Muskegon’s Michigan Irish Music Festival to star Andy Irvine and other Celtic favorites
The four-day event features dance performances, Celtic wares in a marketplace, Celtic food, demonstrations, and lectures/discussions covering topics such as the history of Celtic mythology and tales from the Emerald Isle.
By Terry DeBoer and John Sinkevics
LocalSpins.com
Irish folk singer-songwriter Andy Irvine’s return to the Michigan Irish Music Festival in Muskegon this weekend has been a long time coming.
“The reason I stopped coming to the States for about nine years or so was my total dislike for the visa situation,” Irvine told Local Spins in a Zoom conversation from his home in County Wexford in southeastern Ireland. That hiatus included the COVID years.
But thanks to assistance from a New York arts center, he traveled to the United States last year, did a successful tour, and now has a three-year U.S. visa. That clears the way for Irvine to play the local festival for the first time since 2016.
And the timing works out perfectly. Irvine’s latest album, “Devoted,” a collection of Woody Guthrie songs, was released earlier this month.
“I hope to perform at least some of those songs at each of my three concerts there,” said Irvine, who’s scheduled to play three unique sets — 7:45 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, on the Kerry Stage, 5:15 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, on the Cork Stage and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, on the Cork Stage.
Those stages at Muskegon’s Heritage Landing will also be jam-packed with performances by a wide range of international and regional acts specializing in Celtic music.
Other Irish artists and bands crossing the pond to perform in Muskegon include Altan, Solas, The Screaming Orphans and Dave Curley & Colin Farrell. They’ll join national stars such as Scythian and Elias Alexander, and Michigan favorites Whorled, Selkie, Black Murray, Belfast Gin and more in performing over the four-day event.
Woody Guthrie was a strong influence on the young Irvine, and the Irishman corresponded with the seminal American folk artist before Guthrie’s death in 1967.
On his latest release, Irvine covers classics such as “Pastures of Plenty” and “1913 Massacre.” He concludes the album with his own tune, “Never Tire of the Road,” which borrows a chorus from Guthrie’s theme “You Fascists Are Bound To Lose.”
Irvine is a multi-instrumentalist: Although he plays more instruments than this, the four that he usually brings along are the guitar-shaped bouzouki, a mandola, octave mandola and bass bouzouki.
He’s collaborated with dozens of other folk artists over the decades, was a founding member of bands such as Sweeney’s Men, Planxty and Mozaik, and crossed paths with the great Pete Seeger. But Irvine’s own songs have endured, including songs such as “The West Coast of Clare” and “The Blacksmith,” a song he often uses to conclude his performances.
The artist has a theory on the strength and attraction of traditional Irish music.
“First of all, I think it’s good music and good poetry,” he stated. “And I would say there’s a kind of honesty about it that doesn’t exist in more popular music. Most Irish musicians and bands aren’t striving to be number one on the hit parade playing folk music.”
His experience is impressive. Irvine says he’s been “treading the boards” since 1964. At 84 years old, he says he’s still going strong.
“It’s a dangerous thing to say, but I seem to be as good as I’ve ever been. I still get along and I’m not as fit as I once was. But I am aware of the fact that I’m 84.”
The annual festival at Heritage Landing — the state’s largest celebration of Irish music and culture — is about more than just Celtic songs, reels and jigs.
The four-day event features dance performances, Celtic wares in a marketplace, Celtic food, demonstrations, and lectures/discussions covering topics such as the history of Celtic mythology and tales from the Emerald Isle. The Michigan Irish American Hall of Fame Presentation is set for 11:30 a.m. Saturday on the Grafton Stage.
Festival passes are $70, available online at michiganirish.org. Day passes are $25 Friday, $40 Saturday, $20 Sunday, with $10 tickets for the Thursday “Pub Preview Party.
— Find more Michigan news and festival/concert listings at LocalSpins.com. Email John Sinkevics at john@localspins.com.
