St. Patrick's Day double header, from the mayor's house to Lincoln Center
St. Patrick's Day double header, from the mayor's house to Lincoln Center

It had been a few years since I had spent St. Patrick's Day playing gigs around Manhattan, but this year I was honored to be able to play two very nice concerts, the first being the Mayor's St. Patrick's Day Breakfast Reception at Gracie Mansion with my friends Caitlin Warbelow and Shane O'Sullivan, and the second being a packed-to-capacity evening concert at Lincoln Center's David Rubenstein Atrium with my boys, The Yanks. It was quite a different experience from the bar scene to which I had been accustomed to playing in many years ago! I must admit, the change was not unwelcome. Our audience at Lincoln Center was absolutely fantastic, and the house crew and management were superb. I couldn't have asked for a better St. Patrick's Day!

Isaac Alderson
The Yanks to play Lincoln Center
The Yanks to play Lincoln Center

The Yanks are honored and excited beyond belief to perform a free concert at Lincoln Center this year on St. Patrick's Day! On Thursday, March 17, 2016, join us at the David Rubenstein Atrium at 7:30pm for some great traditional Irish tunes. We will be delighted to be playing in a prestigious concert venue, and avoiding the green beer crowd... until we join them after the concert, of course! ;)

 
Isaac AldersonDavid Rubenstein Atrium @ Lincoln Center
Photos from China
Photos from China

My three-month tour in China with Riverdance was a real eye-opener. It was full of challenges, laughs, learning experiences, new foods, and a deep yearning for my friends, family, and my own country. In years to come I’m sure I will remember it as a period of growth and learning. While I could write pages and pages about my time there and the highs and lows that accompanied me on the journey, for now I will simply post a collection of some of my photos I took while traveling there. I hope you enjoy the gander.

Isaac Alderson
Ni men hao! Riverdance in China
Ni men hao! Riverdance in China

Greetings to all from the other side of the planet! A few months ago I was invited to join the Riverdance company as their piper for a three month tour in China, and it began just a few days ago. After spending a few days in Chicago with my parents, I had a 16-hour direct flight from Chicago to Hong Kong, where I met up with the rest of the company, and we drove by bus a few hours into mainland China to Huizhou, where we had our first two shows of the tour. We are now in Shenzhen, the second stop, a larger city on the Hong Kong border. The tour will last through February 1st and bring us to no less than 20 cities all up and down the eastern half of the country. This will be my longest non-US tour to date, and it’s my first time in Asia. It’s great to be asked to join such a well-known company and share the stage with such a diverse and wonderful cast. Ganbei!

Isaac Alderson
Halifax, here I come!
Halifax, here I come!

After a whirlwind weekend in Texas and a quick stop in Chicago to visit my folks, I’m off to Halifax to play at the Re-Jigged festival with Seph Peters. This will be my first visit to Nova Scotia. I’m sure it’s going to be fantastic!

Isaac Alderson
Challenge accepted!
Challenge accepted!

Well, it was bound to happen eventually…. I got challenged to dump a ton of freezing water on my head and donate to a worthy cause. (Thanks very much to my esteemed colleague, Dylan Foley, for his invitation!) I had also been challenged on the old bookface by Hilary Abigana of the Indianapolis Ceili Band to play a tune and post it, so I decided to slap two hams with one sausage and complete both challenges SIMULTANEOUSLY. At a recent house concert with Comas in Indianapolis, Dmitri Alano (also of the aforementioned ceili band) was on hand to officiate, and with the assistance of my bandmate Anna Colliton, and long-time friend Maggie Smith, I got a proper soaking. My charitable donation was made to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, an organization devoted to enriching the lives of vulnerable youth. Hope you enjoy!

Isaac Alderson
Exciting gigs coming up!

This coming weekend I will be doing no doubt one of the most fun gigs I can possibly imagine! My long-time comrade and brother-in-musical-arms, Daniel Lowery, is the second eldest of eight siblings, and three of his younger brothers play in a great oldies-style rock band called The Dirty Irv. During a recent trip to St. Louis where we were all present, I jumped in on a recording session with them on the tenor sax, and we had so much fun that we decided to play together for real. I’ll be joining them on October 18th at a festival in Irving, Texas, and will be opening for them with The Bronx Boys! I’m am psyched beyond measure.

After enjoying a long weekend in Texas with the Lowery clan, I’ll be traveling to Nova Scotia for the first time, to play at the Re Jigged Festival in Halifax, in concert with guitarist and banjo player Seph Peters. I have always wanted to visit this part of the world and am so delighted to finally have the opportunity to do so!

Isaac Alderson
Ain't no cure... :)

What a summer! Definitely the busiest for me that I can remember…. It started with a great month of May at McGurk’s in St. Louis with the Bronx Boys, then June saw the release of The Yanks’ new album, Haymaker, and then a short tour with Comas which included a return to the Old Songs Festival, one of our favorites. In July I had the honor of performing in the orchestra for two weeks of the opening run of Sting’s new musical, The Last Ship, in Chicago, which was a fantastic experience. Next, I made my annual return to the Catskills Irish Arts Week, where I performed with The Yanks and joined some really fantastic sessions. I then managed to squeeze in a short visit to Ireland where I visited my wonderful goddaughter (who is now almost four years old!) and soaked up some great music and scenery.

After leaving Ireland, Comas hit the road again for three weeks in Canada, starting with an epic 18-hour drive from Newark Airport to Prince Edward Island for our first concert of the tour. We had a lovely time on PEI and were delighted to hear some brilliant Acadian music. We felt especially privileged to perform at the Atlantic Fiddler’s Jamboree in Mont-Carmel alongside great musicians like Pascal Miousse, Pascal Gemme, Yann Falquet, and many others. On our way to Ontario we stopped in Quebec City, where I’d never been before, and I was amazed at the beautiful architecture and undeniable charm of the city. We also performed at Summer Folk, an awesome festival in Owen Sound organized by legendary singer-songwriter James Keelaghan, and the Summer Music festival in beautiful Stratford, Ontario.

As the summer began to wind down, the Bronx Boys returned to McGurk’s for September, where I was able to join them for the first two absolutely glorious weeks, and then went back out on the road with Comas for the remainder of September and ended the month by playing the Celtic Classic Festival in Bethlehem, PA. Then after an 11-hour drive to Chicago and a quick visit with my parents, I headed back to Ireland. I am now writing from Cork, where yesterday I did some recording with my good friend, guitarist Conor O’Sullivan, and joined him to play with singer-songwriter Barry Tierney for his set at the Cork Folk Festival. Today is the first day that has been cold and rainy, and so, I think it’s safe to say that the summer is sadly over. No worries though, October will see me returning to the US to perform with Ensemble Galilei, head to Dallas to play tenor sax with my friends’ band The Dirty Irv, visit Nova Scotia to perform at the Re-Jigged Festival in Halifax with Seph Peters, and then head home to Chicago for a few days before a BIG ADVENTURE begins….

Isaac Alderson
The Yanks featured on Thistle and Shamrock!

As kids growing up, we all listened almost religiously to Fiona Ritchie’s fabulous show on NPR, Thistle and Shamrock. Imagine our surprise when we found out that not only our new album, but also our debut recording were both featured on the show this summer! Thanks to Ms. Ritchie and NPR for so many years of bringing quality music to our ears, and for blessing us with a mention on your show. It is truly an honor!

Isaac Alderson
'HAYMAKER' hits the shelves!

The Yanks are thrilled to announce the release of our newest recording, Haymaker! It is a 2-disc set, with 22 tracks of music, 84 minutes long in total. Each disc is a self-contained listening experience unto itself. There are some fantastic additional musicians on this album, namely the fabulous Josh Dukes on drums and bodhrán, and the Murphy Beds (Eamon O’Leary and Jefferson Hamer) on vocals, mandolin, and bouzouki. Thanks to our friends, family, and fans who supported this effort on Kickstarter, we were able to book a top-class studio for an entire week, bring one of Irish music’s hottest engineers (our friend Sean Keegan), and mix and master the album in-house with Grammy Award-winning engineer Glenn Barratt. We are very proud of Haymaker and hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it! Available for download on bandcamp or on disc at CDBaby!

Isaac Alderson