Bill Redding

Location: R.A. Fountain

[Fountain, NC] Bill Redding presents his annual St. Patrick’s special concert of Irish, Scotch, and Celtic classics this Saturday night at Fountain General Store.

The Bill Redding Irish Jig Band includes Redding on guitar, Mike Hamer on hammered dulcimer and harmonica, Ed Tilley on bass, and Nathan Maxwell on viola. Redding provides most of the vocals.

“Bill’s got a really pure and beautiful Irish tenor voice,” said Alex Albright, Fountain General Store proprietor. “And he knows all the lyrics to a lot of really long ballads, too.”

Saturday’s concert marks Redding’s 15th annual show in Fountain. He performed his first St. Patrick’s concert in Fountain in 1999, in the old Smith-Yelverton building, beside Fountain General Store.

Redding, a native of Clarence in upstate New York, has been living in Greenville for over 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 Redding’s Irish Jig Band’s Ides of March concert begins at 7:30. General admission is $7.50 plus tax; reserved seats are $10 plus tax.

Tags: acoustic Carolina, Celtic / Irish, Concert, folk