Hello friends! I’m delighted to announce that I’m doing a concert on May 31st at the beautiful LSPU Hall in St. John’s. It will be an intimate evening of traditional music – solo performances as well as songs arranged with some brilliant trad players. I’ll also be joined by a couple of very special guests. Gonna be a wonderful evening….tell a friend! Click here for the Facebook event.
Tickets on sale Monday, April 30th
Hello friends. I am delighted to once again be performing at The March Hare Festival of Words & Music. This year, I will join the travelling festival in St. John’s and follow it to Gander, then on to Corner Brook for the big weekend. Check out the Hare website for full program details. I’ll tweet along the way, and if you’re at either of the shows please come say hello! In the meantime, I’ve just joined the CBCmusic.ca community with my own artist page. Check it out here and share it on Twitter, Facebook, or whatever your little heart desires.
Heading down to the States next week to join Ennis for their shows at the Savannah Irish Festival in Savannah, Georgia. A few days away from Newfoundland’s grey February winter is fine by me! Shortly after that I’m doing the Newfoundland portion of the March Hare Festival – performances in St. John’s, Gander, and Corner Brook. Always an awesome time that I look forward to. As always, I’ll tweet along the way @mattbyrneNL.
I’m delighted to be performing at this year’s In The Dead of Winter Festival next weekend in Halifax, NS. I was invited last year and was all geared up to go, but stormy winter weather grounded my flight from St. John’s. That better not happen again! The festival lineup is awesome. My friends Repartee and Andrew James O’Brien are there as well….wicked! I’m closing out the Friday show at 2053 Gottingen, and doing the ‘Newfoundland Song Circle’ at The Company House on Saturday afternoon.
I’ve returned from an incredible trip to Australia with The Dardanelles, and now that the jet lag is wearing off I’ll post an update. We played the infamous Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland, and had a blast. Some of the nicest people I’ve ever met…and such a massive, amazing festival. We were part of a huge East Coast contingent of folk and trad acts – The Dardanelles, Ennis, The Once, Ron Hynes, Richard Wood, Duane Andrews and Dwayne Coté, and Sherman Downey and the Silver Lining – what a crew! It was a brilliant experience, and such a great feeling to bring Newfoundland tunes and songs to that part of the world. Having the crowds dancing to Rufus and Emile tunes in Australia was pretty special (and a bit surreal). Many thanks to the festival organizers for their hard work and wonderful hospitality – I can’t wait to get back again! I have a bit of down time now and then a few Winter festivals – will post more shortly. Happy New Year!
Hello everyone, and Happy Holidays! Sorry I’m so late posting this time around, but I’ve been crazy busy for the past few weeks. Just finished a wonderful 3 weeks tour around Newfoundland with Ennis. Fantastic shows, wonderful people, loads of fun! I’m home for a week now a then off to Australia on Christmas Day with The Dardanelles. How cool is that! Australia! We’re playing the infamous Woodford Folk Festival in Brisbane and we cannot wait. We’re part of a massive contingent of Newfoundlanders heading down – The Once, Ron Hynes, Ennis, and Sherman Downey. What a time to be had! I’ll be sure to tweet throughout my travels. Have a safe and happy holiday – bye for now!
I’m delighted to be joining Ennis this year for their annual Christmas tour. I’ll be playing bouzouki, a bit of guitar, and they might get a song out of me as well. The tour will bring us to beautiful churches all over Newfoundland – check out the Ennis Facebook page for all of the stops, and come say hello if your at the shows. Tis almost the season!
Very excited to announce that The Dardanelles’ brand new album, ‘The Eastern Light, will be released on November 17th at Rocket Room in St. John’s. We brought in traditional guitar master John Doyle for a few weeks in June to make this record, and we’re so proud of the result. We hope you’ll join us at The Rocket Room as we celebrate the release. Our friends Jody Richardson and Dave Rowe will do an opening set at 8:00, then we take to the stage to debut the new record in full. Click here for the Facebook event page, and check out www.thedardanelles.com. Hope to see you there! In the meantime, here’s a preview track from the album. Enjoy!
Hello friends! I recently did an interview with CBC’s Jamie Fitzpatrick for The Performance Hour. We chatted about songs and traditional singing, and I performed a few as well. It will be aired this Saturday on Radio 2 at 10:30am, and Radio 1 at 5:35pm. Click here for full details and a video.
Hello friends! I’ve come to the end of an absolutely wonderful Summer. So many memorable shows, both solo and with The Dardanelles. Very excited about the Fall…several things booked already, and more to come. I’m delighted to be opening for Bruce Molsky at Gower Street United Church in St. John’s on September 17th. Bruce is an incredible old-time Appalachian musician who I first came to know through the Transatlantic Sessions a few years back. It’ll be a great evening. After that, I’m off to the Winnipeg Irish Festival with The Dardanelles. We’ll be doing a concert and several workshops – check out their website for full schedule. All upcoming performances are found on the ‘Shows’ page, so don’t be a stranger!
