PUTNEY, Vt. – Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music celebrate the season with an evening of traditional Irish, British Isles, and original holiday music by John Doyle and Mick McAuley on Thursday, Dec. 19, at 7 p.m., at Next Stage.
Both natives of Ireland and each from musical families, John Doyle and Mick McAuley are true powerhouses in traditional Irish music. Their nearly telepathic musical connection began in the truly groundbreaking Irish-American band Solas. Both now have flourishing high-profile solo careers, and periodically come together to brush off some Solas standards and lots of their individual material, played together, for these magical musical evenings. An Irish Christmas transports audiences to the quiet, small villages of rural Ireland through the songs, tunes, and stories most familiar to these two world-class artists.
Over the past four decades, instrumentalist, composer, producer, and singer-songwriter Doyle has solidly established himself as one of the most versatile, creative, and prolific voices in folk and traditional Irish music. In 1994, Doyle brought his brilliant and innovative guitar stylings to the nascent Irish supergroup Solas, which soon took the folk and Celtic music worlds by storm. With Solas, he performed internationally to sold out audiences, and appeared on many television and radio programs, including NBC’s “The Today Show,” “A Prairie Home Companion,” “Mountain Stage,” “E-Town,” and “World Cafe.” As part of that critically acclaimed group, he also received three NAIRD awards and a Grammy nomination. In the years since going out on his own, Doyle has recorded two solo albums, and has become a highly sought-after accompanist and session player for the likes of Joan Baez, Eileen Ivers, Tim O’Brien, Linda Thompson, Seamus Egan, Alison Brown, and Kate Rusby.
Multiinstrumentalist, composer, and songwriter McAuley’s music is rooted firmly in the Irish tradition, but McAuley has always been part of a movement that pushes the musical boundaries of that tradition, bringing Irish music to a wider and more diverse audience around the world. He found the ideal balance of traditional and contemporary in the instrumentals and songs of the newly formed Solas while in the bustling Irish music scene of New York in the mid-1990s, and went on to record and tour nine albums with the band. McAuley has been a guest on many recordings and performances by the likes of Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patty Larkin, Paul Brennan (Clannad), Susan McKeown, and Mick Hanly, and since 2015 has played melodeons for 17-time Grammy winner Sting in his autobiographical theater production “The Last Ship.” McAuley’s debut solo album “An Ocean’s Breadth” was awarded Best Celtic Album of the Year by the Washington Post.
Next Stage is located at 15 Kimball Hill in downtown Putney, Vt. For information, call 802-387-0102. Advance tickets are available at www.nextstagearts.org. Next Stage will provide a beer, wine, and cocktail cash bar.