While growing up, Brian FitzGerald received daily doses of his Irish heritage, which included extended family members playing music.
“There was an underswelling of a love of people getting together in a pub-like atmosphere,” said FitzGerald.
He and Michael McCormack, a Celtic and Americana music duo called Switchback, will perform on Nov. 7 at the James Lumber Center. They performed there several years ago and are glad to be back at what FitzGerald calls a “primo” venue.
Both grew up in the Chicago area with large families who loved Celtic music as well as jazz, blues, and rock. “It’s part of our DNA,” FitzGerald said.
As Switchback, they’ve sung in harmony, performed acoustic instruments and written music for more than three decades. At the James Lumber Center, they’ll perform Traveling Down an Irish Road, which FitzGerald said includes “traditional as well as original music — ranging from the raucous to the sublime.”
Irish step dancers will also join to perform to jigs and reels. Switchback has toured the United States, Canada, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands, and also appeared on the PBS television specials “The Americana Sessions” and “The Celtic Sessions.”
After having taken some time off during the pandemic, they are back on the road. “This time, we’re trying not to spread ourselves too thin,” said FitzGerald. “We’ve cut back and in some ways that has helped us to work a little more thoughtfully,” and concentrate on technique, he said.
If it’s technique an audience wants, Switchback aims to deliver. FitzGerald is well-known for his mandolin playing, not just the traditional folk style, but also for taking risks that an average bluegrass band player wouldn’t take, McCormack said.
FitzGerald learned to play mandolin from Jethro Burns, of the famous Homer and Jethro. He drove to Evanston weekly to spend time in a small basement room learning an instrument he loves for its sweet sound.
FitzGerald calls McCormack, who studied vocal music in college “one of the best Irish tenors around.” When McCormack sings the traditional “O Danny Boy,” FitzGerald said, “It’s like watching a trapeze artist without a net, the way Marty sings … It’s stark. It’s beautiful.”
FitzGerald received plenty of encouragement growing up in a family that opened the iconic FitzGerald’s in Berwyn years ago. “It became an institution,” Fitzgerald said of the club, which has featured blues, country, jazz and folk over the years. FitzGerald’s was purchased by Chicago entertainment Will Duncan in 2020, who is maintaining the legend of the family musicians.
FitzGerald recalled one evening when he was working at the club letting people into the door, a jazz group learned he played mandolin and guitar. The leader told him to go get his instrument. “I played the entire afternoon with them, got adopted into their ensemble and recorded an album with them,” FitzGerald said.
He met McCormack soon after and they formed Switchback. That was about 35 years ago, and they’ve been together ever since. Switchback likes to “move in different directions at the turn of a dime,” FitzGerald said.
“We play traditional Irish music, but with our own stamp on it. We play Americana, which is everything that happened in this country — rock ’n’ roll, jazz, blues.” FitzGerald defines Celtic music as having “a raw, primitive beat and almost a chant-like effect with the vocals. It’s something contagious that people love.” They perform one of their original Celtic songs called “Connemara Man” at nearly all their concerts.
“There’s a pathos in it. It’s a story about a guy that’s lost everything and he’s still able to dance around the fire,” FitzGerald said. Another staple is “Black Mountain,” in which they sing in unison and harmony while McCormack plays acoustic guitar and FitzGerald plays mandolin.
“That brings out all my jazz sensibilities that I grew up with and my studying with Jethro,” he said. “That’s one of our better achievements.” They also perform what FitzGerald calls a “wild version” of “Drunken Sailor.” The pandemic afforded them a reboot, remembering what it was in the first place that brought them together, he said.
“There’s a certain part of each person that doesn’t want to let go of that thing that’s him,” FitzGerald said. “You don’t want to lose yourself, but you also want to mingle the two and have a mutual respect. I think that’s what we’ve accomplished. That’s what has helped us endure.”
The duo also has traveled to Ireland at the behest of a friend, he said, and they’ve become well-known as performers there. “When there’s a day in Chicago when it’s wet and overcast, it brings me back to Ireland and all those wonderful places we visited,” he said.
“When Marty and I traveled in Ireland we saw a deep sense of community going on in the pubs. On Sunday afternoon, there are kids in the pub, the whole family.” Switchback, which has released 15 albums including its 2019, “Birds of Prey,” is working on a new one. “It’s mostly Americana, and a lot of it will be the reaction to the times we’re living in,” FitzGerald said.
Switchback
When: 3 p.m. Nov. 7
Where: James Lumber Center for the Performing Arts, 19351 Washington St., Grayslake
Tickets: $10-$25
Information: 847-543-2300, www.clcillinois.edu/events/the-arts-events/james-lumber-center-events
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
"traditional" - Google News
October 20, 2021 at 01:26AM
https://ift.tt/3lSu8yy
Switchback concert features traditional, original music - Chicago Tribune
"traditional" - Google News
https://ift.tt/36u1SIt
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Switchback concert features traditional, original music - Chicago Tribune"
Post a Comment