Luck o' the Irish
Ex-Flook flutist Brian Finnegan and guitarist William Coulter spin tales and make beautiful music at Coffee Gallery Backstage
By Bliss 09/24/2009
Summer camp is often an adolescent rite of passage, but it offers an entirely different type of adventure for fans of traditional music — one where well-known musicians teach adults and kids alike. For guitarist William Coulter and Irish flute/whistle virtuoso Brian Finnegan, a chance collaboration at a Nova Scotia music camp where both were teaching led to a tour, kicking off at Coffee Gallery Backstage Friday.
Finnegan is globally renowned as one-fourth of Ireland’s revered Flook, which disbanded last year shortly after he and Coulter met and agreed to collaborate more. Thus far they’ve recorded a handful of demos by emailing MP3 files back and forth. Plans for a proper album are “definitely in the works,” Coulter says, once they get more gigs under their belts. This month’s California shows will be followed by tours through Mexico and Ireland next spring.
In addition to several albums of Celtic music, Coulter, who teaches classical guitar at UC Santa Cruz, has recorded three instrumental albums (with Barry Phillips) of Shaker hymns. “But if I had to pick one type of music on a desert island,” he says, “I would probably go with traditional Irish music.”
He fell in love with Celtic music at age 19 when he left his northern New Jersey home for California. Winding up in Santa Cruz, he strolled into a café and was “totally gripped” by strange music spinning from the stereo.
“It was traditional Irish music from the Bothy Band,” he says. “The ironic thing is, where I grew up in New Jersey, I was surrounded by Irish communities … there was a lot of Irish session music happening in pubs and houses. But because I was not in that world and had never even heard it, I didn’t know it was there. Ironically, I moved to California and the first thing that grabbed me was music that came from 6,000 miles back in the other direction. I found out where the local session scene was, met some musicians and I guess you could say it’s history from that point on. … My oldest brother was living on the west coast of Ireland for about 15 years; he married an Irish girl so I ended up with extended family there. It’s kind of like fate, and somewhat of a second home for me.”
At tomorrow’s show, Coulter says he’s looking forward to hearing about Finnegan’s recent adventures rock climbing and helping build a hospital in Guatemala.“He’s quite entertaining to hear, as much for the stories and the Northern Irish accent as the tunes themselves,” Coulter says with a chuckle. Telling stories between songs, he adds, is “part of the fun. You get to know the audience that way.”
Brian Finnegan & William Coulter play Coffee Gallery Backstage, 2029 N. Lake Ave., Altadena, 8 p.m. Friday; $15. Info: (626) 398-7917. finnegancoulter.com
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