The most charismatic Celtic trad band in the world, Talisk, will stop in the Philadelphia region this weekend, bringing a new member to the Ardmore Music Hall on Sunday.
The three-piece band from Glasgow, Scotland, combining folk, Celtic trad, and electronic dance music, has stormed the States before with notable performances at the Philadelphia Folk Festival and will perform with Trials of Cato on Sunday, March 3, at the Ardmore Music Hall in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
Sunday will be your last chance to see Talisk before the band continues its tour overseas in the United Kingdom.
Led by concertina dynamo Mohsen Amini, the band was formed in 2015 Hayley Keenan on fiddle and guitarist Craig Irving. Irving was replaced by guitarist Graeme Armstrong and won multiple awards, including Folk Band of the Year in 2017 by MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, and Amini was named Musician of the Year at the 2018 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
The following year, I first caught up with the band following their performance at the 58th annual Philadelphia Folk Festival.
In 2021, Keenan left the band to return to classroom music education and was replaced by Benedict Morris, whom I got to interview at the 60th annual Philadelphia Folk Festival.
The band has continued to evolve throughout the years, with Armstrong leaving the band this past fall and was replaced by Charlie Galloway, a guest producer on the band’s third album, “Dawn,” released in 2022.
This time last year the band played the Ardmore, and I had a chance to catch up with Amini again
Now, with Galloway, the band has a new track, “Maverick,” which debuted last month at the Barrowlands in their hometown of Glasgow, which leans more into the bass-heavy sound that is nearly overwhelming in person.
The boys kicked off their tour earlier this month at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and have been throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Canada, and New York on their journey back to Philadelphia.
The tour continues, Tuesday, Feb. 27 at South Burlington, Vermont; Wednesday, Feb. 28 at Katharine Hepburn Cultural in Old Saybrook, Connecticut; Thursday, Feb. 29 at the Crystal Ballroom in Somerville, Massachusetts; Friday, March 1 at Drom in New York City; Saturday, March 2 at The Hamilton Live in Washington, DC and Sunday, March 3 at Ardmore Music Hall in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
