 Josh, Karen, Alan, and Bob |
Karen Cornelius (cello) played classical music for years until she fell in with the wrong crowd and started hanging out at coffeehouse Celtic gigs. The rest is history. (And she still plays classical music on occasion.)
Bob Newton (octave mandolin, mandola, mandocello, vocals, bodhrán) has been playing with Irish and Celtic bands in Madison for the last twenty-five years, including with Boxty and Far From Home. He currently performs with Keltori and the Public House Ceili Band in addition to West Wind. He has lived and travelled extensively in Ireland and Brittany and now teaches courses related to the musical traditions of the Celtic countries.
Alan Ng (fiddle, melodeon, bodhrán) also brings a wealth of classical technique to the band. Upon moving to Madison in 1992, he discovered and quickly succumbed to the addiction of playing in the open Irish session at Mickey's Tavern. His career performing Irish traditional music began and still continues with the Madison bands The Snug and Public House Ceili Band.
Josh Perkins (guitar, uilleann pipes, vocals) grew up in thrall to George Harrison, Lou Reed and Ray Davies. Upon meeting and befriending a bluegrass mandolin and fiddle player with Kerry family roots in college, he turned his feet and never looked back. He started playing Irish music on guitar, influenced in the main by poorly shaven, chain-smoking buskers in Dublin, and has been getting away with it ever since.
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