St. Columba’s Inverness
Celtic Music Series
Wake the Dead
The World’s Only Celtic All- Star Grateful Dead Jam Band
St. Columba's Episcopal Church
in our beautiful Outdoor Amphitheater
Inverness
Sunday, July 6
4pm - 6:30pm
Advance tickets $25 — $30 at door, cash only
Children under 12 free
Refreshments for sale, beer and wine.
Doors open at 3pm
WAKE THE DEAD is a romp that flows seamlessly from rock grooves to hot Irish reels, and from haunting airs to achingly beautiful melodies familiar to Deadheads everywhere. “Sugaree” in waltz time, bracketed by an ancient harp tune and infused with a poignant Celtic longing. “Bertha” thundering out of “China Cat” on a mandolin tidal wave. The eerie lilt of the uilleann pipes, giving a glow to “Bird Song” as if it was always meant to be there. Groove jams to keep the tie-dye swirling. Vocal harmonies that float like clouds. The music takes off, and the band follows, grinning all the way. These aren’t worlds colliding — they’re worlds meshing, coalescing creating a whole new world of possibility, and true to the spirits of the Grateful Dead and the eternally hopeful Celts.
WAKE THE DEAD bands together six of the best-known and most respected players in the west. Bassist Cindy Browne is equally at home in folk and jazz, touring globally as the musical fusion go-to gal. Singer, fiddler, and octave mandolinist Danny Carnahan is an award-winning songwriter whose original Irish-tinged songs are popular worldwide. Sylvia Herold’s delicious vocal phrasing can also be heard on her solo recordings and her performances with Euphonia. Paul Kotapish is known far and wide for his work with Kevin Burke’s Open House, and for his blazing guitar and mandolin with The Hillbillies From Mars and Euphonia. And Latin percussionist Brian Rice rounds out the band’s groove engine. Valerie Rose is an accomplished Irish fiddler, singer, and vocal arranger. She teaches at various music camps including California Coast Music Camp, Walker Creek Music Camp, and the San Francisco Irish Cultural Center’s Youth Irish Camp. She conducts Palo Alto’s M’Earthtones choi and leads the Rose Tree Youth Ceili Band and monthly Irish sessions at Redwood City’s Alhambra Irish House.
“This mostly East Bay crew has tapped into yet another audience: fans of both Celtic music and the Dead. Judging by turnouts last month at Bimbos… this sold-out hometown debut, the deliciously fresh Celtic-Dead thing was an idea whose time has clearly come.”
—Larry Kelp, East Bay Express
“Wake the Dead is a thorough delight from start to end, seamlessly interweaving the good old tunes with the good older tunes — traditional airs, jigs and reels (plus one original dubbed an “unreel”). You’ve never heard songs like “Bertha,” “The Wheel,” “Sugaree” and “Bird Song” quite like this, and it’s likely that you’ll never listen to them in quite the same way again.”
—Grateful Dead Almanac
“Shimmering renditions of Dead music fused with Celtic beauty. The music is beautiful, masterfully performed with Dead-hommage vocal style, great traditional Celtic instrumentation. The Dead songs fit this genre very well. I think any fan of the Dead will appreciate these renditions of their music. I know Jerry would’ve dug them.”
—Reed Maidenberg, Amazon.com
"The harmonies of Carnahan and Herold are outstanding, with Herold being an especially delightful find'. The instrumental skills of all the string players shine throughout, and the arrangements are always melodic, bright and interesting. Fans of Celtic music with the inclination to combine rock music's more melodic songs with traditional dance tunes should definitely check this out."
—Steve Edge, Rogue Folk Club, Vancouver, B.C.