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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Ladies of Longford - Dublin Irish Festival 2012


This past weekend I had the opportunity to listen to the Ladies of Longford who is an Irish group that performs through-out Ohio. It was this time one year ago at the 2011 Dublin Irish Festival when I heard them for the first time. I was amazed with their powerful voices and their skills with various instruments.

Let me give you a very short summary of who they are. The Ladies of Longford consists of five women who play traditional Irish music in addition to a bit of everything else. But they always put their own little twist into their songs for their fans. Their grandfather is originally from Co. Longford in Ireland, hence the name Ladies of Longford. The group consists of:

Hilda Doyle (vocals, acoustic guitar)
Stephanie Doyle (vocals, bass guitar)
Heather Doyle Fraser ( vocals, percussion-including djembe, shaker, tambourine)
Elizabeth Blickenstaff (fiddle)
Molly Pauken (drums, bass guitar)

They started the weekend with an hour show on the lawn of the statehouse.  Their music always seems to pull in the young dancers whether they are doing traditional Irish dance or just dancing in general. After the show I chatted with Heather for a while but I did not want to hold her up too long because they had another show later that day at the Dublin Irish Festival. I need to say that each of these ladies also performs with various other Irish groups. This weekend will be my first time to hear these other groups so I made a point to attend all their shows for a few reasons. First, I wanted to hear the other groups as I enjoy Irish music. Second, I want to support the other groups these ladies are part of and last I wanted to get pictures for their fans.


 Friday

Lone Raven with Elizabeth
Elizabeth also plays the fiddle with Lone Raven so later that day I arrived at the festival and hurried to the stage where Lone Raven would be performing. I have heard Lone Raven before and I like their music. Downside was that they only had one show this weekend. When I got to the stage they were already into their first song or two. I must say that Kara and Elizabeth perform the best version of “Black is the Colour” that I have ever heard. Kara sings the main vocals and Elizabeth plays the fiddle and also sings. The rest of the group also performs and they create this sound that I cannot describe. After their show I made sure to buy the CD that had that song on it. I also recorded it with my camera. Lone Raven is a great group and I love their music, but that song will always stand out for me.



Ladies of Longford
Later that night I made sure to get a front row seat for the Ladies of Longford. Molly is not with them on every show through-out the year and she was with them on this night (and earlier at the statehouse) I think Molly is talented and wanted to make sure to catch a few shows since I have not seen her for several months. I want to say this in a positive way but Molly reminds me of some of the great musicians of the 60’s. But whether it is all five or just four of them, they put their heart into it and give us the best show ever. I love how they interact with each other and the fans. 



Saturday

Vinegar Hill with Elizabeth.
I did not care for the schedule on some shows because of the times. Vinegar Hill was my first show today but Stephanie also had a show with Clear Blue Sunday and these two overlapped about 30 minutes. When  Vinegar Hill ended, I was gone and heading to the stage with Clear Blue Sunday. I really enjoyed Vinegar Hill. I am not the best when it comes to describing music but I know what I like and what I do not like. I think Elizabeth is highly skilled on the fiddle but I wanted to make sure I listened to Vinegar Hill as a group. This would be my first time hearing Vinegar Hill so I was looking forward to hear them. I do not know their names but they have a great sound.   I would listen to them again.



Clear Blue Sunday with Stephanie
I made it to the stage just as I heard one of the guys commenting about how much better they sound because of Stephanie’s voice. Not taking anything away from them, I will agree that Stephanie does have a great voice. Each of them had certain songs where they sing lead vocals and they have good voices. They played some traditional Irish songs and even a bit of rock. This was also my first time hearing Clear Blue Sunday. The DIF always offers a variety of music and I can usually tell within a few songs whether I like a group or not. This is another group who I would hear again.



Craig and Kara
Craig and Kara are from Lone Raven but this was not a Lone Raven performance. Hilda and Elizabeth also sat in with Craig and Kara. Since it was not the complete Lone Raven group, I still had a question. So I went up to Kara and asked her if they will be performing Black is the Colour. Hey, what can I say. I love that song by them. I believe it was the closing song. Craig and Kara possess the same quality as with Lone Raven. It is still them but at a smaller scale. Kara has a beautiful voice regardless whether it is all of them or just a few. After the show I talked with Elizabeth for a few minutes and had to comment on the song and we talked about their busy schedule. 



Ladies of Longford
These poor women finally had a few hours to rest before their next show. I really felt bad for them. All we do is move from stage to stage, clap, dance or whatever. But they are up on stage in the lights moving about for over an hour in this heat. Through all this they still kept a positive attitude and gave us a perfect show. Lots of smiles, jokes and just having fun. I was talking to Hilda and I love how she put it, “we love making music and love entertaining the people.” With a passion like that, it is no wonder why fans love them! After the show I chatted with Heather and Stephanie some more and I headed off so they could get packed up and get home.



Sunday

A little cooler today and they had a less strenuous schedule. They did a song with Dublin Silver Band and a closing number with Vinegar Hill. While listening to Vinegar Hill, Elizabeth is doing one of her solos and the cord to her fiddle comes unplugged. She just keeps playing along while they get her plugged back in. Very professional!

After the show I get some pictures of them and also a few with them. I thank them for a great weekend as you can see was very busy. Whether performing as a group or  with others, this was a wonderful weekend for Ladies of Longford fans.



Videos

Ladies of Longford

Lone Raven with Elizabeth (Ladies of Longford)

Vinegar Hill with Elizabeth (Ladies of Longford)

Statehouse Lawn

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