The Tannahill Weavers, one of Scotland's most renowned bands, is coming to Bakersfield July 19. Photo by Maggie Smillie, courtesy of www.tannahillweavers.com

By Jill Egland, Special Projects Director for the Arts Council of Kern

Kern County is going to get a big infusion of Celtic traditional music this month, and everyone is invited to partake.

Dagny’s Session Players

The Dagny’s Session Players will be at the Bakersfield Farmers Market (3201 F St.) from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, July 17. The Irish session (or seisun in Irish Gaelic) is a time-honored tradition of sharing tunes that takes place in nearly every urban center around the world.

“We’ve had musicians from around the U.S. and Canada come and sit in with us,” explained Timothy Ryan, a session player.  “It’s a universal language that brings us together.”

The group fluctuates in size from five to 15, and counts among its regulars residents from Kernville/Kern River Valley, Frazier Park/Pine Mountain Club, Hart Flat, Ridgecrest and Taft. The group gathers each Wednesday evening from 7 to 9 p.m. at Dagny’s Coffee Company, 1600 20th St. Saturday’s session is being held to promote the upcoming week’s events.

Tannahill Weavers

On Monday, July 19, Bakersfield will play host to one of Scotland’s most renowned bands, the Tannahill Weavers. The concert will be held at 7 p.m. at the Dove Creek Bible Church (formerly River Valley Community Church), 5131 Office Park Way.

The award-winning quintet is famous for its tight vocals and modern take on traditional Scottish tunes and ballads. The band’s name makes reference to the industry housed in the town of Paisley, where the band first formed over 30 years ago, and to the 18th Century Paisley-born poet, Robert Tannahill, who was a contemporary of the famous Robert Burns, the author of Auld Lang Syne.

The Tannahill Weavers are: Roy Gullane on guitar and lead vocalist; Phil Smillie on flute, penny and low whistles, bodhran and vocals; fiddle player and vocalist John Martin; and Colin Melville on highland bagpipes, Scottish small pipes and whistles.

Tickets are available at the Arts Council of Kern office, 2000 K Street, Suite 110, during business hours, or at the door at the concert. Admission is $20 general, $18 Arts Council members, and $12 students.

Jamie Laval and Zac Leger

On Friday, July 23, Bakersfield will welcome back a musical duo whose full-house performance this time last year left the audience wanting more.

“It was such a panoply of sounds and styles – it was hard to believe that there were only the two of them on stage,” said Brenda Hunter, a member of the local Celtic band, Banshee in the Kitchen.

The two musicians have arrived at their collaboration traveling down very different roads. Canadian-born Laval, now a resident of Asheville, N. C., tours nationally with over 120 concerts, workshops and festivals per year. Classically trained, his precision and musicality landed him the U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Championship, and has reviewers acclaiming him as “one of North America’s finest practitioners of traditional Scottish music” (San Jose Mercury News) and “one of the hottest fiddlers out there” (Asheville Citizen-Times).

Multi-instrumentalist Zac Leger (pronounced “le-zhay”) may have an address in the L.A. area, but he spends most of his time on the road performing with Celtic greats such as Eileen Ivers and Jamie Laval, and bands such as Immigrant Soul and Ireland-based Crossroads. Leger, a California native, is “mostly self-taught” and plays guitar, uilleann pipes, flute and bouzouki. He is one of the few Americans to ever land an All-Scotland piping title.

Laval and Leger will also be performing at the Dove Creek Bible Church, formerly known as the River Valley Community Church, 5131 Office Park Drive.  Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the concert begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the door, or through the Arts Council of Kern, 2000 K Street, Suite 110, during business hours. Tickets are $20 general admission, $18 Arts Council members, and $12 students.

Laval and Leger will be also be performing in Tehachapi at the BeeKay Theatre, 110 S. Green Street, on Saturday, July 24, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available through Mountain Music/Fiddler’s Crossing (661-823-9994). All seats for the Tehachapi show are $15.

Special Two-Concert Ticket Price

There is a special promotional price of $30 for those wishing to attend both Bakersfield concerts. Call the Arts Council of Kern at (661) 324-9000 for more information.

Jill Egland is the president of the board of directors for Bakersfield Express.