The celebration of St. Patrick’s Day starts early this year in Kent with a Men of Worth concert.
The duo of Scotsman Donnie MacDonald and Irishman James Keigher will play traditional and contemporary Irish and Scottish folk music at 7:30 p.m. March 11 at the Kent-Meridian High School Performing Arts Center, 10020 S.E. 256th St.
Harpist Maureen Brennan, pipes and fiddler Kevin Carr as well as Irish dancers Kelly Nagan and Maggie Ritnour join the Men of Worth for the St. Patrick’s Day celebration as part of the annual city of Kent Spotlight Series.
“This is a show we all enjoy,” said Keigher in a phone interview Feb. 26 from his home outside of Ashland, Ore. “Maureen and Kevin are great musicians so it’s more than Men of Worth. It’s a very solid ensemble.”
Keigher, who played music in Irish bars as a teenager before he moved to the United States in 1981, loves the way Americans honor the Irish each March 17 on St. Patrick’s Day.
“It’s a great compliment to be Irish and have this day in America where everyone celebrates it,” Keigher said.
Concertgoers certainly will get a full Irish display of music and dancing.
“We will have about four to six pieces that will involve the dancing girls,” Keigher said. “We will do one or two original pieces and two or three we picked up in recent years as well as other traditional tunes.”
The show will include the traditional St. Patrick’s Day song “Danny Boy.” Keigher said the group plans to play a version of the song that includes a harp and pipes.
“We want to celebrate the day,” he said.
MacDonald and Keigher met about 25 years ago at an Irish pub in Los Angeles where Keigher played Irish music with a house band.
“He (MacDonald) came in looking for Irish music and a pint of Guinness,” Keigher recalled. “We were chatting away and he said he had a banjo so we let in come sit in. A year later, we went off as a duo.”
They discovered they had a lot in common, including a love for Gaelic songs as well as traditional dance tunes or jigs.
The duo started to play Tuesday nights at clubs in the Los Angeles area and eventually were able to quit their regular jobs for a music career.
They chose the name Men of Worth from the title of a folk song written by the Scottish singer Archie Fisher.
In addition to concerts, Keigher and MacDonald lead guided tours each year to the western isles of Scotland and Ireland for groups of 30 or so people to hear the music of the isles in the countries where the two grew up.
“It brings us back home and we can connect with our families while we are there,” said Keigher, who runs two to three guided trips each year.
The trips also return Keigher to where he first fell in love with music. Keigher got a chance as a teenager to perform at Irish bars on Friday and Saturday nights with a local performer who would pick him up at his parents home and even provide him with a guitar.
“I’d play for about two hours in pubs and make about 4 or 5 pounds which is about $7 or $8 each night,” Keigher said. “We played a mix of country songs, including John Denver songs because he was popular in Ireland, as well as traditional songs.”
For more information, go to www.menofworth.com.
If you go
What: Men of Worth, St. Patrick’s Day concert
When: 7:30 p.m. March 11
Where: Kent-Meridian Performing Arts Center
Cost: $20, $18 and $15
Tickets: www.kentarts.com or call 253-856-5051
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