History of the Black Irish Band
When you take Celtic, Spanish, and Italian
Music, and mix it up, you get the true nature of the Black Irish. For twenty-two years
this band has created an original sound that no other band has. With over 500 concert
performances to date and airplay around the world, the band has kept very busy spreading
their brand of progressive folk music to a large audience. Performing both traditional and
original music the band is very focused on presenting acoustic music in a very exciting
up-beat way that appeals to all ages. The band has written and recorded 96 original songs
that appear on many of the bands twenty-one CD recordings. Many of the original works
written by the band are based on Celtic history.
Hailing from the historic Gold Rush Country of
America, the four member Black Irish Band have a musical style that is as timeless
as the rugged landscape of the west, a tribute to the people whose lives were spent
building the world we now take for granted. The band has a large compliment of traditional
maritime and railroad music, as well as ethnic tunes in their repertoire. They excel at
Irish & Scottish, Italian, and American folk music with an assortment of original
songs and traditional western ballads. The bands musical style captures the spirit of the
immigrants of this land, the men and women who tamed the Wild West.
Patrick Michael Karnahan and Richard Restivo met on the set of "Back to the Future
III" in 1989. This is when the idea of the Black Irish band began to first bloom.
Both Patrick and Rick were in the "Hill Valley Brass Band," while future band
mate Steve McArthur was given a speaking role as festival man #1. During filming breaks,
Patrick and Rick began to formulate the idea for a traditional folk group that would cross
cultural and musical boundaries...an acoustic folk band with no limits! At the first band
meeting the name Black Irish was chosen. The strong vocals and up-tempo instrumentals
breathe new life to old songs and present original material with a distinctive flair. The
original songs of Patrick Michael Karnahan have received considerable airplay on various
folk-rock and public radio stations.
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