Brendan Keenan is a musician from Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. He currently plays with the contemporary Irish group, Fergus, and has previously played with Blackstone Cuil. A multi-instrumentalist, Brendan plays guitar, mandolin, Irish bouzouki, accordion, and Irish whistles. Growing up surrounded by the Irish musical tradition and with grandparents who emigrated to the United States from Dundalk, County Louth, Brendan gained an early appreciation for Irish patriotic music and songs that carry on the folklore and traditions of Ireland.
Massachusetts singer, guitarist, songwriter, Mike Ladd, has been performing for more than forty years. As a founding member of the regionally popular Chimera, the EP Coming Into Color was released in 1985 and the band appeared in an episode of the television series “Spenser For Hire”. In the 1990’s Ladd performed solo, in various bands, and with his own ensemble The Ladd Foundation. His first full length CD, The Storm, was critically acclaimed throughout the northeast and decades after its release, The Storm sounds current and remains a beautiful and brave vision of soul and psyche. Mike Ladd is also included on The Old Vienna Tapes Vol. 1, a live showcase of artists’ performances at the famed Old Vienna Kaffeehaus; and the Ladd Foundation appears on the Iggy Pop tribute collection I Wanna Be A Stooges from Revenge Records. In this new century, Mike Ladd was a member of the funk and R&B band The Valves through 2009 and performed with them all over New England. Ladd fronted and released two albums with the Irish Mod band Blackstone Cúil. Ladd has written for The Journal of Music in Ireland (JMI), performs solo, and in various configurations, including the impromptu Celtic/contemporary group Banda Gan Ainm (A Band Without A Name). www.mike-ladd.com
