The West Michigan Celtic fave is part of a jam-packed festival this weekend. In spring 2017, prior to St. Patrick’s Day, they performed on Local Spins on WYCE, which also debuted new regional music.
Celtic Spirit: The Conklin Ceili Band performing at the Sparta Celtic Festival a few years ago. (Photo/John Sinkevics)
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story and podcast first was published by Local Spins on March 10, 2017. The Conklin Ceili Band performs at 6:30 p.m. Friday (Aug. 10, 2018) at the Sparta Celtic Festival in Rogers Park in Sparta, followed by headliner Steel City Rovers at 8:45 p.m. The festival continues all day Saturday with music, dancing highland games, vendors and more. Get details online here.
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As West Michigan guitarist and singer Mick Lane puts it, the week surrounding St. Patrick’s Day for a Celtic band is “a blessing and a curse.”
With demand for Irish music peaking in mid-March, Lane’s Conklin Ceili Band often plays multiple gigs in a short period of time.
Local Faves: The Conklin Ceili Band performing during Local Spins on WYCE (Photo/Local Spins)
“It’s just rough on you, but on the other hand, it’s people looking back: It’s where you came from and that kind of gives you the road ahead,” he said. “And that’s what holding onto these traditions means.”
The band — which last year performed twice at Quinn & Tuite’s Irish Pub in Grand Rapids following the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade — brought those traditions to Studio X at WYCE for the March 10, 2017 edition of Local Spins on WYCE, performing a couple of tunes on the air and chatting about its plans, which includes recording a new studio album.
Listen to the full podcast here, with a video from their performance below.
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE with Conklin Ceili Band
The hectic March schedule for the Conklin Ceili Band – Lane, mandolinist Tom Verlin, fiddler Natalie Beversluis, bassist Jon Koeze and banjoist Mike Scott – also included the group’s first-ever appearance at SpeakEZ Lounge as part of the Local Spins Wednesdays series, followed by several performances on St. Patrick’s Day, including a return to Quinn & Tuite’s. The band also played in Hart and Wayland the day after St. Patrick’s Day.
This summer, the band also makes its return to the two-day Sparta Celtic Festival, performing on Friday night (Aug. 10, 2018) prior to a headlining set by Steel City Rovers.
Episode No. 130 of Local Spins on WYCE also featured the debut of new tracks by Traverse City’s The Accidentals (from the band’s upcoming new album on the Sony Masterworks label), Lansing’s Alex Mendenall, Grand Rapids’ The Suburbans and Justin Avdek & The Underground Circus, as well as new music recorded at Grand Rapids’ Stone House Recording for the upcoming South by Southwest music conference in Austin by The Go Rounds, Flint Eastwood, Stef Chura and Michigander. Read more about that in this Local Spins feature story.
VIDEO: Conklin Ceili Band for Local Spins on WYCE
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