Irish Music Innovators the olllam Announce American Tour Dates for 2013

The sensational Irish music trio with the unusual name, the olllam, announced its first fall US tour dates with festival stops and venue dates in Lexington, Kentucky; Kansas City, Missouri; their hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The group includes uilleann piper maestro John McSherry and Millish members Tyler Duncan and Michael Shimmin.

“This tour represents something very special to me,” says Duncan as he and the band prepare for a series of Ireland dates this July. “The record came out of living and breathing in a mood and to finally take the same energy that made the record so special to the stage, to be free-falling into the music together with the audience, is spine-tingling to think about.”

The trio combines traditional Irish influences with the jazz upbringing of the two American members. Piper John McSherry, multi-instrumentalist Tyler Duncan (uilleann pipes, whistles, guitar, Rhodes) and Michael Shimmin (drums and percussion) have worked together within their diverse musical backgrounds, introducing a new Irish crossover sound with creative brilliance and progressive appeal.

With a name inspired by the king’s own ollam bards of Irish lore, the three musicians wanted an ensemble that naturally represented their combined experiences in a multiplicity of styles. McSherry, one of the best uilleann pipers in the world and a founding member of legendary Irish group Lúnasa has performed and written with a wide variety of artists, from Ornette Coleman to Nanci Griffith. Detroit-natives Duncan and Shimmin, both holding degrees in jazz performance and are members of the award-winning Irish-jazz crossover group Millish; Duncan doing double-duty in the dance-rock group My Dear Disco/Ella Riot.

In February 2012, the olllam finally wrote and recorded an original album together, overcoming the Atlantic divide by means of the Internet. The result, their eponymous debut .the olllam., is lush with trance-like melodies, stunning instrumental virtuosity in a magical marriage of tradition and technology.

Fall US Tour Dates:

30-Aug
WorldFest
Louisville KY

31-Aug
Kansas City Irish Festival
Kansas City MO

1-Sep
Kansas City Irish Festival
Kansas City MO

3-Sep
The Ark
Ann Arbor MI

6-Sep
Pittsburgh Irish Festival
Pittsburgh PA

8-Sep
Pittsburgh Irish Festival
Pittsburgh PA

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Author: World Music Central News Room

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