 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(February 2017) |
Tempest is an American Celtic rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area, based in Oakland, California. [1] They fuse the traditional Celtic music with Norwegian and European folk, American folk, and progressive rock.
The band formed in 1988 with Lief Sorbye (mandolin, vocals), Adolfo Lazo (drums), Rob Wullenjohn (guitar), and Mark Showalter (bass). The band has seen a changing cast of musicians, with Sorbye and Lazo being the only two constant members throughout the duration of the band's existence.
The current lineup consists of Lief Sorbye (mandolin, vocals), Adolfo Lazo (percussion), Lee Corbie-Wells (fiddle, vocals), Nikolay Georgiev (guitar), and Hugh Caley (bass, backup vocals), with members from around the world: Lief from Oslo, Norway, Adolfo Lazo from Havana, Cuba, Lee Corbie-Wells from San Francisco, California, and Hugh Caley from Detroit, Michigan and Nikolay Georgiev from Pleven, Bulgaria. In 2010, Tempest released Another Dawn - it was Tempest's 11th full-length studio album. In 2006, Tempest released their 10th full-length studio album, entitled The Double-Cross. In 2007, the band released a live CD, entitled Lief's Birthday Bash. The Birthday Bash CD was recorded on the evening of 23 March 2007 at Ashkenaz Dance Community Center in Berkeley, and features tracks including a number of musicians that Lief has played with over the years: both past Tempest members and some members of Golden Bough as well. Much of the recent live CD is actually acoustic. In 2022 the band released the CD Going Home, their first album after leaving Magna Carta records. It was released on Celtidelic Records, and engineered by Robert Berry at Berry's Soundtek Studios.
The band has held the honor of being invited to play a number of times at the Philadelphia Folk Festival and they also host an eclectic music and arts festival of their own, in Auburn, California, on the first weekend of May each year. The festival is called Karfluki Fest, and has featured such artists as It's A Beautiful Day, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Fairport Convention, Shana Morrison, Wicked Tinkers and Fishtank Ensemble, in addition to an array of side show acts such as belly dancers, a sword swallower, jugglers, acrobats and fire dancers.
Frontman Lief Sorbye occasionally plays in an acoustic Celtic folk duo called Caliban, usually joined by a current or former Tempest fiddler, such as Kathy Buys, Michael Mullen, or Sue Draheim. They have released one self-titled recording and often do shows during Tempest tours. Lief Sorbye has also released two solo albums, Springdans (1987) and Across the Borders (1994). Incumbent fiddler Kathy Buys was the fiddler with a world fusion band called The Druid Sisters Tea Party. Former bassist John Land was previously in a band called Coyote Pudding. They had one release, titled Joking, Drunk, or Bored as Hell.
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| 2013–2015 | 2015–2016 | 2016–2019 | 2019–2020 |
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Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater They started out influenced by American folk rock, with a set list dominated by Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell songs and a sound that earned them the nickname "the British Jefferson Airplane". Vocalists Judy Dyble and Iain Matthews joined them before the recording of their self-titled debut in 1968; afterwards, Dyble was replaced by Sandy Denny, with Matthews later leaving during the recording of their third album.
La Bottine Souriante is a folk band from Canada. The band specializes in traditional French Canadian folk music, often with a modern twist.
Battlefield Band were a Scottish traditional music group. Founded in Glasgow in 1969, they have released over 30 albums and undergone many changes of lineup. As of 2010, none of the original founders remain in the band.
The Boys of the Lough is a Scottish-Irish Celtic music band active since the 1970s.
The Albion Band, also known as The Albion Country Band, The Albion Dance Band, and The Albion Christmas Band, were a British folk rock band, originally brought together and led by musician Ashley Hutchings. Generally considered one of the most important groupings in the genre, it has contained or been associated with a large proportion of major English folk performers in its long and fluid history.
The Electrics are a Celtic rock band from Dumbarton, Scotland. They formed in 1988 when former Infrapenny members Sammy Horner and Paul Baird (guitar) asked drummer Dave McArthur and sax/keyboard player Allan Hewitt to play a gig at Glasgow's Impact Festival. The band released a self-financed cassette album, Views in Blues, in 1989. Following this recording the band evolved a celtic rock sound, heavily influenced by The Waterboys and The Pogues. Subsequent recordings included Vision and Dreams (1990) which was distributed by Word Records, and Big Silent World (1993), on Germany's Pila Music label.
Jimmy George is a Canadian folk rock band from Ottawa, Canada, who combine Celtic folk with rock influences and formed in 1991.
Kevin Burke is an Irish master fiddler considered one of the finest living Irish fiddlers. For nearly five decades he has been at the forefront of Irish traditional music and Celtic music, performing and recording with the groups The Bothy Band, Patrick Street, and the Celtic Fiddle Festival. He is a 2002 recipient of a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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Bootleg is the debut album by Tempest. At the time, they did not have a fiddle player, and performed as a four-piece.
Serrated Edge is the second album by Tempest. It was their first with a fiddler, and was released in 1992.
Sunken Treasures is the third release by Tempest. It is a collection of rare/demo tracks up until that point.
Turn of the Wheel is a 1996 album by Tempest. It was their first release on a major label, Magna Carta Records. It was also their first in a long string of albums produced by Robert Berry. Michael Mullen is pictured in the album artwork, but does not appear on the album.
The Gravel Walk is a 1997 album by Tempest.
The Double-Cross is an album by Tempest, released in 2006.
Sue Draheim was an American fiddler, boasting a more than forty year musical career in the US and the UK. Growing up in North Oakland, Draheim began her first private violin lessons at age eleven, having started public school violin instruction at age eight while attending North Oakland's Peralta Elementary School. She also attended Claremont Jr. High, and graduated from Oakland Technical High School in 1967.
Golden Bough is a Celtic-music band formed in 1980 and based in California. The band performs at music festivals and has toured Europe several times. They are known for their acoustic musical performances of folk music and Celtic music and for their 22 albums. They are also known for their association with Lief Sørbye and with the band Tempest.
Jerome Henry "Butch" Baldassari was an American mandolinist, recording artist, composer, and music teacher.
Rickie Hal Simpkins is an American fiddler and mandolinist in the bluegrass tradition. He is best known for his solo albums and his work with the Lonesome River Band and the Seldom Scene.
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