Publication Date: Friday, December 30, 2005
Home for New Year's
Home for New Year's
(December 30, 2005) Folk duo Four Shillings Short returns to its roots with Palo Alto concerts
by Rachel Hill
After two years on the road, the folk duo Four Shillings Short is returning to Palo Alto. The musicians will start the new year with two performances of their eclectic folk tunes and Celtic- and Indian Raga-influenced melodies.
Husband-and-wife team Aodh Og (pronounced "Ay-ohg") O'Tuama and Christy Martin will mark their return to Palo Alto, where the group originated 21 years ago, with a New Year's Eve party. They'll also hold a concert on Saturday, Jan. 7 at a local church.
Four Shillings Short released its sixth album, "Icing on the Lake," earlier this year, and Martin promises that the Palo Alto shows will feature new material. She describes the upcoming concerts as a "Renaissance fair in New Delhi with modern activist material mixed with traditional material."
In its two-year absence from the Bay Area music scene, Four Shillings Short has been on a non-stop tour, traveling throughout the United States and Ireland. The Irish-born O'Tuama still has family in Ireland and the duo visit frequently.
Martin said the couple performed in 40 states in 2004 and put about 39,000 miles on their tour van.
"We went all over the East Coast, and we went down in the South for the first time, touring in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and the Carolinas," she said. "We did many festivals and outdoor concert series in the summer, and in the winter we were doing a lot of the Folk Society concerts that are held in libraries and churches."
This year, they toured 30 states and parts of Ireland, she said.
Four Shillings Short was originally started in Palo Alto by O'Tuama in 1985. It went through several transitions of group members before O'Tuama met Martin during a show at Palo Alto's St. Michael's Alley in 1995. Upon their introduction, the musical magic blossomed.
Their newest album is a collection of Four Shillings Short fans' favorite songs, Martin said. The tracks come from the group's first two albums recorded between 1996 and 1998.
"With a total of 27 tracks between the two of them to choose from we had to pick the best, kind of like the icing on the cake," Martin said. "Over the years people would come up to us and say 'I love this particular song,' so (these) are people's favorites."
The album combines a wide array of diverse instruments, including cello, mandolin, harp, electric bass and guitar, Irish pipes, banjo and various percussion instruments, O'Tuama said.
Using many instruments is the cornerstone of the duo's sound: They bring together a diverse collection to produce unlikely musical combinations. O'Tuama said both musicians play between 10 and 15 instruments in a given show.
After their Palo Alto performances, the pair will tour the Bay Area and Southern California through April. They have concerts booked until the end of 2007 and plan to take their music overseas again to expand their European following. They also have invitations to play in South America and India.
Martin said the group's goal is to tour the whole world. O'Tuama added, "We are thinking of setting up residence in Ireland in 2008 and developing our European circuit to parallel what we have in the United States."
What: Performances by folk duo Four Shillings Short.
Where: The New Year's Eve party, which will also include other local musicians in jam sessions, is in Palo Alto; call (650) 274-1100 for location and details. The Jan. 7 concert is at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto at 505 E. Charleston Road.
When: The Jan. 7 concert begins at 7 p.m.
Cost: Tickets for the Jan. 7 concert are $5 to $10. Children under 12 are free.
Info: Call (650) 274-1100 or go to www.fourshillingsshort.com.
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