As March arrives, all things Irish take over the city by the sea. One highlight of the St. Patrick’s Day season will undoubtedly be the concert by violinist Máiréad Nesbitt, who takes Jane Pickens Film and Event Center stage on Sunday, March 9. Click here for tickets.
I caught up with the top-selling Grammy Award-nominated fiddle player by phone earlier this week, where she was headlining aboard a cruise ship, and enjoying a few warm days at sea. She told me that she’s looking forward to playing Newport, along with her band for the evening, the Jordan Tirrell Wysocki Trio.
“They’re lovely musicians, and I’ve played with Jordan before,” said Nesbitt. “He’s a lovely fiddle player. We basically fuse Irish tradition with Americana, and he plays a lot of old-time music as well. It’s a lovely fusion, and the melodies are beautiful.”
Expect a high-energy concert with lots of variety. “It’s a very lively concert, and it brings you through a few different tempos with lively songs, slower tunes, and poignant melodies that people love.”
“The lineup is Jordan and myself on fiddles, and I also play the whistle. We have double bass and guitar, and we all do vocals, so it’s a really nice setup, all acoustic, and we have a great time playing music together.”
Nesbitt is perhaps best known as a member of Celtic Woman, the Irish group that has toured internationally and won numerous accolades. She explained that her solo shows highlight a different aspect of her musical personality.
“I think the difference between being in a big show, whether it’s Celtic Woman or Lord of the Dance or Riverdance, is that you are very much collaborating with people,” she explained. “I love collaborating with people, especially if the genre is slightly different to my own, but not so different that they don’t go really well together.”
I asked Nesbitt about the musical heritage of Ireland, a small nation that has influenced popular music for generations.
It’s like Rory Gallagher and, you know, amazing punk bands like the Boomtown Rats, The Cranberries, Sinead O’Connor,” she said. “Let’s take Thin Lizzy, one of my most favorite bands. Like they’re all there – you can hear the Irishness in them. Obviously, it has to be executed really well, and those bands are incredible, you know.”
We have a particular scale in our music that really resonates with people, I think,” added Nesbitt. “Not to sound cliché, but I really think it resonates with people’s souls. It’s not so much the Western idea of keys, like in art or music. It’s not say, this is a major, or this is a minor or D minor or D major or whatever.”
“People around the world don’t always know what draws them to Irish music,” continued Nesbitt. “They just know that they’re drawn to it. I don’t always understand myself and I’m the Irish person delivering the music. I’m always happily surprised that people love it.”
Nesbitt noted that her audiences span generations and include serious and casual fans. “I see so many young people, teenagers, even established classical players come up to me and book lessons online. There is a great mix of people.”
Click here for more on Máiréad Nesbitt.
Click here for tickets to the show.
