I became interested in playing Irish music as a 17-year-old in my decidedly non-Irish hometown of Bemidji, Minnesota. Since 1998 I have lived in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, though I've also spent a sizable chunk of the last 8 years in Cork, Ireland. I back tunes on guitar using the DADGAD tuning. While attending a semester of college at UCC in Cork in 2000 I took up the flute. I also sing and I am the founder of the Twin Cities Traditional Singers Club.
As a member of a number of traditional Irish music groups and duos including Bua, The Tommie Cunniffe Trio, Norah Rendell and Brian Miller, The Two Tap Trio, The Doon Ceili Band, 5 Mile Chase and Laura and the Lads, I have performed throughout the US and in Canada and Ireland.
I am currently researching, arranging and performing songs that were sung by lumberjacks who worked in Minnesota in the late 1800s. The songs above: "Caroline of Edinburgh", "The Roving Irishman" and "The Lumberman's Alphabet" were learned from transcriptions of Minnesotan lumberjack singers. More about my lumberjack songs project. .