David Howley says that sitting down at a We Banjo 3 concert is entirely optional.
Translation: You’re going to want to stand.
“There will be seats provided, but they are there for use if you choose it,” he adds.
Translation: Nice place to put your purse or coat.
And when the Irish self-proclaimed Celtgrass band plays the Berger Center for the Performing Arts on Valentine’s Day, Wednesday, Feb. 14, seats might be in short supply.
A note posted on the band’s website last week warned of low tickets — confirmed through the ticket-seller’s site — meaning that if you didn’t already snag one, you might be close to out of luck.
Aside from being the pride of their native Galway, Ireland, We Banjos 3 — brothers Enda and Fergal Scahill and brothers Martin and David Howley — are rockstars on the Irish music scene, not only at home but abroad. Buzz around their concerts has led to sold-out venues wherever they go, even in places like Tucson, where they’ve never been before. The reason: The 6-year-old band’s Celtgrass — not to be confused, of course, with Celtic grass, which just might be something you can get in California or Colorado, jokes frontman David Howley — is a wonderful marriage of American bluegrass and Irish Celtic traditions.
“Celtgrass has the energy and that drive from Irish music with the intricacies and pyrotechnics of bluegrass, but then with the soul of folk,” Howley said in January, calling from his adopted hometown of Nashville, Tennessee.
“You kind of let that foment for a little while and five years later each of us has, individually, changed as musicians in how we play and the style in which we play. And that kind of adds together to create this Celtgrass. … A lot of it is made up as we go, but it has the pyrotechnic edge that bluegrass supports.”
And when you see it live, with all the robust energy of a pop concert and the musical intensity of a jam band, you’ll take Howley’s advice and ditch your seat.
Howley, who speaks in a singsong Irish brogue, said he and his brother’s love of American bluegrass music was born of mixtapes his American-music-loving father left at their bedroom door when they were kids. The tapes included American country, folk and pop music from artists including Bob Dylan and Garth Brooks and traditional Irish from The Chieftains.
“It grew this idea that music didn’t have edges, it didn’t have boundaries,” said the 26-year-old, who played guitar in a rock band as a teen.
“We delighted in this.”
When the two sets of brothers got together, they decided they didn’t want to do strictly traditional Irish music.
“We accidentally came up with Celtgrass,” he explained. “We just didn’t want to play (traditional Irish) music. We wanted to take great music and also enjoy ourselves and give a sense of energy to the crowd, an energy they can trust.”
We Banjo 3 is bringing its “Earth and Sky” tour to Arizona for three shows, starting with Wednesday’s Tucson show. It’s the first time they will have played the state, Howley said.
“For us to come to a new place like Tucson, where we get to have a new experience for the first time again, it’s really exciting to get to play for a crowd of people who don’t have an idea who we are or never heard us before,” he said. “It’s challenging in some ways, but it’s also extremely exciting.”
The setlist will pull from the band’s three albums and a song or two from the fourth record, which Howley said will be released in July.
And just what can we expect from a We Banjo 3 show?
“It doesn’t matter how old you are. It doesn’t matter what type of music you like. It doesn’t even matter if you like our music. We are about coming together, a bunch of people, and having a good time,” Howley said.
“We want you to participate with us. We’re not going to play music at you for two hours; we’re going to have a conversation with you for two hours. In that conversation, you’re going to learn to sing (the songs), you’re going to learn some Irish traditions and customs and … you’re going to get up and dance.”
After Tucson, We Banjo 3 heads to Flagstaff Thursday, Feb. 15, and then to Phoenix’s Musical Instrument Museum Friday, Feb. 16, for a sold-out show.
