//  Liz Knowles, fiddle, 5+5 hardanger

 

//  Pat Broaders, bouzouki, vocals

 

//  Kieran O'Hare, uilleann pipes, tin whistle, flute

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Open the Door for Three is fiddle player Liz Knowles, uilleann piper Kieran O’Hare, and Dublin-born singer and bouzouki player Pat Broaders. The trio's music is a rare combination of unearthed tunes from centuries-old manuscript collections, newly composed melodies, fresh arrangements of songs old and new, homages to the musicians and bands they grew up listening to, and the unmatched energy of a trio of good friends playing great Irish music together.

 

Their newest release, The Joyful Hour, continues along this path and is Open the Door for Three’s richest and most musically ambitious project to date. It is full of old and undiscovered melodies from a vast array of sources – from O'Neill's Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (1920s), the Goodman (1850s) and Patrick McDonald (1780s) collections, to wax cylinder recordings a century old, to the living tradition of music in Ireland and Cape Breton. The trio’s lush arrangements give color and context to traditional songs about subjects as diverse as the beauty of a river, the power of love, the tragedy of death, and unlikely victory in the face of adversity.

 

Open the Door for Three has been featured, most notably, at The Kennedy Center’s Ireland 100 Festival, Cape Breton's Celtic Colours festival, The Milwaukee Irish Festival, and the Masters of Tradition series in Bantry, County Cork, Ireland. In addition to music from their newest release, their concerts feature material from their first CD, Open the Door for Three, which highlights Richard Thompson’s instant classic, ’Beeswing’; two great old jigs woven into the 'Snug in the Blanket' set; and a moving waltz written by Liz entitled 'The Gift of Falling’. Their second CD, The Penny Wager, showcases the lively reels 'The Rat in the Thatch’; 'Johnny Loves Molly’, an evocative slip jig featuring Liz on the hardanger; and songs about Nova Scotia coal mines, dice games, and the story of a modern-day Cinderella called ‘The Golden Glove’.

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