Episode 52: Ken Fleming (Banjo, accordion, guitar and singing)

Accordion tunes in the 90 degree heat. On the '80s Cowboys and Irish music in Dallas, Texas. On De Danaan kicking up a dust storm; the Charlie Piggott route to falling in love with the banjo and struggles in learning to play. The O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat and the sweetness of playing music with your kids. 

Ken Fleming's such an easy going guy, but when you hear his story you'll realize he's driven. I mean, you can't get an Irish music festival up and running in Texas without some amazing combination of vision, commitment and a willingness to take a punt. It's probably not an exaggeration to say that without Ken's work over the past forty years, the Irish music scene there would be a shadow of what it's now become (thriving).

So - here's The North Texas Irish Festival, of which Ken was a key founder:
https://ntif.org/

And you can find The O'Flaherty Irish Music retreat here:
https://oflahertyretreat.org/

Check out their list of past guest musicians and you'll get an idea of the calibre of the weekend: 
https://oflahertyretreat.org/instructor_role/core-classes/

Thank you, Ken, for hacking through the long distance digital thickets with us to get this episode up and out. And thanks for your tunes and your chat.

As always the episode is free to stream or download from all the usual spots:
Our Website: https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/52
iTunes: https://apple.co/2XsbLo0
Google Podcast: http://bit.ly/3cPTkis
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3aFuOPa

So - this is our 52nd episode. We launched last year at the National Celtic Festival and it was awesome. Thanks to Una McAlinden for that amazing kick start to the project. We got to hang out with...

Mary MacNamara and Eileen O'Brien
https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/4
Maggie Carty
https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/5
Beth McCracken
https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/8
Austral
https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/7
and
Bush Gothic
https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/10

Not bad for a first weekend...

Now, Covid-19 notwithstanding, The Celtic Festival will be hosting a series of events online this year to mark the moment and take a breath before we start the journey towards next year's festival. Look for them here:

https://www.facebook.com/nationalcelticfestival

And finally, thanks to you all for supporting us to get this far. Keep it up and hopefully we'll have another year's worth of great chat and tunes by this time next year.

Love,

Darren and Dom

--

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