We Banjo 3 Gather The Good

We Banjo 3 are

David Howley: vocals/guitar/banjo/mandolin.

Martin Howley: banjo/mandolin/vocals

Enda Scahill: banjo/mandolin/vocals

Fergal Scahill: fiddle/guitar/percussion/banjo/viola/vocals

Special Guest Artist:

James Blennerhaset: double bass

This brilliant new recording traces the fascinating journey of banjo music from the cottonfields of America to Black-Faced Minstrels to the roaring 20's in New York to Appalachian Old Time, Bluegrass and modern traditional Irish music.

The album has been described as 'Banjo Awesomeness3' by Ross Holmes of Mumford & Sons, and Bill Margeson of Irish American News said 'We Banjo 3 are terrific. There really isn't a better way to say it. Wonderful musicianship of the first order. Best of all, they are different.'

Seamlessly blending technical wizardry with the soul of roots music featuring tenor banjo, mandolin, guitar and vocals, and with guest artists. This Irish and Americana at its stunning best.

More detail at www.webanjo3.com

Liveireland.com "Livies" awards (80,000+) readers. "Vocal/Instrumental Album of the Year"

Celtic Connections Radio Show WSIU (most widely syndicated Irish music radio show in the US) "Album of the Year"

Lonesome Highway Radio Show RTE1 (National Broadcaster Ireland) "Album of the Year"

Irish American News, Chicago "Instrumental/Vocal Album of the Year"

Also by We Banjo 3 and available from Copperplate:
WB3CD001: Roots of the Banjo 3
WB3CD003: Live in Galway
WB3CD004  String Theory

Track Listing

1. Shove The Pig's Foot/Fine Times at Our House
2. Tell Me Why (Gather The Good)
3. The Bunch of Green Rushes/Salt Creek
4. Prettiest Girl in the County
5. Puncheon Floor/Late For the Dance
6. Get On Board
7. Rocky Road to Dublin/American Polka
8. The Long Black Veil9. Pressed For Time
9. It's Hard to Be
10. Down the River Uncle Joe
11. Old Time Son/Johnny O'Leary's

2014 Livies Winner - Vocal/Instrumental Album of the Year "The hottest group in traditional music....stunning"

New Group of the Year & Concert of the Year Winners - liveIreland.com

We Banjo 3 will sweep the boards in 2014 as the hottest thing in the tradition. Get on board early, as they are a stunning example of current brilliance in trad. Every few years there is a massive explosion of a new group on to the scene. This one is occurring right now. Fantastic stuff from young, master musicians.

"Count yourself among the fortunate. You are about to hear something new, something fresh, something daring, something that befits the bright, flamboyant spirit of the banjo itself" Paul F Wells, Director Emeritus, Mid Tennessee State University

"They were absolutely the hottest show at this year's Irish Fest in Milwaukee...

the weekend featured the birth of a new force in Irish music" Bill Margeson, Music Writer, LiveIreland.com

'Ultra-talented Irish performers .....

freshness and finesse bordering on magical'

Earle Hitchner, Music Writer, Wall Street Journal

Martin Howley
7-time All Ireland Banjo Champion Martin is one of the young guns of Irish banjo. The first Irish banjo player to play at the Grand Ol Opry in Nashville, Martin has developed a reputation as musician with great musical taste and innovation. Now teaching a huge number of young banjo players Martin is passing his craft on to the next generation. Martin has toured with The Brock McGuire Band and performed extensively across Europe and the US.

David Howley
David is Martin's younger brother and is a hugely talented singer and multi-instrumentalist. Dave plays banjo, guitar and mandolin and effortlessly provides We Banjo 3 with its rhythm section. Dave has also performed in the group Free Wheel with Fergal Scahill and Sean McCarthy (FullSet). He is developing a huge reputation as a singer and performer.

Enda Scahill
Enda has recorded with Grammy-winner Ricky Skaggs, guested with The Chieftains, toured with Frankie Gavin, The Brock McGuire Band and Stockton's Wing.

A banjo wizard, Enda is a leading author on Irish banjo techniques with 2 self-published titles among the best-selling Irish banjo tutorials available. His illustrious recording career includes his ground-breaking solo album "Pick It Up", Irish Times Album of the Year "Humdinger" with Paul Brock and Green Grass Blue Grass with The Brock McGuire Band recorded in Nashville.

'Enda does things on the banjo which should be impossible' Bill Margeson Irish American News

Fergal Scahill

Multi-instrumentalist Fergal Scahill is one of the most renowned fiddlers in Irish Music. Fergal has performed and recorded with Kevin Crawford, Martin O'Connor, The Brock McGuire Band, Michael Rooney & June McCormack, Enda Scahill, The David Munnelly Band, Ragus, Celtic Legends, Monto & Stockton's Wing.

"Fergal's music reflects his personality; it's full of innovation, enthusiasm and fun. It is intense, fiery and frenetic and at the same time playful" IKTradFolk

1. TOUR DATES

Press Reviews

Froots Mag Aug/Sept.14

When Four Men & A Dog's Barking Mad topped our Critics' Poll back in 1991 few could have foreseen that its innovative blend of Irish traditional folk and American Bluegrass and Country was about to spawn a cultural behemoth, as the Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 and the first Transatlantic Sessions episode was produced in 1995.

We Banjo 3 - David and Martin Howley, and Feargal and Enda Scahill (of Enda Scahill's Irish Banjo Tutor renown) are two pairs of brothers from Galway (they obviously share their predecessor's fondness for numerically challenging band names) and are among the very hottest exponents of the 'Celtgrass' style right now.

Proclaimed on the CD cover as 'outrageously good!" by Gino Lupari, a further Four Men' connection is found in the presence of guest bassist James Blannerhassett.

Shove The Pigs Foot A Little Further in The Fire opens proceedings in fine style as the band, wielding fiddle, guitar, mandolin and tenor banjo(s) swing and swagger on the tune sets — a typical example being the pairing of The Bunch Of Green Rushes with Salt Creek (the former sourced from Frankie Gavin, the latter from Bill Monroe). The songs Prettiest Little Girl ln The County, Eric Bibb's Get Onboard, The Long Black Veil and Down The River Uncle Joe are all American, and all well-executed, but it's the virtuoso banjo pyrotechnics of Pressed For Time which will undoubtedly compel the sweaty hordes of happy summer festival punters to queue for a copy of this CD, post-gig. Geoff Wallis

Songlines World Music Magazine Sept 14

* * * * Banjo brethren back in business

Potently blending Irish traditional music, bluegrass and old~time Americana. We Banjo 3's 2012 debut Roots of the Banjo Tree saw the Galway-based four-piece position themselves as prime movers in the push towards breaking 'Celtgrass'

into the folk mainstream. Follow up Gather the Good ?nds the two pairs of brothers - David and Martin Howley and Enda and Fergal Scahill - adding Canadian and Scottish touches to their already rich mix, together with piquant splashes of the blues and the occasional assistance of James Blennerhassett on double bass. The transatlantic acoustic mash-up proves hugely enjoyable, the quartet pushing through one smartly crafted, deftly executed performance after another.

What results is an altogether seamless and sophisticated mingiing of traditional instrumentals, original material and cover versions; Enda Scahill's touchingly re?ective 'It's Hard to Be 3' and an evocatively lonesome-sounding take on the Johnny Cash standard "The Long Black Veil' being the standouts.

All four take on banjo duties throughout and variously take up mandolin, guitar ?ddle and viola. Seven-time all-Ireland champion Martin Howley reveals himself time and again to be a dazzling force of nature and while David Howley's and Enda Scahill's vocal contributions may perhaps sound less persuasive to some, there's no denying the instrumental prowess of all concerned throughout. Michael Quinn

Irish Times ****

"We Banjo 3 have traced a particularly ambitious arc since their 2012 debut, The Roots of the Banjo Tree. Gather the Good sees them take their own sweet time with a finely calibrated repertoire... David Howley's title song anchoring the collection in a panoramic sweep of optimism. Enda Scahill's It's Hard to Be 3 is another standout: contemplative and unhurried, it lets the banjo breathe free, untethered from the headlong rush towards oblivion that can hold lesser players in thrall. All in all, a deliciously bearable lightness of being" - Siobhan Long, Irish Times

"We have discussed in detail this band's meteoric rise to the current number one position in Irish-bluegrass-Americana-world-folk-blues-music. They are stunning, and incredibly popular. This album from the Galway lads is the best they've got right now, and that's just about better than everybody else. This is the leading contender right now for Vocal-Instrument Album of the Year." - Bill Margeson, liveIreland.com

"We Banjo 3 are among the very hottest exponents of the "Celtgrass" style.... It's the virtuoso banjo pyrotechnics of Pressed For Time which will undoubtedly compel the sweaty hordes of happy summer festival punters to queue for a copy of this CD" - Steve Hunt, fRoots Magazine