Popular Scottish folk band to open Joan Chambers Concert Series

North Sea Gas photoThe Joan Chambers Concert Series presents one of Scotland’s most popular folk bands, North Sea Gas. The group will perform Friday, September 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the Mary Lou Campana Chapel and Lecture Hall at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. Part of the Music at Pitt-Greensburg schedule, the performance is free and open to the public.

This award-winning group is known for its great vocals and tremendous three-part harmonies accompanied by guitars, mandolin, fiddle, bouzouki, harmonica, whistles, bodhrans, banjo—and their good humor. Recipients of Gold and Silver Disc awards from the Scottish Music Industry Association, they have regularly sold out shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

"The band displays an attachment and a reverence for their roots from the very start,” writes Celtic Radio Boston. “The music feels genuine, unpretentious and spontaneous, with a fondness for storytelling and beautiful harmonies."

“. . . They inherit the mantle vacated by The Corries and The McCalmans with tight vocal harmonies and well-chosen material,” writes John O’Regan, freelance music journalist, broadcaster, lecturer, who commends the group’s ability to balance up-tempo material with quieter more thoughtful moments and treat each with commitment and professionalism. “‘Fire in the Glen’ is an excellent showcase for their talents and shows them taking the Scottish ballad group mantle with fire and grace.”

North Sea Gas has 19 albums to its credit with “Fire in the Glen” being the most recent release. “The Fire and Passion of Scotland,” their prior album, won the 2013 Album of the Year award from US Celtic Radio and first place in the “Jigs and Reels” category for the set of tunes on the album. The Scottish Music Industry Association awarding four awards in 2014 for “Dark Island” (gold): “Lochanside” (silver); “Glencoe Massacre” (silver); and “Edinburgh Toon” (silver). They won three silver awards in 2016 for “Rosslyn,” “Tak A Dram Afore Ye Go,” and “The Fire and the Passion of Scotland.”

Their popularity is international with regular tours of Scotland, America, Canada, Germany, Austria, Estonia, Turkey, and many other destinations both in and outside of their home in Scotland. Their show and albums consist of traditional, contemporary, and self-penned material put together in a style all their own. Their annual TV and radio appearances on both sides of the Atlantic include "Late Night Saturday," "WoodSongs Old Time Radio Hour" (one of the biggest radio shows of its kind in the United States), and "Song of the Mountains" shown on select PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) TV stations in the United States.

Publication Date

Wednesday, December 31, 1969 - 23:00