Master Uilleann Piper to perform at Future Studios on Oct 10

Sedona, AZ - Oct. 2, 2008 - Friday, October 10, Future Studios presents Paddy Keenan, founding member of Ireland’s famous Bothy Band, performing with Celtic guitarist John Walsh.

The Bothy Band forever changed the face of Irish traditional music, merging a driving rhythm section with traditional Irish tunes in ways that had never been heard before.

Those fortunate enough to have seen the band live have never forgotten the impression they made—one reviewer likened the experience to “being in a jet when it suddenly whipped into full throttle along the runway.”

Paddy was one of the band’s founding members, and his virtuosity on the pipes combined with the ferocity of his playing made him, in the opinion of many, its driving force. Bothy Band-mate Donal Lunny once described Paddy as “the Jimi Hendrix of the pipes”; more recently, due to his genius for improvisation and counter-melody, he has been compared to jazz great John Coltrane.

Paddy’s flowing, open-fingered style of playing can be traced directly from the style of such great Travelling pipers as Johnny Doran; both Paddy’s father and grandfather played in the same style. Although often compared to Doran, Paddy was 19 or 20 when he first heard a tape of Doran’s playing; his own style is a direct result of his father’s tutelage and influence. Paddy’s style has continued to mature in the intervening years since the break-up of The Bothy Band as he has pursued a solo career. He tours the world, playing festivals and gigs in the US and Canada, Ireland, Europe, Israel, Australia and New Zealand, and the Far East. He appeared at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and at Merlefest.

At the Washington Irish Festival at Wolf Trap in 1995, Paddy performed in a concert with accordion player James Keane and guitarist John Doyle that was videotaped and has been broadcast worldwide. In 2000 he was a member of the Irish Pure Drops tour in Europe, along with accordion player Joe Derrane and guitarist Malachy Bourke. Paddy toured in 2003 with Eire Japan, a trio that featured fiddler Frankie Gavin and guitar and banjo player Junji Shirota. In 2006 Paddy played festivals as far a field as Israel and Thailand; he also spent time in Mali, working on a film project and attending the Festival in the Desert.

Paddy has composed and arranged music for several film projects, including "Traveller," a major studio release starring Bill Paxton and Marky Mark (1997), as well as projects focusing on the history of the Navajo people, and on pagan culture. He has recorded in recent years with many major artists in the world of Irish traditional music and beyond, including fiddler James Kelly, flute player Larry Nugent, Steve Morris of Deep Purple and the Dixie Dregs, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bela Fleck and Tim O’Brien.

Paddy will be performing with John Walsh on guitar. John was born in The Bronx, NY- otherwise known as Ireland’s 33rd county. At the tender age of 10, his family moved to Kilkenny, Éire in Ireland where great hurlers are born by the minute. Not being very skilled at the ancient art of Hurling, John took up guitar and was lucky enough to be surrounded by a rich musical heritage in Kilkenny where he learned music of all sorts and kinds. After spending years soaking up as much music as he could, he moved back to NY, met more musicians there and is presently performing, and recording, mostly in his studio, St Canice’s Backyard, based in NY.

“Paddy Keenan is the piper’s piper, the best of the best.”—Zina Lee, Celtic Café, 2001

Doors open at 7:30 P.M. show starts at 8:00 P.M.; Admission Price: $16 advance / $19 day of show; Future Studios is located at 30 Hozoni Drive in West Sedona (mailing address: P.O. Box 4779, Sedona, AZ 86340). www.futurestudios.org.; For tickets and/or information call (928) 282-9139.

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