Frances Black and her kids, Aoife and Eoghan Scott.
Frances Black’s sister, famed Irish singer Mary Black, made her farewell tour last year accompanied by her ultra-talented daughter, Roisin O. And this year. Frances, herself an acclaimed singer, is returning to the US for the first time in 20 years to tour with her two musically talented children, Aoife and Eoghan Scott. It’s a family thing.
They’re at the Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival this weekend, then performing in Massachusetts, upstate New York, and at the New York Irish Center in Queens. But they’ll also make a stopover for a house concert in Philadelphia on Saturday, August 1 at the home of singers Gabriel Donohue and Marian Makins.
In interviews, Frances Black, the youngest in a family of five musical children, says she never thought she’d become a singer. “It was never expected of me,” she told the Belfast Telegraph in January. “Everyone expected it of Mary, because she was singing from a very young age. But I didn’t think I was a very good singer.”
Many others would disagree. Singer Nanci Griffith once described Black’s voice as “the sweetest in Ireland.” Black produced her first album, Talk to Me, in 1994 and the awards and accolades followed.
Her daughter, Aoife Scott, is a singer-songwriter as well as a song collector whose interest is in the Irish language—she lives in the Gaeltacht and has made frequent appearances on Irish language TV shows. Son Eoghan Scott is also a singer-songwriter whose recently released EP has garnered positive reviews. He’s played guitar on stage for his Aunt Mary as well as other leading lights, including Sharon Shannon, Paddy Keenan, Mary Coughlan, Tommy Fleming, and with the Irishband, Slide. He’s also playing on his sister’s upcoming release.
Since this is a house concert, seats are limited but there are still a few open. Price of admission is $20, all of which goes to the performers. Email barnstarconcerts@gmail.com to reserve your seat for this one-of-a-kind, very intimate performance.
This Saturday, you downashore people can hear Jamison perform at Casey’s in North Wildwood. Those of you on your way home from the shore on Sunday should stop in at Ashburner’s Inn in Philly to hear McHugh and O’Neill. The Irish duo will be on stage from 4 Pm to 8 PM.
If you come home earlier from the shore and want some good craic, join the 2nd Street Plough Bhoys as they launch the beginning of the Celtic FC season at the Plough and the Stars, with music, football talk, and some of the young coaches from the Glasgow team (which is Irish—and they’ll be happy to explain that all to you over drinks). That starts at 2 PM. And we hear Raymond Coleman may be back in his old haunt singing some songs.
If you’re home all weekend, head up to Limerick to watch some football and hurling. The Notre Dame Ladies GFC will be playing at 11 on Saturday, with the men taking over the field later and on Sunday.
Jamison will be back at the shore on Thursday, playing at The Wharf in Wildwood.
Then on Friday, Sean Wilson will be getting dancers on their feet at another on the Roy Lynch Nights of Music and Dance at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Newtown Square.
We’re putting the Celtic lineup for Bethlehem’s annual Musikfest on our calendar. It runs from August 7 to August 16. Look for that right here next week.
