July 10-11, 2010
Welcome Joe Root!!
Bio:
Before moving to Portland in 2000, accordionist and pianist Joe Root brought years of experience playing major folk festivals throughout the Midwest, as well as a stint with the Swannanoa Gathering music camp in North Carolina. Joe was a founding member of the Kansas City-based Irish band Sunrush, which was featured in the April 1999 edition of Irish Music Magazine; and Sunrush’s album “Horse of a Different Color” was produced the same year by internationally-renowned Irish musician and scholar Mick Moloney.
Equally comfortable in both informal and group musical efforts, Joe has a reputation for knowing how to blend in, to be as dynamic or as subtle as the setting requires. One of the most versatile proponents of Irish piano in the country, with a range of interests that also include Cape Breton, blues, and swing, he has accompanied anything from séan nos singing to ceili bands to solo fiddle, and even the Highland Pipes. And as an adept accordionist, Joe has not only added hundreds of tunes from the Celtic traditions to his repertoire, but more recently has also enjoyed learning from the accordion traditions of France and northeastern Brazil.
A few quotes:
“Joe is a musician of rare versatility and brilliance. He has proven himself to be a master accordion player, and his lovely and engaging piano backing on traditional Scots and Irish dance music breathes depth and vitality into instrumental sets. His song accompaniments are a vocalist’s delight – senstitive, melodic and endlessly interesting.”
- Narada recording artist and singer Connie Dover
“Joe is an impressive musician who combines natural intuition with technical accomplishment. His playing on the piano and other keyboards is revelatory, showing a deep appreciation of and familiarity with Irish and Scots traditional music, without being constrained by convention. He freely ‘borrows’ from other styles of music he has played and combines certain aspects of these styles with the melodies and rhythms of Celtic music from his own unique voice. Joe’s solo piano arrangements of Irish and Scots dance tunes and air are breathtaking.”
- Recording artist and world-renowned Celtic bouzouki player, Roger Landes