Laura O'Kelly: News

It's been an eventful past few months to say the least! The chicks hatched just fine and are laying now. (As it happens, there's another round to go in the incubator this weekend!) We skipped the annual apple butter making last year; Luke and I were married at his parents' farm this past fall. We've been playing out here and there, mostly very local or private events. It's a good combination of Irish and American folk - real upbeat porch music. We'll get out more as the weather improves and the flock allows. Be sure to check the calendar!

In teaching news, I have some really great fiddle and violin students, and am very excited to have started a Fiddle Ensemble. In the course of doing that I'm also kind of writing my own fiddle book. Should have it done in about ten years or so...reserve your copy now. 8^)

Otherwise, looking forward to this Friday's session at Round Hill!

The short story since March - the garden is in full force. We've had THE BEST tomatoes and peppers thanks to Shawna & Attila at Mountain View Farm. The chickens provide hours of entertainment, but evidently not enough; we've got 45 eggs in the incubator, set to hatch next Friday....

I am excited to announce my return to private teaching! I will be giving fiddle/violin lessons with the Allegro Community Music School in Vint Hill, and also with the Community Music School of the Piedmont in Upperville or thereabouts. Private lessons are just the start, but more on that later. Contact the schools directly if you are interested. (Links are on the links page.)

Speaking of links, sometimes we get the opportunity to meet some really cool musicians who are not only musically gifted but all around good people as well. Just wanted to let you know about a group we met at Beaverstock this summer, the Rust Kings. They call their music "Appalachian Stompgrass" and we think that's pretty fitting. Great music, awesome originals and some of the best vocal harmonies you could hope to hear. You can find their site on the links page as well. Check 'em out!

If you were there, you know what we mean! Thanks to all who came out to Auld Shebeen, McMahon's and Fado's, and congratulations to all of our prizewinners!!! A special congrats to those who won the coveted "Instant Irish Accent Mouth Spray"...'tis grand things we'll be expectin' from ye. Rita, hope you did well at the DC 8k despite a lack of the Unicorn song (no! nay! never!!!). Jim, thanks for everything and send us your chiropractor's bill, heh heh. Lessons from the weekend: If you're stuck in DC at 3 in the morning looking for anyone who'll deliver, look no further than "Good Danny's" pizza AND chinese. The new cornbread pancakes at IHOP are a balm for the hungry southern soul, and the Irish breakfast at McMahon's is tough to beat on either side of the Atlantic. Was there music somewhere between all that food?

Well, it is the longest day of the year and I've already overslept...hmm. June has been a fabulous month - TRASNA played at the Hampton Blackbeard Festival again this year. Thanks to everyone who came out - we had a blast, didn't we? Lots of great bands and of course, a lot of "ARRRRRR!" To the little kid in the back of Mill Point Park: yes, you ARE Spiderman! The fireworks were pretty incredible too. There was this "waterfall" thing off the bridge; imagine all of Hampton giving one collective "ooooh". The Grand Pirate's Ball was in a lovely new spot this year, and we all enjoyed dressing up in our piratey best. Thanks to the Sirens of Shimmy for providing spectacular choreographed entertainment at both shows - see ya next year!

We finished June off with another great weekend at the Potomac Celtic Festival. If we could only do this festival twice a year....the best fans, staff, volunteers and sound crew, not to mention the musicians, artisans, performers, and of course, the kettle corn and ginger beer! Seriously, there is never a quiet moment at this festival. Speaking of which, I think we managed to hold our own against the pipers this year. We'll be practicing our "pipe band set" and next year we'll be ready....

Made a recent return to the Blue Ridge Environmental Center for the Loudoun Co. Farm Tour. Thanks to Shawna and Attila for having us!

For Luke and I, this marked the debut performance of our 'duo.' (We reserve the right to expand.) When traditional Irish, old-time and bluegrass meet, they find common ground in: Old Virginia. Look for 'Old Virginia' shirts sometime in the future.

It also marked the start of tomato planting season for us. We walked out of the tour with several varieties of tomatoes, some of which we have completely forgotten the variety of. Mystery tomatoes...should make for an interesting summer!

Wow! What a busy past few months. We enjoyed seeing new and familiar faces at the St. Pat's shows; had a great time in Fredericksburg hanging out with the Dublin City Ramblers! And...Luke and I went to see Doc Watson. Words cannot express, so I'll just let you know it was an incredible show. In my top 5 for sure. Now I've got a slight break until June which is great cause it's gardening time!

Yikes it's been a while! October was great - the Richmond Games, what can I say? This was my fourth (fifth? I think fourth) year playing there and it is always a complete blast. A million thanks to everyone who came out to hear TRASNA and supported us. (Luke and I would also like to thank Dewar's for their unofficial contribution to our statuary; I can't believe it fit in the Altima!) We rounded out the month at Colonial Tavern with Brittany on bass(es) - always amazing to play with her. I hope you caught it! Now on to November - I'll be doing some guest recording with at least one other band this month, and then joining Gilfanon for their CD release next week. Plus I've rejoined the ranks of the gainfully employed. I'm now officially THIS MANY + two days. (Naah, I don't think I have enough extremities to even hint at my age anymore.) Still less than 30 though.... And since I still haven't gotten out to see her yet, Welcome Home, Ariane! (for another week)

You can find some lyrics from "TRASNA - blueridgecelticfusion" on the "Music" page. (I'll add the rest later and we'll get them up on the main site, uhh, we'll just say "later".) Show updates a-comin' soon....

The new TRASNA CD is officially being released tonight! (So what if we've already unofficially released it...twice...) We're pretty proud of it. You can hear/buy/write a review of it online at www.cdbaby.com/trasna. Tell us what you thought!

Took a giant leap towards having the TRASNA CD completed today...it would appear the universe is still favorably aligned. Must be something to do with the discovery of a new planet! I'll be recording with Lost in Rotation at their studio next week, looking forward to that as well. Otherwise I'm enjoying some good quality fiddle time. I wrote a new tune the other day on the front porch, but as with all tunes you develop this paranoia over whether you actually wrote it or did you hear it somewhere and it's just been stuck in your head? (If it's really cool, then you're pretty much like, "I MUST have heard this somewhere.") In my case, I'm pretty sure it was inspired by some old field recordings of French Canadian fiddling that I've been listening to in the car. My name is Laura, and I am a fiddle dork.

Sorry, my cleverness levels are currently too low to manufacture a snappy headline. July started off for me by catching the Grand Ole Opry at Wolf Trap - heard some great fiddling, some great everything really - and learned that Ricky Skaggs once lived in Manassas? Or so I was led to believe. (Aside from being a great venue, Wolf Trap also has these amazingly good Godiva ice-cream bars, which of course only enhances the musical experience.) And I just got back from a few days at Topsail Island, NC. So far July is good.
Later this month I'm looking forward to recording a few tracks with Gilfanon. More on that as it progresses. I've had one of their songs stuck in my head lately (happily). It's gonna be fun. There's some more exciting stuff coming up that we'll get to later, and of course the Trasna CD release (details soon, honestly, I promise)! All good timing seeing as how I've finally wrapped up four years as a strings teacher and now am on to...???

Two great festivals this month! TRASNA had a blast at the Blackbeard Festival in Hampton, VA. We started off at the Grand Pirate's Ball (great pirate costumes; I don't think I saw a single eyepatch) and finished with Saturday's block party - a couple hundred people, great weather, and fireworks at the very end - it couldn't have been any better. (OK, if the Razz slushy machine had been in operation, that would have been pretty cool.) Then it was back in high gear for a few days finishing up the CD, which sadly didn't get done in time for the Potomac Celtic Festival but I hope we made up for it at the shows! It was awesome to catch up with some old faces and meet tons of new ones, and to be part of the festival in general. I remember back when it was at Oatlands and just thinking...wow.... I was in high school back then and I thought, OK, one day I'm gonna play here. So to finally realize that was super cool, and to have such great audiences was amazing! And then I saw someone actually buy a TRASNA t-shirt...talk about a compliment. On top of all that, the festival was great. There were tons of incredible bands (I listened to Kevin Burke twice), spent too much money (so if you're reading this, maybe you want to buy a couple t-shirts?!), and evaded sunburn. It was a great time and thanks to everyone who made it possible. Now on to the CD release!

Apologies in advance to my friends and family - I've got a busy few weeks ahead. (But then it's been a busy few months...) To the $900 Tacos, I haven't forgotten about ya!
But let me tell you all, I am super-excited about this weekend's events: TRASNA at Molly's and playing with Luke Cullinane at the Blue Ridge Center. I would try and write about how he's a great guitarist or how incredible his voice is, but as the saying goes, "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." Come out and hear for yourself! If you can't make it I recommend clogging about the Sistine Chapel.

Saw Doctors and Great Big Sea at Wolftrap, August 9th!
Plan on having no voice left on the 10th....

It's St. Pat's pre-season! You want to look as green and crisp as an Irish morning...a Lucky Charms shamrock before adding milk...a new $100 bill. Whatever your inspiration, be sure to check the Calendar to assist you in your plans! (But remember, this is a serious holiday and as such, green plastic bowlers and silk carnations are strictly prohibited.)

There's snow tomorrow, head for the hills! Tonight, however, be sure to catch TRASNA at the Colonial Tavern...

TRASNA is in full swing working on the CD and stuff. In fact, I should be doing some work in that department right now, but it's a lot more fun to play with new toys, right? Hostbaby's got this new web-design wizard and so far it's awesome! (Just bear with me as I get my end of it together.)