We’re sitting here on a Sunday morning in Sisters, Oregon, coffee in hand, trying to take in the fact that we’re already halfway through this tour. Two shows down at the Sisters Folk Festival, one more to go this afternoon, and honestly we’re not in any hurry to leave.
Why Sisters feels like home
There are places you play and places you come back to in your head for months afterwards. Sisters is one of those. The town, the mountains, the people who turn up to a folk festival and actually listen: it’s one of our favourite spots in the whole of the US, and this weekend has reminded us why.
Both shows so far have been a proper buzz. Full tents, people dancing in the aisles, and loads of folks coming up to the merch table afterwards for a chat. A lot of you told us you’ve been following Enda Scahill‘s banjo for over a decade, back through the We Banjo 3 years, and that you came to hear where his music is going now. That means the world to us. Thank you.
Where Gadan comes from
For anyone who’s just found us: Gadan is a band from Italy that fell in love with Irish traditional music a long time ago. A few years back, Irish banjo player Enda Scahill, founding member of We Banjo 3 and Steve Martin Banjo Prize winner, joined the band, and that’s when things really took off.
Enda brought with him the sound he’s spent his whole life shaping: Irish trad from the west of Ireland crossed with American bluegrass. Some people call it Celtgrass. Put that together with a bunch of Italians who play Irish music like their lives depend on it, plus friends from the US joining us on the road, and you get Gadan. Every night on this tour the set has been changing a bit, with new tunes, new songs and a fair bit of craic between them.
Back to the Midwest
After tonight we pack up and head east again. We started this run in Milwaukee and Chicago, then came out west to Portland and Sisters, and now the Midwest is calling us back:
- Tuesday September 29: Cà d’Zan House Concerts, Cambridge, IL
- Wednesday September 30: Atwood Music Hall, Madison, WI
- Thursday October 1: 48th Street Theatre, Des Moines, IA
- Friday October 2: Blue Strawberry, St. Louis, MO
- Saturday October 3: Jasper Arts Center, Jasper, IN (sold out, thank you!)
- Sunday October 4: Lotus Festival at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, Bloomington, IN
If you’re anywhere near those towns, come say hello. Grab a ticket on our tour page and bring a friend who’s never heard an Irish banjo played properly.
See you down the road,
Enda, Lorenzo, Jacopo, Eric and Joan
Gadan