We Banjo 3 links Irish folk music, bluegrass
Dublin Villager Staff Writer Jennifer Noblit has (almost) everything you'd need to know about this year's Dublin Irish Festival posted on the Dublin page at ThisWeekNEWS.com. But The Beat has you covered if what you need is an in-depth look at one of the festival's featured musical acts.
Galway, Ireland, quartet We Banjo 3 offers a blend of traditional Irish music with bluegrass/Americana that has been described as Celt-grass. The virtuoso performers are an act on the rise, putting on a show full of high-caliber musicianship that's loads of fun to boot. The Dublin Irish Festival is just one of a host of festival gigs the band is playing in the U.S. this summer.
Singer/guitarist/banjo player David Howley was kind enough to answer a few questions we posed .
The Beat: Celt-grass is a nifty term, as I've always felt that Irish folk music and American bluegrass were kindred spirits anyway. Can you explain the differences and the same-nesses?
David Howley: It was Bill Monroe himself that said there would be no bluegrass if it hadn't been for the Irish. There are huge links between Irish folk music and American bluegrass, so much so we will often find a bluegrass tune or song that is a version of an Irish folk tune or song but under a different name and vice versa. The main difference lies in the way the tunes and songs are played and interpreted. The way we play is rooted in the Irish tradition, but we have learned a lot from sitting down and jamming with bluegrass players -- it's what's shaped our sound in a lot of ways.
TB: How did We Banjo 3 come to be a band and what drew you to make the kind of music you do?
DH: The band started four years ago when Martin (Howley), Enda (Scahill) and I got together and decided three banjos in one band was something different and interesting that we wanted to explore. The response to this was immense, selling out our first-ever gig in the Roisin Dubh in Galway, Ireland. People love the banjo!
We quickly moved to expand the sound of the band into something bigger and more energetic -- Fergal (Scahill) thankfully accepting the offer to come on board with his powerful style of fiddle-playing, while I switched to guitar full time to lay down a solid foundation.
We liked the name and so figured that a four-piece band with only two banjos called We Banjo 3 made sense to us!
TB: Your brother, Martin, is a seven-time all-Ireland banjo champion. Has this made him insufferable? (Yeah, this one's for fun)
DH: Martin had a "competition winning style" or so we joke him about. To be honest, we've all won All-Ireland titles; it's Martin has won more than the rest of us and there's nothing like brothers to keep your ego in check! That said, he's pretty modest and still blushes a little when someone brings up his "award-winning" banjo-playing!
TB: Do you have a particular approach to songwriting? Are you cognizant of trying to "sound traditional" with your original songs?
DH: Our set list is a mixture of old and new songs, songs that have a meaning to us and a story to tell. The sound never stays the same; we are always coming up with new material that sometimes works and other times needs to be worked on. I don't think we ever try to "sound traditional," rather we work on making the music we play sound real and we stay true to the sound we want to have. At the end of the day, we all grew up on the west coast of Ireland and that is built into us and our music.
TB: You've got a new live recording out. Tell us about it.
DH: We have a new album out entitled Live in Galway, which was recorded in our hometown. It features some old favorites as well as some new ones. We recorded it over two nights in February 2015 and the results far exceeded our expectation. Something magical happened that weekend -- the crowd, the music and the atmosphere all came together to produce an album that we are very proud of. It features some amazing guest musicians too, including a four-part brass section! Banjos and brass, how can you go wrong?