2025 Grove and Night Concert Entertainment Lineup
GROVE I GROVE II. ALEX BEATON
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Friday, July 8 11:30 – 12:15 Ed Miller Braw Band |
Friday 11:30 – 12:15 Seán Heely Celtic Band |
Friday 11:30 – 12:15 Tune Sheperds |
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Saturday 12:00-12:45 Émigré |
Saturday 1:00 – 1:45 Seán Heely Celtic Band |
Saturday |
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Sunday |
Sunday |
Sunday |
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Friday Night |
Saturday Traditional Night |
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Nick Hudson
Nick Hudson teaches piping at St. Thomas’ Episcopal School in Houston, Texas. He holds a BFA in Music Performance from Carnegie-Mellon University, where he studied under Alasdair Gillies and Jimmy McIntosh. He currently receives tuition from Mike Cusack.
Nick’s solo piping highlights include the Clasp, Gold Medal, A MSR, B MSR, and Overall Quaich at the Northern Meeting; 3rd Overall at the Glenfiddich; the Silver Medal at the Argyllshire Gathering; the London Ram’s Head Snuff Mull for A-Grade Piobaireachd; twice the Overall A-Grade Winner at the SPSL Contest in London; the Braemar Gold Medal; the Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada); the US Piping Foundation Overall, Piobaireachd, and MSR on multiple occasions; the Gold Medal MSR at Winter Storm; the Kemble Star for Marches and Peter MacFarquhar Star for Strathspeys & Reels at Skye Gathering in Portree; overall winner of The Livingstone Invitational; and overall winner of The Metro Cup. Nick has recorded a BBC “Pipeline” session and has played at the Piobaireachd Society’s annual recital in Edinburgh, and the Capt—John MacLellan Memorial Medal Competition-Recital in Edinburgh.
Aside from piping, Nick enjoys bicycling and has cycled coast-to-coast across the United States. He resides in Houston with his wife, Amanda, and their son, Alan.
Seven Nations 30th Anniversary
https://www.sevennations.com/
The band that has meant so much to so many is back at Grove 2 for each day as well as Friday night. Kirk McLeod has composed a new song specifically for the Games as he says GMHG “has affected my life in so many ways”. There will be participation from many of the former members of the band over the last 30 years and the new recording project has been bringing them back for this new studio recording.
Seven Nations first performed at Grandfather Mountain in 1994, and members of the band have played here as children and teenagers since the 1970’s. Since that time, Seven Nations has interjected a new life and energy into Celtic music in America that had not yet been seen or heard before. They strongly consider this place a home and are extremely excited about returning again for the full weekend in 2025 celebrating their 30th anniversary album!
Here are the lyrics for the song:
This Place
Written by Kirk McLeod (c) 2025
This place
More than just another space
This place
Is where we learn to live
Learn to love this way
Although we might be displaced
We will not be disgraced
We will find
A way back home
Way back home to this place
These hills
They protect us here and still
Hold our secrets close
And keep our love alive
Speak to the young and to the old
To the meek and to the bold
The outcast the weak and strong
And those of us
Who are left to carry on
Can you see it now
It’s written in this rain
Can you feel it now
It’s stronger than the pain
Can you hear her now
Her voice is sweet and strong
Her words beckon you with grace
They say come back home
Back home to this place
Back home to this place
SEAN HEELY BAND
https://www.seanheely.com/
Experience the magical music of Scotland and Ireland with the Seán Heely Celtic Band. Featuring U.S National Scottish Fiddle champion and Gaelic singer Seán Heely, acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and All-Ireland singing champion Kevin Elam, bouzouki and bass player Beth Patterson, acclaimed percussionist Lucas Ashby, percussive dancer Agi Kovacs, champion fiddler Colin McGlynn and bagpiper Jesse Ofgang. The Seán Heely Celtic Band presents a groove and drive that gives audiences of all ages the irresistible urge to move! Performing ancient, soaring melodies from Scotland, Ireland, and beyond, while original compositions and modern tunes are fused in seamlessly. Powerful vocal harmonies exist in their ever-growing song repertoire that features Scots Gaelic (Gàidhlig) songs, ballads, sea shanties, pub songs and more from the rich Celtic folk tradition. They have performed in venues such as the Kennedy Center, Strathmore Music center, Hylton Performing Arts Center, 2023 headliners at Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, Virginia Scottish games, and the Niel Gow Festival in Scotland.
Website: https://www.sarosings.com/performances-and-workshops/emigre/
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtpcpndxEFc&t=4s
Émigré began in the fall of 2016 in Johnson City, Tennessee, when Austin Gregory (guitar, bouzouki) and Saro Lynch-Thomason (vocals, shruti box) began to combine their diverse musical talents and experiences with their love for the traditional music of Ireland and Scotland. In 2023 the band welcomed Megan Drollinger as fiddler. Today Émigré performs a variety of music tracing the diaspora of the Irish and Scots across the ocean to North America. Their repertoire includes ballads and fiddle tunes from Great Britain and Ireland, songs from the French-speaking regions of Canada, and melodies familiar in Appalachia and the North Atlantic alike. The band’s name comes from the dispersal of people, ideas, and music that resulted from centuries of emigration from Ireland and Scotland and the unique music that has resulted as these were combined with others from a world away. The sound of Émigré is characterized by the rich vocal melodies sung in Scots-Gaelic, French, and English, dynamic fiddle playing, and driving guitar accompaniment. E-mail Saro at blairpathways@gmail.com to inquire about bookings!
For video: https://youtu.be/vbR-S8nWTKk?si=wAS7cC-JyVXWRL0A
For website: https://abbiepalmer.com
For bio:
The show of Abbie Palmer featuring Lucas Ashby and special guests offers an eclectic program featuring fusions of Celtic and folk music in a modern and improvisatory style. Last year’s award winner of the “Emerging Forms” category at the GFMH Harp Competition, Abbie Palmer is a multi-genre musician, composer, recording artist and producer, music therapist, music teacher, and meditation facilitator. Born into a family of Celtic musicians, received Classical conservatory training, and later found her love for an improvisational style, Abbie brings a new and fresh flavor to any stage. Abbie is joined by Lucas Ashby, Brazilian-American multi-instrumentalist and composer on drums and percussion. Lucas Ashby’s musical resume stretches back to his early childhood. Born into a family of internationally touring musicians, Ashby brings to his projects a background in rhythms and melodies from South America, West Africa, India, Eastern Europe, American Jazz, & Hip Hop. Abbie and Lucas look forward to collaborating with rotating featured artists for the weekend at GMHG; audiences will never see the same show twice! Overall, Abbie Palmer’s performances with featured guests will offer a fresh flavor and new imaginings to traditional music.
Ed Miller Trio
ttps://songsofscotland.com/
https://jilchambless.weebly.com/
http://scootermuse.com/
Ed Miller first learned his craft in the pubs and clubs of Edinburgh during the folk revival days of the 1960’s and his repertoire shows the width of that movement. From old traditional ballads and timeless songs of Robert Burns to contemporary songs of urban change, emigration, nationalism and humor, a performance by Ed Miller gives a real taste of Scotland and shows his continuing love and knowledge of his homeland.
Scooter Muse has his roots in Bluegrass and is an award-winning 5-string banjo player. In the late 1980s he moved into the world of Celtic guitar and then founded the band Full Moon Ensemble, performing for 8 years across the US and in Scotland before joining with Jil’s band, Henri’s Notions, in 2003. Scooter’s first solo recording of original guitar in- strumentals, Saddell Abbey (2005), was purchased by the Scottish Tourist Board in Kintyre. He is also the music director of the Belle Mont Celtic Festival each mid-May in Tuscumbia AL.
Jil Chambless has the widest breadth of knowledge and the most powerful female voice of any American touring Scottish Festivals today. She has numerous albums to her name and was at the bedside of Flora MacDonald Gammon in her last days. Jil is a mathematics professor at the University of Alabama.
Jil also sings to begin the Thursday Torchlight Ceremony and in 2020 composed an anthem for the Games which we invite you to sing with us just before the Torchlight begins:
Come All Ye to the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games – Jil Chambless (2020)
Come all ye clans, ye regal pipe bands
Dancers and athletes too
We’ll gather again on the mountain so grand
With friends both old and new
From far and near, friends gather here
Each year in mid-July
Welcome my friend, good to see you again
Here on the mountain high
STRATHSPAN www.StrathSpan.com
StrathSpan is a western North Carolina based Scottish music group featuring Julia Weatherford on cello and Nora Garver on fiddle. On certain occasions, StrathSpan expands to also include Cathleen Nixon on Scottish small pipes and fiddle, and Jason Higgins on drums. StrathSpan is known for their innovative arrangements of traditional tunes, layering melodies, harmonies and rhythms to create a rich musical tapestry. Their repertoire starts with traditional Scottish pipe and fiddle tunes ranging from soulful airs and elegant strathspeys to lively jigs and reels, with occasional forays into Irish, Scandinavian, and Breton traditions. The resulting music evokes the timeless sensations of heartbeat and laughter, waves and sea creatures, joyous dance, and ancient ceremony.
TUNE SHEPHERDS
The Tune Shepherds, a trio of Asheville musicians with flute, fiddle, and guitar, delight in finding and arranging older Scottish instrumental music.
This mostly 17th & 18th C. music was published in dozens of folios—interesting and unusualmelodies that the Shepherds bring to 21st C. listeners. You might hear something from Aberdeenshire reminiscent of a gypsy camp; or fiddle music from Perthshire with Beatlesquemelody lines; or perhaps a flowing harp tune honoring Clan Gordon. Nothing commonplace here.
Time spent with The Tune Shepherds—flute player and maker Chris Abell; country dance fiddler Michael Garner; and Grammy winning guitarist Bruce Nemerov—is time spent discovering an old world of sound made new.
VOICES OF VALVERDA Website: https://voicesofvalverda.com/
Voices of Valverda is a trio of female singers from Appalachia who love to perform traditional and original Celtic music.
They have grown up listening to the ballads and old folk songs of our home rich with Scottish and Irish history, with a background of family musicians and singers. They’ve been singing together almost their whole lives and started to perform publicly 2 years ago. Their set consists of a wide range of ballads, jigs, and traditional Celtic songs.
Colin Shoemaker
A product of the Charlotte celtic music scene, Colin Shoemaker has been steeped in the tradition of celtic wind instruments his entire life. He is self taught on Irish Flute, Pennywhistle, and the Breton Bombarde, and incoporates aspects of multiple interceltic traditions in his playing. Colin has played festivals and hosted sessions throughout the southeast, and was privileged to be part of a partial reunion tour of the band Touchstone with Claudine Langille and Zan McLeod. For several years Colin has been a familiar yet fleeting face at GMHG as a volunteer, piloting a golf cart and ferrying musicians and their gear to and from their sets, and is now looking forward to sharing his own music with the games.