mark Schatz. Fun fact: a member of SAG-AFTRA and ASCAP, Megan is known for co-writing the popular Uncle Earl song “Crayola” with folk phenom Kristin Andreassen.