Patrick Murphy Steve Twigger Ryan Lacey Peter Purvis Natalya Kay
Past members
Katie Grennan Kiana Weber Jessie Burns Shasha Zhang Bob Banerjee Tom Brown Samantha Hunt Kathleen Keane Ellery Klein Shep Lonsdale Steve Wehmeyer Brian Walsh
In 1996, Patrick Murphy and Steve Wehmeyer joined with Steve Twigger, drummer Shep Lonsdale, fiddler Samantha Hunt, and Uillean piper Brian Walsh to perform at O'Brien's Irish Pub and Restaurant in Santa Monica, California, of which Murphy was the manager. This led to a number of pub performances for the next year.
In 1997, Gaelic Storm appeared in the film Titanic as the steerage band, performing "Blarney Pilgrim" (Jig), "John Ryan's Polka", "Kesh Jig" and "Drowsy Maggie" (Reel).[N 1] The first two were published on the second soundtrack album as "An Irish Party in Third Class", while the band's second album, Herding Cats, featured "Blarney Pilgrim" and "Drowsy Maggie" as "Titanic Set (Medley)".
After this film appearance, Gaelic Storm started touring, and have performed in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Japan. Brian Walsh left the band before the first album was recorded in 1998. Samantha Hunt left in 2000 after the group's second album.
The group has released 14 albums since its inception, including two compilation albums. The band is known for their energetic renditions of traditional Irish music and Scottish traditional music, and for their albums which consistently top the Billboard world music charts.[2]
From 2002 to 2006, the band's membership underwent a transition period. The second fiddler, Kathleen Keane, left the band after their third album "Tree", and drummer Shep Lonsdale left, leaving only Murphy, Wehmeyer, and Twigger as the original members. Their sound engineer at the time, Tom Brown, was also a bagpiper and whistle player and began playing at periods in their show. Ryan Lacey was recruited on drums. This quintet recorded three new tracks for their fourth album, Special Reserve, also a compilation album of their previous three albums. Deborah Clark Colon was the fiddler on the three new tracks, "Courting in the Kitchen," "Schooner Lake Set", and "Nancy Whiskey." Chinese-born Shasha Zhang toured with them on fiddle for several months in 2002. For a brief time in approximately 2003, the band recruited their, to date, only male fiddler, Bob Banerjee. Teresa Gowan was also the group's fiddler during this transitional period. Finally by 2004, Ellery Klein was hired as full time fiddler.
Gaelic Storm's fifth album, How Are We Getting Home?, was released in August 2004 and debuted at #3 on the Billboard World Music Charts, #10 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart, and re-entered the September 2005 World Albums Chart at #3.[3]
By 2005 Tom Brown had left the band and Peter Purvis was brought in to play bagpipes, uilleann pipes, deger pipes, and whistle.
In January 2006, the band released their first DVD, Gaelic Storm: Live In Chicago, filmed live at the House of Blues in Chicago. In early 2006, founding member Steve Wehmeyer retired full time from the band and became a college professor. As of 2022, he still co-writes the music with Murphy and Twigger, and makes occasional appearances with the band. He is the only member that has not been replaced.
After Wehmeyer's full time departure, the band's membership stabilized and remained largely unchanged with the exception of the position of fiddler, which has since changed hands numerous times.
The band's sixth album, Bring Yer Wellies, was released in July 2006 and debuted at #2 on the Billboard World Chart, #16 on the Internet Sales Chart, and #31 on the Independent Album Chart. Gaelic Storm's next album, What's the Rumpus? was released in 2008 on the band's own label, Lost Again Records. It reached #1 on the Billboard World Chart.
A Simlish version of the song "Scalliwag", from the album Bring Yer Wellies, was recorded and featured on the World music channel in the expansion pack, The Sims 2: Bon Voyage, for the PC game The Sims 2.
As of June2022[update], original members Murphy and Twigger are still in the band, joined by Ryan Lacey (since 2003), Pete Purvis (since 2005) of Merrickville, Ontario, and Natalya Kay (since 2022).
A cèilidh or céilí is a traditional Scottish and Irish social gathering. In its most basic form, it simply means a social visit. In contemporary usage, it usually involves dancing and playing Gaelic folk music, either at a home or a larger concert at a social hall or other community gathering place.
Yer Favourites is a two-disc compilation album by the Tragically Hip. The tracks for Yer Favourites were selected by the band's fans on its website and were remastered. The compilation includes a total of seven songs from Fully Completely, six songs from Road Apples, five songs from Phantom Power, four songs from Up to Here, four songs from Day for Night, two songs from Trouble at the Henhouse, two songs from Music @ Work, two songs from In Violet Light, two songs from In Between Evolution and one song from the band's self-titled EP. It also included two new songs, "No Threat" and "The New Maybe". It was released both as a stand-alone two-disc set and as part of the Hipeponymous box set. The compilation debuted at number 8 on the Canadian Albums Chart in 2005. In 2016, the compilation re-entered the Canadian Albums Chart, contemporaneous with the release of Man Machine Poem and the announcement of lead singer Gord Downie's cancer diagnosis.
Herding Cats is the second studio album by Gaelic Storm, released in 1999. The band was still riding on their fame from their onscreen performance in the 1997 film Titanic.
Gaelic Storm is a 1998 album by Gaelic Storm.
Tree is a 2001 album by Gaelic Storm.
Special Reserve is a 2003 compilation album by Gaelic Storm.
Martin Hayes is an Irish fiddler from County Clare. He is a member of the Irish-American supergroup The Gloaming.
Bring Yer Wellies is the sixth album by Celtic band Gaelic Storm. It was released on July 25, 2006. "Wellies" is a nickname for Wellington boots, which feature prominently in the lyrics of "Kelly's Wellies" and on the album cover.
Bothy Culture is the second studio album by the Scottish Celtic fusion artist Martyn Bennett, released in January 1998 on the Rykodisc label. After winning critical acclaim for his debut album Martyn Bennett (1996), Bothy Culture builds upon that album's mixing of Scottish Celtic music with farther, international folk music styles and contemporary electronic music. The album celebrates and draws upon the music of Bennett's native Gaeldom as well as the music of Islam and Scandinavia, with Bennett finding and emotionally connecting to the similarities between the geographically dispersed styles. It mixes the styles with contemporary electronic music such as breakbeat and drum and bass.
What's the Rumpus? is the seventh album by Celtic band Gaelic Storm. It was released on July 8, 2008 and reached #177 on the Billboard 200.
The Given Note is the fourth solo album by master uilleann piper and prominent Irish traditional musician Liam O'Flynn. Produced by Shaun Davey and recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, the album was released in 1995. The title was suggested by O'Flynn's good friend Seamus Heaney, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature. Heaney also wrote a tribute to O'Flynn which is on the sleeve notes of the album.
Cabbage is the eighth album by Celtic band Gaelic Storm. It was released on August 3, 2010, and reached #73 on the Billboard 200 on August 21, 2010.
Chicken Boxer is the ninth album by Celtic band Gaelic Storm. It was released on July 31, 2012.
The Boathouse is the tenth album by Celtic band Gaelic Storm. It was released on August 20, 2013. The name of the album refers to a boathouse in Annapolis, Maryland, where the tracks were recorded. It spent two weeks at #1 on the Billboard World Album chart.
The Widening Gyre is the twelfth studio album by Irish folk music group Altan and their eleventh studio album of original material, released in February 2015 on the Compass Records label. It was released to critical acclaim.
Street Life is the eighth album by the Irish folk band Patrick Street, released in 2002 on Green Linnet.
Matching Sweaters is the twelfth album by Celtic band Gaelic Storm. It was released on July 24, 2015.
Steve Twigger is an English musician, best known as the guitarist of the Celtic band Gaelic Storm.
Go Climb a Tree is the thirteenth album by Celtic band Gaelic Storm. It was released on July 28, 2017.
Green Suede Shoes is an album by the American band Black 47, released in 1996. It was a commercial disappointment.
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