I know it's 6 months early, but NTIF has announced their headliners

The North Texas Irish Festival, which will be held from February 28 through March 2, 2014, has announced their Headliners for the upcoming event:

Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy

Solas

Dervish

Nuala Kennedy Trio

Makem and Spain Brothers

Ed Miller

The Máirtín de Cógáin Project

The Town Pants

We Banjo 3

For more information, go to the Headliners page at the NTIF website, it looks like a great festival indeed!

NTIF Announces 2011 Headliners

I just wandered over to their website and found that they have announced their headliners and the theme Ireland, I Am Coming Home, and are they ever:

Altan
Brock McGuire Band
Cathie Ryan
Dervish
Ed Miller (they have to have at least ONE Scot!)
The Elders
Glengarry Bhoys
Jed Marum and Lonestar Stout
Tommy Sands
McPeake

Host hotel once again is the Radisson Central Dallas (6060 North Central Expressway, across from SMU at Mockingbird Lane, and, if you book before the end of the year, you can get a NTIF rate of $87 (Use NTIF as the promo code).

I never miss this, and if you love Celtic music, neither should you!

Have you made your reservations for Dallas yet?

The North Texas Irish Festival takes place March 5-7 at Fair Park in Dallas, and they have a great lineup listed on their site. If, like me, you don't live in the Metroplex, you need to book reservations now at the host hotel, the Radisson Central Dallas on the North Central Expressway just north of Mockingbird Lane. When you call the Radisson, remember to use the code NTIF (duh!) to get the NTIF rate of $83 (plus a 15% local hotel/motel tax).

We hope to see you there!!

It's over, and it's been wonderful.

There will be pictures up when we get home, but we are back at the hotel after a terrific North Texas Irish Festival, and we have some good news. Coming up Saturday night anfd Sunday for brunch, Legacy, along with Jimmy Crowley and Mairtin de Cogain, will be appearing at Celtic Crossing; more on that when we get back.

Highlights of the weekend included great sets by Clandestine, Ed Miller (who had Jil Chambliss and Scooter Muse of Henri's Notions playing alongside him), Slide, and the return of our friend Maggie Drennon, who has been battling illness for the last few years. Her voice was impeccable, like she'd never been away.

Last night's sessions were split up; there were three Irish sessions, and one Texas-flavored singer-songwriter circle that was awesome. While Lauren stayed with the straight sessions, I went to the Texas session, led by the Trinity River Whalers and Betsy Cummings of Beyond The Pale. Put it this way: it's the first session I've been to here where I could sing along, like on the rendition of Billy Joe Shaver's "Georgia on a Fast Train". It was different, and a lot of fun.

All right, enough for now, back to Memphis tomorrow!

Feel Good Friday!

Please enjoy this selection by Smithfield Fair from the Scottish Festival in Arlington, TX. "Long Ships" is always a crowd pleaser and encourages participation.


The Cracker & I are on the road to the North Texas Irish Festival today. We have a full weekend of good music, good food, good friends, good craic! Hope to see you there!

Texas--Celtic-Style!

In one month, the Cracker and I will be heading to the North Texas Irish Festival in Dallas. This is the 2nd largest Irish Festival in the US. We've been going to the festival, one or the other of us for 11 years and is it worth the trip! In addition to the music at the festival, which is held at Fair Park, the host hotel is the scene of some great seisuins! Every meeting room, bar, hallway, nook and cranny will have a group of folks making music! (A group of our friends in particular tend to favor a back hallway.)

The festival itself is nothing to sneeze at. They offer 11 headlining acts and 28 featured acts, filling Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday with Irish music (well, actually they throw in a little Scottish and even Breton, or French Celtic). For you dance aficionados, there are several dance schools in attendance and the local feis coincides with the festival. They have a stage just for the little ones and lots of vendors selling their wares (I've been known to start my holiday shopping here).

Performers include the following:
Liz Carroll & John Doyle
Mairtin de Cogain
Jimmy Crowley
Seven Nations (ROCK ON!)
Ed Miller (the "Token Scot")
Needfire
Jiggernaut
"Scottish" Rogues (kick-ass drumming & piping!)
Poor Man's Fortune & Bourree Texane (the Brittany connection)
Jim Flanagan
the triumphant return of Memphis favorite--Clandestine!
and many more!

Here's a video that gives some of the flavor:



We'll be stopping for the requisite Whataburger on the way down, and eating at one of our very favorite restaurants--Cafe Brazil--probably several times while in Dallas. It's a great event, not a bad drive, and awesome music! Join us!