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Skweez The Weezle is an acoustic band that has been proudly carrying on the Celtic music tradition since March 1999 from their base of operations in the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Pasco, Richland), West Richland, Benton City, and Mid-Columbia area of southeastern Washington State.  Founding member David Lanigan plays both Scottish Lowland bagpipes and smallpipes (bellows-blown bagpipes with three drones in a common stock), and whistles (commonly called tin or penny whistles).

Mike Day plays Irish bodhrán (frame drum played with a tipper), floor-standing bass drum, and snare cajon (wooden Afro-Celtic drum).

Their current repertoire includes traditional and original tunes from Highland and Lowland Scotland, Ireland, Cape Breton Island, Brittany, Wales, and the USA.

For more than twenty-two years, the band has kept a busy schedule performing throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana at festivals, Highland games, concerts, coffeehouses, wineries, book stores, universities, weddings, receptions, and private parties.  Skweez The Weezle’s sold-out CD “A Celtic Band” was released in May 2002, and has been well received by listeners around the world.

David Kidman is a respected, dedicated and prolific contributor to the UK folk scene, both locally (within Yorkshire) and nationally.

• Folk Singer – a passionate and dedicated revival singer, a song-carrier whose performing repertoire unashamedly covers a wide spectrum that reflects a diversity of tastes and styles within the fields of contemporary songwriting and traditional song.
• Compère – an informed and inclusive MC, mindful of the needs of each individual occasion (performers, their audiences and that all-important timing). David’s compèring CV embraces folk festivals and folk clubs large and small; main-stage and more intimate venues; hosting or steering Big Sings and humble singarounds. Also now experienced in hosting “zoom” singing sessions and workshops.
• Writer – an authoritative and insightful reviewer of music CDs for the national folk press (The Living Tradition), online (Fatea, Folk Radio UK), and regional folk press in the north (Yorkshire), north-east (Teesside etc.) and London.
• Poet – David’s selectively published works are balanced and complemented by “occasional” verse written for specific compèring engagements. He is also an in-demand performance poet.
• Parodist – listen out for David’s carefully constructed parodies that are sprinkled through his song-sets . . . rapidly gaining an appreciative following, and now even actually getting specially requested!

David’s lifelong deep interest in, and enthusiasm for, music of many kinds has quite naturally led to a more practical involvement, i.e. performing, in folk music in particular, over the past dozen or so years.

He looks forward to sharing the music and songs with you somewhere along the road.

The heart of Laurel Canyon, the soul of the Chelsea Hotel.

East Coast-born / West-Coast-based singer-songwriter Arielle Silver has the heart of Laurel Canyon and the soul of the Chelsea Hotel. A consummate storyteller, her rich, expressive voice and acoustic guitar frame expansive melodies that echo her tours and travels across the American heartland.

After a decade break from performing, her fourth album, A Thousand Tiny Torches (2020), is luminous, literate, and alive, with songs that crosscut exacting details of the seismic heartbreaks of ordinary life.

American Songwriter described her music as “An urgent commanding vocal that melds KT Tunstall with Florence and the Machine.” Charlie Silvestri of the NPR podcast Up Close And Acoustic writes, “You Were Light should be heard by everyone, should be on every radio station and playlist. I’m serious. I love it.”

An Americana Highways Reader’s Favorite Albums 2020, songs across the project have been recognized in numerous prestigious songwriting contests, including International Songwriting Competition (ISC), Great American Song Contest, Music City Song Star, and American Songwriter.

Music Connection named Arielle in their top ten 2020 “Top Prospects” and “Hot 100 Unsigned Artists,” writing of A Thousand Tiny Torches, “Arielle Silver is a born communicator, an artist whose structured songwriting exudes intelligence and humanity. And the best part is, she’s also got a knack for catchy pop hooks and fun arrangements.”

A Thousand Tiny Torches, produced by Shane Alexander, is propelled by the masterful playing of a sterling cast of players with credits from Lady Gaga to KT Tunstall to Lukas Nelson: Denny Weston Jr., drums; Carl Byron, keyboards; Darby Orr, bass; Jesse Siebenberg, steel guitar; and Mike Mullins on mandolin. Michael Gehring tracked the project at Secret World Studios in Los Angeles in the famous Sound City Studios complex, and GRAMMY-winners Brian Yaskulka and Hans DeKline mixed and mastered, respectively. A loyal group of supporters funded the recording through a Kickstarter campaign.

Arielle has shared stages with America, St. Vincent, Elizabeth & The Catapult, Rebecca Loebe, and performed at BhaktiFest (Joshua Tree), Hotel Cafe (Los Angeles), Ford Theatre (Los Angeles), Club Passim (Boston), and Eddie’s Attic (Atlanta), among others.

She is an official artist for Shubb Capos and Guild Guitars, writes for Roland Articles, produces/hosts a weekly livestream interview show (Tomes & Tunes), and serves on the board of the Folk Alliance Region West (FAR-West) of Folk Alliance International.

Also a literary writer and holistic yoga teacher, Arielle is co-founder of Bhavana Flow Yoga and teaches in the Undergraduate Arts and Creative Writing departments at Antioch University Los Angeles.

James Tristan Redding is a Nashville songwriter and multi- instrumentalist. He is a session musician on drums, percusssion.guitar and bass, and keyboards as well as a collaborating with other songwriers to write songs for other artists. The song “Siver Lining” was written as a collaboration with Mark Anderson but is perforrmed by James.

Olivia Brownlee is a visionary singer/songwriter/inovator from Liberty Lake near Spokane, WA. Sheloves to record hot jazz, new American folk songs and vintage rockabilly for 75 years in the future. when she isn’t giving lectures and presentations about music as a secord language and promoting local businesses by writing and perfroming originaal songs about their business or venue. Her goal is to invigorate communities with music by, with and for the people.

Joe Peters’ Bio

I am a self-made, singer-songwriter who has released over a dozen CDs of original songs since 1998, as well as other compilations of Americana and Celtic music. I grew up in the American Midwest during the 1960s and 70s, and my songs hearken back to a time when the youth of the planet sought the experience of peace, love and adventure and expressed this search in their music.  Through my own music, I have tried to rekindle in others that spark of the seeker of truth on a spiritual journey that was awakened in me long ago by the songs of introspective songwriters and recording artists. Prior to embarking on a full-time career in music, I earned three academic degrees, served for two years in the U.S. Peace Corps in Ecuador, conducted Ph.D. research on national parks in Madagascar, taught natural resources management at Grand Valley State University, and obtained Fulbright grants for research and teaching in Vietnam and Cambodia. I spent many years studying, traveling and working overseas, returning to the U.S. in 2006 to care for my aging parents. My nature-based background, my study of Eastern philosophies and my scientific bent all inform my songwriting. I am former president of the Songwriters Association of Midnorth Indiana (SAMI). My music has been frequently featured on folk radio stations around the nation and abroad, both broadcast and online. My song, Sail Away won the first Blooming-Tunes songwriting contest in 2009 (Bloomington, Indiana). My original musical slide show, Root of the Matter, is featured on the website of Catholic Relief Services, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.