256 BROCK MCGUIRE BAND TO BRING IRISH TRADITIONS TO MTSU FEB. 25

BROCK MCGUIRE BAND TO BRING IRISH TRADITIONS TO MTSU FEB. 25
Bandleader Brock Also Slated for Afternoon Lecture

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 30, 2008
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Paul Wells, 615-898-2449

(MURFREESBORO)—The Brock McGuire Band, one of Ireland’s top traditional groups, will perform a free concert on Monday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the State Farm Lecture Hall in the Business and Aerospace Building at MTSU.
The concert is presented by MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, with the sponsorship of the university’s Distinguished Lecture Committee.
Leaders of the band, button accordionist Paul Brock and fiddler Manus McGuire, are two of Ireland’s most celebrated traditional musicians. Their playing has been recognized with numerous awards, and both men have recorded extensively as solo artists and in various groups. They previously played together in the acclaimed group Moving Cloud, a Clare-based band that recorded two albums for Green Linnet Records in the 1990s.
Brock’s 1986 collaboration with fiddler Frankie Gavin, “Tribute to Joe Cooley,” is regarded by critics and fellow musicians as one of the outstanding traditional albums of the modern era. The Chicago-based Irish American News voted him Best Male Musician in 2004, and his recent duo album with fellow band member Enda Scahill, “Humdinger,” was named Irish Music Album of the Year in 2006 by the Irish Times. “Humdinger” has been released in the United States by Nashville-based Compass Records.
McGuire is an Irish fiddler who blends dazzling technique with far-ranging taste. Raised in County Sligo, one of Ireland’s most renowned fiddling regions, he absorbed the local fiddle style made famous by such legendary players as Michael Coleman, James Morrison, and Paddy Killoran. His recent solo CD, “Fiddlewings,” received a Bravo Award from Trad Magazine in France, and he was voted Male Musician of the Year for 2006 by the Irish American News.
Joining Brock and McGuire are tenor banjoist Enda Scahill from Galway and pianist Denis Carey from Tipperary.
Scahill is one of the most critically acclaimed banjoists in Ireland today. The Irish American News said of his playing: “he does things on the banjo that should be impossible.” Carey is a musician/composer/arranger with a diverse musical background that ranges from Irish traditional to classical, jazz and pop. He has performed and recorded with leading international artists. His compositions have been performed by various international groups and orchestras, including Symphony Nova Scotia and the Scottish National Orchestra. Denis runs his own Academy of Music based in Limerick.
Before the concert, Brock will present a lecture from 3 to 4 p.m., “Irish Traditional Music in America—The Golden Era,” in which he will discuss the early history of the recording of Irish American music. Brock will illustrate his lecture with recorded examples and with live performances of his own and by other members of the Brock McGuire Band. The lecture also will be held in the State Farm Lecture Hall. Both lecture and concert are free and open to the public.
For more information, contact the Center for Popular Music at 615-898-2449.

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IN BRIEF: The Brock McGuire Band, one of Ireland’s top traditional groups, will perform a free concert on Monday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the State Farm Lecture Hall in the Business and Aerospace Building at MTSU. The concert is presented by MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, with the sponsorship of the university’s Distinguished Lecture Committee. Leaders of the band, button accordionist Paul Brock and fiddler Manus McGuire, are two of Ireland’s most celebrated traditional musicians. Before the concert, Brock will present a lecture from 3 to 4 p.m., “Irish Traditional Music in America—The Golden Era,” in which he will discuss the early history of the recording of Irish American music. Brock will illustrate his lecture with recorded examples and with live performances of his own and by other members of the Brock McGuire Band. The lecture also will be held in the State Farm Lecture Hall. Both lecture and concert are free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Center for Popular Music at 615-898-2449.

For MTSU news and information, visit www.mtsunews.com.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For a color JPEG of the Brock McGuire Band or an individual JPEG of Paul Brock, you may visit the press area of www.brockmcguire.com to download photos. You also may contact Gina E. Fann in the Office of News and Public Affairs via e-mail at gfann@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-5385 to receive the JPEGs.

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