The global ambassadors for Irish music visit the Norton Center for the Arts
The Chieftains
7:30 p.m. February 15 at Newlin Hall of the Norton Center for the Arts, 600 W. Walnut in Danville. $52-$75. 859-236-4692. nortoncenter.com, thechieftains.com.
“If I’m going too fast, let me know.”
That’s the friendly point of guidance made by Paddy Moloney, at present on the phone from Dublin, as he rattles off the glossary of accomplishments and activities of the Chieftains, the multiple Grammy winning band (“We have six of them, you know”) that has been the world’s most accepted performers of traditional Irish music for nearly six decades.
At 81, Moloney speaks with the exactness and animation of an artist a generation or two younger. His speaking tone, in fact, is remarkably akin to the music of the Chieftains. It is light, dance-like and richly spirited. Sentences in his conversation are colored by frequent rounds of laughter.
“You know, when you think you should be giving up, holy heavens, everything gets bigger and better. People still come on to the shows. You would think by now they would say, ‘Isn’t it time we got rid of these guys?’”
As chieftain of the Chieftains, Moloney has served as the band’s producer, primary composer, arranger, manager and frontman. Onstage and on record, his musical contributions come from the colors of tin whistle and Uilleann pipes he adds to the band’s array of airs, jigs and reels. More than that, he has become a global ambassador for Irish music. He brought the Chieftains to audiences with Pope John Paul II and Queen Elizabeth II. He has created opportunities for the band to record with such varied pop luminaries as Elvis Costello, Sting and the Rolling Stones. And speaking of recording opportunities, he has fashioned albums that adhere to solely Ireland’s glorious traditional past (seek out any of the band’s works released in the ‘60s and ‘70s for proof), collaborations with American country and bluegrass artists and specific projects that explore largely forgotten regions of Celtic influence (like the Spanish/Celtic connection highlighted on the Galician music from 1996’s “Santiago” album).
And, yes, there have been the Grammy wins in areas of folk, pop, country and world music. But none of the projects made Moloney and the Chieftains shift course from their devotion to traditional Irish music. The collaborators and compositions may have varied, but the music has remained rooted around a gorgeously ancient makeup of harp, bodhran (a hand held Celtic drum), flute, pipes/whistles and twin fiddles.
“From a very early age, I had an ear for music, for various tunes and songs,” Moloney said “It’s a God given gift picking up the pieces very quickly. That took me all the way through. What’s gone through this tiny head of mine are thousands and thousands of tunes and pieces of music. Sometimes I’ll sit down at a soundcheck before a concert and I’ll start to play something and think, ‘I haven’t played this for years’ and it just comes out. Everybody looks up and goes, ‘What’s that?’ But that’s what happens with this band.”
The years have whittled what were stable six and seven member lineups from the ’70s, ‘80s and ‘90s down to a core trio – Moloney, flutist Matt Molloy (who joined in 1979) and vocalist/bodhran player Kevin Conneff (a member since 1976). But the trio expands to as much as a 10-artist unit onstage with a team of auxiliary fiddlers, harpists and dancers, some of which of have been touring members of the band for over a decade. In addition, the Chieftains still embrace a tradition of inviting artists from the cities they visit to join them during performances. The Norton Center concert will feature onstage reinforcement from the Kentucky United Pipes and Drums band and the Danville choir Sounding Joy and Resonance.
“It’s just great,” Moloney said of the collaborations. “We don’t have to set what we do down. We never did that very much in the past, anyway. I was giving everyone their freedom as to the interpretation of the music and songs. I would put the shapes together, as Van Morrison said to me when we did his ‘Irish Heartbeat’ album (in 1988). He’d say (affecting Morrison’s raspy Irish tenor), ‘Great shapes, Paddy. Great shapes.’”
“It’s been an absolute wonderful journey. This is was what I was born to do, I think. My grandmother was a flute player and I started playing when I was nine years of age. I just went from there. Music was always in my head, just wanting me to play it and meet with people. There were tough times now and again because I also managed the band. But I steered them, hopefully, in the fray.”
The Steeldrivers/Eric Bolander
7 p.m. Feb. 14 at Manchester Music Hall, 899 Manchester St. $22.50 to $35. 859-537-7321. manchestermusichall.com, thesteeldrivers.com.
Despite his mammoth sellout spectacle the same evening at Rupp Arena, Luke Bryan is not the sole owner of Valentines Night concert fun in downtown Lexington. Just down the block, Manchester Music Hall will welcome the return of the soul-infused bluegrass troupe The Steeldrivers.
A reliable club draw for the past decade, the band released its fifth album, “Bad for You,” as recently as last week. The record is its first recording with new lead singer, Berea native Kelvin Damrell. While he has already been in the Steeldrivers ranks for two years, the new record marks a sense of permanence for a group with a revolving door lineup of vocalists.
Damrell replaces Alabama singer Gary Nichols, who helped the Steeldrivers win a Grammy for its 2015 album “The Muscle Shoals Recordings.” Nichols, in turn, was recruited as a Steeldriver following the departure of the band’s original singer, a Lexington-born performer by the name of Chris Stapleton.
Get to this show early to beat the inevitable Combs-induced traffic jams. You will be rewarded. Opening for the Steeldrivers will be one of Central Kentucky’s finest song stylists, Eric Bolander.