Bill Redding & Friends

Location: R.A. Fountain

From our promo for this event:

Bill Redding and Friends return to Fountain General Store Saturday night for a concert of Celtic music in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.

For his 9th annual concert in Fountain, Redding will be accompanied by Mike Hamer on hammered dulcimer and harmonica, Nathan Maxwell on viola, and Melody Maxwell on fiddle.

Hamer, the long-time mainstay on the Greenville music scene, will share vocals with Redding, who also performs at Hamers annual Christmas show in Fountain.

The Maxwells, brother and sister also from Greenville, are “two really talented youngsters,” said Redding, who has been performing with them for a couple of years.

Redding, a native of Clarence in upstate New York, has been living in Greenville for nearly 30 years. An expert guitarist, he has a lifelong interest in folk music, especially the songs of his Celtic heritage. Most of his repertoire, he says, “I learned from old records that my father had. These are our folk songs. They are so old and deep in our culture that for the most part they don’t have known authors.”

“Bill’s got a perfect voice for these songs,” said Alex Albright, Fountain General proprietor, “and he knows verse after verse after verse of the songs.” He performed his first St. Patrick’s concert in Fountain in 2000, in the old Smith-Yelverton building, beside Fountain General Store.

The “O Danny Boy” ban that has hit some New York venues won’t be in effect in Fountain. “Sure, it was written by a Brit,” Redding said, “but a lot of people love it. I don’t have it in the set list, but if someone wants to hear it, we’ll be glad to play it.”

Tags: Celtic / Irish