Odd One Out’ that are found in many traditional folk tunes. With their unique combination of traditional Irish and Scottish Folk music they have developed a fresh, exciting sound that will appeal to fans of Irish and Scottish traditional music alike. With a sound that spans from ancient sea songs to modern and energetic folk-punk a Celtic cacophony is born. The trio consists of Mike O’Brien, the fiddler and main songwriter. As an outspoken advocate for Irish traditional music he has established a strong reputation through his appearances at festivals, concerts, and in various recordings. Fergal Nagle is a banjo player whose talent on the five-string instrument is matched by his musical skill. He is an excellent and versatile musician and has toured with many top folk artists, played at festivals throughout Ireland and America, including the Galway Races Festival, and on radio, in theatre, film and television. The latest member of the band is drummer/singer Brendan Connolly. In keeping with the spirit of the band’s songs, Brendan brings musicality, humour and his very own style to the music. Together with Mike and Fergal they tour in Ireland and England and have toured in the U.S. three times. In May 2017 the group played at Carnegie Hall in New York. Mike O’Brien – Guitar and vocal, Fergal Nagle – Fiddle and vocal, Brendan Connolly – Drums and vocal Lisa O’Loughlin – Fiddle, accordion, and vocals Lisa O’Loughlin (born April 19, 1960 in Wexford, Ireland) has been playing Celtic music for over thirty years. She has been a member of The Irish Rovers, The Dubliners, The Paddy Moloney Band, and currently plays with her own trio, Lisa O’Loughlin & Friends. In 1991 she won the All Ireland fiddle championship, which earned her an All-Ireland Musician of the Year nomination. In 1996 she won the National Fiddle Championship of Ireland, and was runner-up in the All-Ireland Musician of the Year competition. She has also performed with the National Guard and various folk rock groups around Ireland. Born on an Irish farm, her singing and playing began at the age of three. At seven years old Lisa was attending a Gaelic Summer school in Wales, where the group ‘Girls of the Dublin Hills’ won a prize. Later on at school she was awarded a special prize as being ‘most liked girl in class’. She continued her studies at a music school in Dublin, where she received classical training for the piano, violin, and oboe. Her interest in the violin was short lived, and she soon switched to the harp. She attended Trinity College where she studied music performance, and received her Masters in Music Performance in 1986. With her deep love of Irish traditional music, and a wide vocal range she was drawn into the folk world. Her music is influenced by the great Irish and Scottish harp players such as Mick Moloney, Tommy Peoples, Joe Burke, and Martin Hayes. She started her musical career in 1977 with The Dubliners, at that time one of Ireland’s leading folk groups. She spent three years with the band recording seven albums in all. She worked with members of The Dubliners such as Paddy Reilly, Ronnie Drew and Luke Kelly. She also worked with The Waterboys, on their single ‘This is the Sea’ and with The Pogues on their album ‘Rum, Sodomy, & the Lash’. She has toured extensively in the U.K., Australia, Canada, the USA and Europe. She is an established Irish harpist who has played at major Irish Festivals, and recorded an album of Irish traditional music with her sister Dervla Búlach (a former member of The Dubliners). She has a keen interest in Irish traditional music and in the history and music of her own native country. She is a strong supporter of the Irish language. With the help of her sister Dervla she has toured many festivals in both the Republic and Northern Ireland with her own sister and father harp duo, The O’Loughlin Trio. She has recorded, alongside her father Michael O’Loughlin, an album of traditional Irish music ‘Mo Shanghag’ (Music From the Woods), in their own unique blend of Irish music. In 2005 she took on the role as official fiddler to the Royal National Mòd, the largest gathering of Irish traditional musicians in the world. In 2007, she toured with the famous and well-established group The Dubliners. She has also performed with many other famous Irish musicians, including Christy Moore, Donal Lunny, Sinead O’Connor and John Prine, The Irish Rovers, and most recently, Johnny Duhan, who has described her as being ‘a very fine harpist’. She has contributed to many Irish Folk Sessions and has done several recordings of Traditional Irish music for RTÉ Television. She is also a regular contributor to BBC Radio 2. Lisa has been invited to perform with The Dubliners at the Gathering of the Kings’ in Croke Park, Dublin in 2008. Johnny Duhan – Electric bass guitar, vocals and music director Johnny Duhan was born in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, the fifth of seven children. He started playing the Irish bodhran at the age of eight with his own group The Young Folk, and toured widely with this music. As well as a highly talented musician he also has strong interests in Celtic spirituality and the traditional healing tradition. In the 1970’s Johnny played bass guitar in the award winning Irish band Crux, which achieved popularity and recognition with their live performances. The band was formed with Joe Carty of Crux at its core with the addition of Dave O’Hagan and Joe’s brother Pat Carty. The group toured internationally, and won a record deal with the then leading Irish record company Polydor. Crux achieved a Top Twenty hit in the Irish charts with their song ‘The Wild Colonial Boy’. Crux have continued as an organisation and they played many concerts in Ireland and the U.S. Following Crux, Johnny went on to start a record label that later changed its name to Crux. Through his own record label he brought out the first solo album of one of Ireland’s most celebrated songwriters Paddy Reilly. Johnny also formed the Irish dance band Johnny Duhan and Fancy a Little Dance. Their one-hour sets featured Irish music from the airwaves of The Great Famine, through the Irish ballads of Queen Maeve, the Tailteann Games and the Irish rebel songs of Pearse and O’Connell, to the ragtime of Tommy Peoples and his brothers. Johnny was invited to play at festivals, festivals across Europe and North America, the Gaelic Feis in Canada, and many concerts in Ireland, all of which were attended by many Irish folk musicians and enthusiasts. When Johnny retired to England in 2002 he met Paul Brady, and the two collaborated on a stage show celebrating the music of the Dubliners. The show was so successful that a recording of many of the songs was released as an album. The show was first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2004. Johnny’s next project was ‘Down by the River’ with the musician, singer and songwriter Davey Spillane. This project came to an abrupt halt when Johnny suffered a stroke in December 2004. Over the following two years he fought for his life and it was only with the help of his wife, family, friends and fans that he survived. After a long period of rehabilitation Johnny has returned to performing. In May 2013 Johnny Duhan & Fancy a Little Dance were invited by the Royal National Mòd to play at the Irish festival in Malahide, Co. Dublin, the largest Irish festival in the world. Johnny is also a member of the Board of Directors of Dublin City University’s Irish language centre, the Glór. Johnny has been appointed to the GAA’s Council of Culture. He is also an instructor on the Irish language and culture courses on the National Theatre of Ireland. He has his own weekly show on Irish language radio RTE. Mike Newell (b. July 28, 1967) is a Scottish folk musician and a founding member of the Bellowhead ensemble. His first album, Starlings Overhead, appeared in 1997. Newell has collaborated with many musical luminaries, including Billy Bragg, Fairport Convention, Kate Rusby, Punch and Judy, Lulu, and The Unthanks, and is a founding member of The Unthanks, whose seventh album Love Has Brought Me Peace was released in 2013. Mike Newell – Vocals, Whistle, Accordion and Piano In 2014 Mike, along with co-founding members Martin and Boo Hewerdine, released the duo album ‘A New History of Scotland’ which received widespread critical acclaim in the UK, Europe and USA. In 2015 Newell released a solo album ‘How Much Longer’ which took the music of The Unthanks in a new direction by adding a brass band and a more mainstream, American folk sound to the repertoire. In an interview for the Huffington Post Newell described this style of music as ‘folk-noir’. Mike Newell has contributed to the BBC Radio 2 long-running