Southwest Irish Music/Live Irish Trad

Imagine being taken back in time among vast green landscapes, a folk dance hall, or a modern close knit community in a warm lively pub. From elegant and flowing intimate backgrounds for fine dining, or resonant and intricate dance music, or lively children’s educational programs explaining the different sounds and how the instruments work, - all are experiences we enjoy bringing forward to share with others.

More than just the music, the physical presence of the instruments adds color and interest to what we do.

We offer a broad repertoire of tune types with layered melody and tasteful chordal backing. Most of us are multi-instrumentalists allowing us to vary the musical textures and melodies throughout an evening.

You’ll hear a mix of lively Irish dance music, slow sorrowful melodies, and humorous, pensive, and sad songs of love, life, loss, and hope. It may be purely acoustic or lightly amplified for a larger audience. More complex than Old Time and more diverse than Bluegrass, Irish traditional music offers a large variety of melodies, tempos, and time signatures, and includes waltzes, laments, jigs, reels, hornpipes, and more.

When appropriate, humor is a large part of the Irish tradition - so be prepared to laugh a bit.

Eileen Sullivan (Irish Fiddle) is a graduate of the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and has years of violin and fiddle teaching experience. She combines her love of traditional Irish music with her classical violin training to provide students with a firm technical foundation for learning Irish fiddle. Eileen has taught Irish music classes and workshops for the Western Institute of Lifelong Learning (Silver City, NM), the New Mexico Musical Heritage Project at the University of New Mexico, Cascadia Irish Music Week in Olympia, WA and for Silver City’s Pickamania. "One of the best is fiddler Eileen Sullivan. She's spent many years getting to the heart of the traditional repertoire, which she plays with great style and musicality." - Randal Bays

Dain Forsyth (Irish Flute, Whistles, and Bodhrán [drum]) has performed and taught bodhrán at the international bouzouki festival, ZoukFest, during the years of (phone number hidden)1, and has provided accompaniment for Randal Bays, Roger, Landes, Liz Nolan, Drea Pressley, and John Skelton among others. He also has numerous studio recording credits that include tracks on Grace Broadhead and Ben Williamson’s debut album Tipping the Scales. He is also an accomplished Irish flute player and provides private Irish flute lessons in addition to performing locally at the professional level. His drum work and vocal talents are included on the forthcoming album as a member of The Southwest Ramblers. "Dain has shown himself to be not only a masterful and engaging performer he is also an excellent teacher." - Roger Landes

Grace Broadhead (Irish Fiddle, Tenor Banjo, Mandolin) is a two-time North American gold medalist in fiddle, a winner of gold for the slow air, and a silver for lilting!. Additionally, she is the 2022 Fiddler of London Diaspora Award winner. That same year she released her debut Album with Bouzouki player Ben Williamson, titled Tipping the Scales. Her fiddle work features prominently on the forthcoming album as a member of The Southwest Ramblers.

Scott Estes (DADGAD Guitar), a musician from childhood, has been playing traditional Irish dance music and guitar accompaniment since 1997. He’s been a regular in sessions around Albuquerque and has played gigs in various pubs and festivals as a member of the bands Beyond the Pale in Albuquerque in the late 90’s, and Sandhill Session, in Holland, Michigan in the early 2000’s. Since returning to Albuquerque in 2012, Scott has had the privilege of accompanying several amazing musicians including Andrew Post, Roger Landes, and Grace Broadhead.

Louis Scuderi (Irish Bouzouki, Octave Mandolin, Mandolin, Vocals) is most strongly influenced by the folk music of Scotland and Ireland as well as contemporary American Folk. He has been playing traditional music since the age of eleven and has been a regular session player and a member of several bands including the ensemble Mandology.

When playing acoustically, we’ll need chairs for each performer and a small side table on which to lay our instruments. We'll need a 8'x8' space for duets, a 12'x12' space for trios/ensemble

If playing with a sound system we’ll need the following based on our instrumentation.

Dain - vocals, flute/whistles, bodhrán (frame drum)
armless chair
vocal mic, boom stand
Sure Beta 56 or equivalent, short boom stand
small bench or small table

Eileen - fiddle
armless chair
xlr drop

Gace - fiddle, banjo
armless chair
xlr drop
Sure Beta 57 or equivalent, boom stand

Louis - Irish Bouzouki, Octave Mandolin, Mandolin, vocals
armless chair
xlr drop & boom stand

Scott - guitar
armless chair
1/4” jack