Dervish with The John Byrne Band

Dervish, one of the world’s most creative interpreters of Irish folk music and recently recognized with a BBC Lifetime Achievement Award, have confirmed they are planning to release a brand new album later this year. Having devoted the last three decades to gently reinventing the traditional songs of their homeland, Dervish were widely celebrated in 2019 for their album The Great Irish Songbook which featured such luminaries as Vince Gill, David Gray, Rhiannon Giddens, Steve Earle, and many other stellar guests.

Hear Dervish on Weekend Edition on NPR here

Dervish’s founding members were childhood friends in County Sligo, the same creatively fertile region that spawned a group of legendary fiddle players who emigrated to the U.S. in the 1920s, then recorded the first known Irish-music albums of any genre.  As young musicians in 1989, the band members were commissioned to record an album of music from the renowned Sligo tradition. Despite a feverish response from all around the world, Dervish turned down record-deal offers and launched their own label and career, releasing their sophomore effort Harmony Hill in 1993, immediately seeing the album climb the Irish mainstream charts. The band have since released 14 albums on their own labeland in recent years they have been working with Rounder Records and the Concord Music Group in Nashville.

Through the years, Dervish has appeared at some of the world’s biggest festivals, from Glastonbury in the UK to Paleo in Switzerland to Rock in Rio , with the “great and good” of the entertainment industry while steadily making their name as of the foremost purveyors of Irish folk music of their generation.

Along with Guinness, Jameson and Kerrygold butter, one of Ireland’s greatest exports may be Dervish, a dazzling Irish traditional band described by one reviewer as “the most compelling, most soulful Irish traditional folk band playing today.” Denise Foley Irish Philadelphia

The John Byrne Band

The John Byrne Band is led by Dublin native and Philadelphia-based John Byrne. Their debut album, After the Wake, was released to critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic in 2011. With influences ranging from Tom Waits to Planxty, John’s songwriting honors and expands upon the musical and lyrical traditions of his native and adopted homes. John and the band followed up After the Wake in early 2013 with an album of Celtic and American traditional tunes. The album, Celtic/Folk, pushed the band on to the FolkDJ Charts, reaching number 36 in May 2015. Their third release, another collection of John Byrne originals, entitled “The Immigrant and the Orphan”, was released in Sept 2015. The album, once again, draws heavily on John’s love of Americana and Celtic Folk music and with the support of DJs around the country entered the FolkDJ Charts at number 40. Critics have called it “…a powerful, deeply moving work that will stay with you long after you have heard it” (Michael Tearson-Sing Out); “The Vibe of it (The Immigrant and the Orphan) is, at once, as rough as rock and as elegant as a calm ocean..each song on this album carries an honesty, integrity and quiet passion that will draw you into its world for years to come” (Terry Roland – No Depression); “If any element of Celtic, Americana or Indie-Folk is your thing, then this album is an absolute yes” (Beehive Candy); “It’s a gorgeous, nostalgic record filled with themes of loss, hope, history and lost loves; everything that tugs at your soul and spills your blood and guts…The Immigrant and the Orphan scorches the earth and emerges tough as nails” (Jane Roser – That Music Mag)