Irish session jams
Joey Roman Flis
Issue date: 10/1/09 Section: Culture
Every Sunday night at 6:30 p.m., the Tremont Tavern at 1203 Hixson Pike features a gathering of local Celtic folk musicians, offering students the opportunity to listen to traditional Irish pub music and even join in on the session.
The core of the group is centered around Robby Hilliard and Ken Harrison on fiddle, Mark Pitner on bouzouki, mandolin and guitar and Ken Doyle on the flute, tin whistles, bodhrán and lead vocals.
"The Irish session tradition is old and very common in Ireland," Hilliard said. "It's more common in the American northeast than any other part of our country. An Irish session is simply musicians getting together in a pub to play the music."
Doyle and Pitner are a traditional Irish group called Pay the Reckoning, named after a traditional Irish jig, whose former name was Ealaionta, which is Gaelic for "artistic."
Doyle said the band has played numerous Irish pubs around the Southeastern U.S., and performed at Rock City on St. Patrick's Day.
Pitner said they have participated in traditional Celtic music sessions at the Tremont Tavern for a year, and at Durty Nelly's for two and a half years before that. Hilliard said the Chattanooga sessions have been going on for about eight years.
"Their music is really unique," Katie Christie, an Oakland, Tenn., junior, said. "It's not something you can hear just anywhere. And [the musicians] are all really good at the instruments they play."
"I think it's pretty excellent that I can come and listen to them play each week," Heather Fregoe, a Nashville junior, said.
Doyle said he has performed music in numerous countries including Ireland, England, Germany and France, and is a UTC graduate of engineering, who performed in the tuba ensemble under the direction of Dr. Bill Lee.
"Dr. Lee presented me and the tuba ensemble with some amazing opportunities performing overseas, which really broadened my horizons," Doyle said.
Pitner also studied at UTC at the Cadek Conservatory of Music.
The core of the group is centered around Robby Hilliard and Ken Harrison on fiddle, Mark Pitner on bouzouki, mandolin and guitar and Ken Doyle on the flute, tin whistles, bodhrán and lead vocals.
"The Irish session tradition is old and very common in Ireland," Hilliard said. "It's more common in the American northeast than any other part of our country. An Irish session is simply musicians getting together in a pub to play the music."
Doyle and Pitner are a traditional Irish group called Pay the Reckoning, named after a traditional Irish jig, whose former name was Ealaionta, which is Gaelic for "artistic."
Doyle said the band has played numerous Irish pubs around the Southeastern U.S., and performed at Rock City on St. Patrick's Day.
Pitner said they have participated in traditional Celtic music sessions at the Tremont Tavern for a year, and at Durty Nelly's for two and a half years before that. Hilliard said the Chattanooga sessions have been going on for about eight years.
"Their music is really unique," Katie Christie, an Oakland, Tenn., junior, said. "It's not something you can hear just anywhere. And [the musicians] are all really good at the instruments they play."
"I think it's pretty excellent that I can come and listen to them play each week," Heather Fregoe, a Nashville junior, said.
Doyle said he has performed music in numerous countries including Ireland, England, Germany and France, and is a UTC graduate of engineering, who performed in the tuba ensemble under the direction of Dr. Bill Lee.
"Dr. Lee presented me and the tuba ensemble with some amazing opportunities performing overseas, which really broadened my horizons," Doyle said.
Pitner also studied at UTC at the Cadek Conservatory of Music.
