COYLE — The end of the rainbow will lead to the Laurel B. Johnson Community Center where musical treasure awaits.
The Fire Inside, a Celtic band from the Seattle area, will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday as part of the ongoing Concerts in the Woods series.
“This will be their second appearance in Coyle after a very successful show here,” said Norman Johnson, founder of the concert series.
“Their quick tempo and joyful pieces are sure to bring a smile whether you are part Irish or not.”
The band will take the stage at the community center, 923 Hazel Point Road. Admission to the all-ages shows is by donation.
Complimentary cookies and coffee will be offered at intermission.
As far as The Fire Inside is concerned, “all of us have a little Irish in us, especially during the month of March,” band cofounder Tami Curtis said recently over the phone from her Seattle-area home.
The band counts Curtis, Ashley Parke, Michael Hurtenbach, Daniel Horn and Joe Michaels as members.
The Fire Inside, established in 2010, has released two albums: “Strike the Match” and “Spark.”
Featuring feisty fiddle riffs and soothing uilleann pipes, the band performs traditional material alongside Celtic inspired originals.
“I haven’t played anywhere where I didn’t see people start to tap their feet — at least,” Curtis said.
“It is folk music and folk music is very accessible. It is super pleasing and even at its darkest — in the minor keys — it is still uplifting for some wild and crazy reason.”
The timeless music, Curtis says, speaks to folks of all ages and cultures.
“We’ve played at pubs and had 70-year-olds dancing and 20-year-olds dancing,” she said.
“I love the multi-generational aspect.”
Celtic music “just speaks to me and it just seems to speak to a lot of people too,” she continued.
The Irish diaspora
Performing Celtic music brings the story of the Irish people to life, including their mass migration to the United States during the Irish Potato Famine of the late 1840s, Curtis said.
“I find it is important to tell the story of the immigrants,” she said. “There are more Irish in America than there are in Ireland.”
According to U.S. Census data, 39.6 million Americans claim Irish heritage.
That is almost seven times larger than Ireland’s entire population of 6.3 million, according to IrishCentral.com.
After German, Irish is the most common ancestry of Americans, according to the U.S. Census.
Curtis traces her own roots to County Mayo, Ireland.
“That is where a lot of my family was from,” she said.
“A lot people fled County Mayo,” because of lack of food, she said, citing an old saying that in that part of the country the only thing that grows is rocks and potatoes.
When the potatoes don’t grow, all that’s left to eat is rocks, she said, adding “that is bad form.”
Curtis said her ancestors eventually made their way to Nevada where they worked in the silver mines of the Comstock Lode after its discovery was announced in 1859.
“All my Irish relatives worked in the silver mines,” she said.
Performing Irish music transports Curtis back through time to her homeland, she said.
“You are standing on a windswept shore in County Mayo and being blown away by the wind and are hearing these pipes. It is rich, it is delicious, it is Irish.”
Meet the band
Parke, who plays the fiddle, began studying violin at age 2 and fiddle at age 7.
She won several Grandfather Mountain Scottish Fiddling competitions and competed at the Scottish Fiddling Nationals in Alexandria, Va.
She also performed bluegrass at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., and the Carter Family Fold.
Parke studied music at the University of Washington in Seattle. She has taught private violin, viola and fiddle lessons for nearly a decade and has a private studio of 50 students.
Parke “is the heart of our melody section, along with Daniel,” Curtis said.
Hurtenbach sings and performs on the concertina, guitar and octave mandolin.
He has studied and performed music since his early years, including while in college. He has experience with jazz, bluegrass, early music, avant-garde, classical, theatrical, liturgical and, of course, Celtic.
“Michael has got this great booming voice and he has sung folk music all his life,” Curtis said.
Horn sings and performs Uilleann pipes, low whistle and penny whistle.
Horn began studying music as a young child, starting with classical piano and eventually adding the French horn and pipe organ.
In high school, he picked up the highland bagpipes when he was recruited by his town’s pipe band.
A few years later, he discovered the Irish uilleann pipes, which have now become his favorite instrument, he says.
Uilleann means “elbow” in Gaelic, Curtis said.
The instrument “bends like an elbow, but you also inflate the bellows with your elbow, unlike those Scottish highland pipes that you see marching outside making a terrible noise, which are inflated with your mouth,” Curtis said.
Curtis sings and performs the bodhrán drum and cajon percussion instrument.
Michaels, who plays guitar, is the newest addition to the band, Curtis said.
The community center is located at the southern tip of the Toandos Peninsula and is operated by the Jefferson County Parks and Recreation District with help from area residents.
For more information about the band, visit www.thefireinsideceltic.com. For more about the center, see www.coyleconcerts.com.
