Whiskey Galore at the local brewery - By N.L. Belardes
Studying the book Albion’s Seed by David Hackett Fischer in graduate school, learning of the cultural determinants for the American Character in a host of varying folkways is one of those complex masterpieces of thought that often sits on a historian’s bookshelf. It’s strange that such a monumental history can actually lead to better understanding a Bakersfield, California band. Pick up such a book and you get an academic tour of daily life in not just early America, but in varying British cultures that came to America in British waves that helped determine culture today. No, we’re not a bunch of loose knit Brits wandering the streets of Bakersfield in Welch, Scottish, Irish and English accents… Yet, explore Albion’s seed and you just can’t help wondering if a little bit of who you are as an American was a cultural construct built from untold histories upon histories of British legendry.
Whiskey Galore, traditional Celtic folk band with Mike Bowen, Rich Spencer, Jeff Davis, and Kevin Briley on the uilleann and traditional Scottish bagpipes is a band that captures modern and traditional Celtic culture with a masterful and musical American cultural blend. American blend? Try their version of the AC/DC song “Thunderstruck” ala bagpipes and with Mike Bowan on the Bodhran pounding out the beat. Add in the flavor of an oil-ag town like Bakersfield and you have a uniquely formed band that not only plays Celtic music, but does so with the motto, “American bred, Celtic fed.” And British folkways determined such a music-driven culture of tunes in the heart of Bakersfield? Sure, this is part of America transplanted to the West. Why not?
Kevin Briley is himself a historian of sorts. Ask him about Scottish history and he goes right into professor mode and will tell you more history than you would ever dug out of Albion’s Seed in one mere phone call. And you want to get a flavor of such rich history if you know Kevin, or if you want to know the band’s rich tapestries of folk music and how it is affected by a thousand years of Albion’s history.
“So when’s the new CD coming out?” I asked in a brief conversation with Kevin yesterday while on my way to catch the new Viggo Mortensen film, A History of Violence.
“We’ve got to get this wrapped up by December. We still need you for the big pub song though, Nick.”
Not a problem. I can act like a drunken beer smashing honest-to-goodness pub attending citizen. See, you help out the music scene and for part of the rewards you get to make a guest appearance on an album for one of the best Celtic-based folk bands in America.
The house was packed at Lengthwise. I arrived with Whiskey Galore already going full speed ahead. I saw Les Paw of Fatt Katt and the Vonzippers with an entourage, while myself, Matildakay and Flower in the Dale all hung out along the back wall. That’s what we get for not showing up on time. Didn’t matter we were standing, I got two Wyder’s pear ciders throughout the evening, and when we finally got to sit down, we got some really good chicken strips and onion rings.
From that point on it was a Whiskey Galore marathon. The building was packed; the crowd was into the music so much they knew when to clap during certain portions of songs. Amazing. Kevin played the uilleann pipes like they were just little toys—it looked that easy. He was building Celtic music with his hands as if chords and wind sounds were mere tinker toy constructs. His wife, Kristin came and sang one song that just about had me crying like a baby. I kept my poise and snapped a couple of photos.
During a break a true British gentleman took the stage. I could only get the name, Robbie. I heard he played the pipes for the Queen of England and was going to be in the states for the next eleven months. He had the crowd mesmerized with his flute and pipe expertise.
Then came Kevin Briley with the Scottish Bagpipes in a rocking set like you’ve never heard bagpipes played before… Robbie soon joined them and it was as if he’d been in the band all along… amazed again.
You don’t believe me that it was a marathon? I think less than half a dozen Bakersfield bands, including Buck Owens and his big crystal horse can play marathon music sessions:
hour 1
process man
pig set
mason's apron
wild rover
the gypsy
she moved through the fair
LArk in the morning
back home in derrry
wild mountain thyme
county down
pumpkin's fancy
galigan/ grumpy
atholl
hour 2
drunken sailor- w/ robbie byrne
sliabh luachra- w/ robbie byrne
DEBUT Athenry
Molly and the cops
new irish reels
rakes of mallow
Thunder
Brian Boru/hag at the churn/dusty millar- w/robbie byrne
Black velvet
green fields
the manhattan spree
7 drunken nights
mason's apron
health to the company
atholl
itchy fingers
the dirty lough
belfast mill
the easy club reel
What can I say? Even the bikers were doing an Irish jig at Lengthwise Brewery to the Celtic folk sounds of Whiskey Galore…
Whiskey Galore, traditional Celtic folk band with Mike Bowen, Rich Spencer, Jeff Davis, and Kevin Briley on the uilleann and traditional Scottish bagpipes is a band that captures modern and traditional Celtic culture with a masterful and musical American cultural blend. American blend? Try their version of the AC/DC song “Thunderstruck” ala bagpipes and with Mike Bowan on the Bodhran pounding out the beat. Add in the flavor of an oil-ag town like Bakersfield and you have a uniquely formed band that not only plays Celtic music, but does so with the motto, “American bred, Celtic fed.” And British folkways determined such a music-driven culture of tunes in the heart of Bakersfield? Sure, this is part of America transplanted to the West. Why not?
Kevin Briley is himself a historian of sorts. Ask him about Scottish history and he goes right into professor mode and will tell you more history than you would ever dug out of Albion’s Seed in one mere phone call. And you want to get a flavor of such rich history if you know Kevin, or if you want to know the band’s rich tapestries of folk music and how it is affected by a thousand years of Albion’s history.
“So when’s the new CD coming out?” I asked in a brief conversation with Kevin yesterday while on my way to catch the new Viggo Mortensen film, A History of Violence.
“We’ve got to get this wrapped up by December. We still need you for the big pub song though, Nick.”
Not a problem. I can act like a drunken beer smashing honest-to-goodness pub attending citizen. See, you help out the music scene and for part of the rewards you get to make a guest appearance on an album for one of the best Celtic-based folk bands in America.
The house was packed at Lengthwise. I arrived with Whiskey Galore already going full speed ahead. I saw Les Paw of Fatt Katt and the Vonzippers with an entourage, while myself, Matildakay and Flower in the Dale all hung out along the back wall. That’s what we get for not showing up on time. Didn’t matter we were standing, I got two Wyder’s pear ciders throughout the evening, and when we finally got to sit down, we got some really good chicken strips and onion rings.
From that point on it was a Whiskey Galore marathon. The building was packed; the crowd was into the music so much they knew when to clap during certain portions of songs. Amazing. Kevin played the uilleann pipes like they were just little toys—it looked that easy. He was building Celtic music with his hands as if chords and wind sounds were mere tinker toy constructs. His wife, Kristin came and sang one song that just about had me crying like a baby. I kept my poise and snapped a couple of photos.
During a break a true British gentleman took the stage. I could only get the name, Robbie. I heard he played the pipes for the Queen of England and was going to be in the states for the next eleven months. He had the crowd mesmerized with his flute and pipe expertise.
Then came Kevin Briley with the Scottish Bagpipes in a rocking set like you’ve never heard bagpipes played before… Robbie soon joined them and it was as if he’d been in the band all along… amazed again.
You don’t believe me that it was a marathon? I think less than half a dozen Bakersfield bands, including Buck Owens and his big crystal horse can play marathon music sessions:
hour 1
process man
pig set
mason's apron
wild rover
the gypsy
she moved through the fair
LArk in the morning
back home in derrry
wild mountain thyme
county down
pumpkin's fancy
galigan/ grumpy
atholl
hour 2
drunken sailor- w/ robbie byrne
sliabh luachra- w/ robbie byrne
DEBUT Athenry
Molly and the cops
new irish reels
rakes of mallow
Thunder
Brian Boru/hag at the churn/dusty millar- w/robbie byrne
Black velvet
green fields
the manhattan spree
7 drunken nights
mason's apron
health to the company
atholl
itchy fingers
the dirty lough
belfast mill
the easy club reel
What can I say? Even the bikers were doing an Irish jig at Lengthwise Brewery to the Celtic folk sounds of Whiskey Galore…
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Sunday, October 02, 2005.
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