PUTNEY – Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present trailblazing Irish singer/songwriter Karan Casey on Thursday, March 2 at 7:00 pm at Next Stage. For her March ’23 US tour with fiddler Sheila Falls and guitarist Matt Heaton, Karan premieres songs from her brand new album “NIne Apples of Gold,” mixed with favorites from her previous eleven albums.
Singing songs charged with a sense of social responsibility in a career spanning over 25 years, Karan Casey was among the vanguard of the Irish music revival’s “third wave” of the early 1990s, and a founding member of the seminal Irish American band “Solas” before launching her solo career in 1999. Though steeped early on in Irish traditional and folk music, Karan has long followed an eclectic path, whether studying classical music, fronting jazz bands, or working with Frank Harte, a much-revered folk/traditional singer from Dublin. The list of artists that she’s collaborated with is similarly diverse – James Taylor, Maura O’Connell, Karen Matheson, the Boston Pops Orchestra, Liam Clancy, Tim O’Brien, The Chieftains, The Dubliners, and Béla Fleck, among others. A Waterford, Ireland native, Karan has performed extensively throughout North America, Europe, and Japan.
Karan’s repertoire has long included traditional, contemporary, and original songs that speak to the condition of women, and her “Nine Apples of Gold” album follows that precedent. In 2018 Karan helped to found FairPlé – an organization aimed at achieving fairness and gender balance for female performers in Irish traditional and folk music. Her songs draw inspiration from a wide range of sources, from the personal to the historical and political, touching on themes of family, loss, love, the empowerment of women, and Irish revolutionary struggle.
Next Stage is located at 15 Kimball Hill in downtown Putney, VT. Tickets are $22 Advance / $25 At the Door. Advance tickets are available at nextstagearts.org. For information, call 802-387-0102. Next Stage will provide a beer, wine, and cocktail cash bar.
