Tuesday, March 29, 2011 • Men of Worth bring Celtic music to Susanville
Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, March 29, 2011 edition of the Lassen County Times.
Celtic duo Men of Worth appeared in Susanville for the fourth consecutive year around St. Patrick’s Day and got a warm standing ovation from most of a packed house at the Lassen Community College cafeteria at the conclusion of their nearly two-hour concert.
Men of Worth, Donnie Macdonald, left, and James Keigher entertained a packed house at Lassen Community College during a two-hour concert of Celtic music Friday, March 18.Irishman James Keigher smiled, thanked the crowd and humbly said they could do one more number before heading down the wintry highway to their next gig in southern Oregon.
But his bandmate, Donnie Macdonald, a multi-instrumentalist from Scotland, couldn’t resist using the occasion to crack one last joke with the audience.
“It’s great to get an encore,” Macdonald quipped. “We got a standing ovation one time. South Pasadena Hemorrhoid Sufferers Society.”
The packed house on its feet roared.
Donnie Macdonald.“He doesn’t know what he’s saying,” an incredulous Keigher yelled over the joyful noise.
As the laughter subsided, Macdonald scratched his chin as if lost in thought, and then said, “No. It wasn’t Pasadena — ”
They finished the evening with a rousing rendition of “Knight of the Road,” a song written by Irish musician John Boland, with whom Men of Worth will appear in a series of concerts and a Public Broadcasting System television program later this year. The song tells the stories of an Irish musician who — much like Men of Worth — travels around the world entertaining people from diverse cultures with his fiddle and banjo.
As they have for the past four years, Men of Worth presented an evening of traditional Irish and Scottish music heard in those countries since antiquity. They also added a few more contemporary tunes.
A highlight of any Men of Worth concert is their performance of “Only from Day to Day,” a poem written by 19th century Irish poet John Boyle O’Reilly with music written in this century by Sean Tyrrell.
Macdonald and Keigher both shared vocal duties all night long, and Macdonald sang a few tunes in his native Gaelic language while Keigher’s traditional Irish tenor soared during many of his offerings.
Macdonald, a master instrumentalist, picked the melodies on several dance tunes — jigs and reels — on octave mandolin, tenor guitar, banjo and concertina while Keigher banged out an infectious rhythm on acoustic guitar, mando-cello and the bodhran, a traditional Irish drum.
Between their two sets, the audience enjoyed an Irish stew dinner prepared by Cary Templeton, Lassen Community College’s dean of student services.
LCC and the Lassen County Arts Council sponsored the event.
