Celtic Music Ramblings

The world is a funny place. Celtic music scene even funnier.

I love playing Celtic Folk music, and I do my best to emphasize "Celtic folk". The reason is that there are a lot of people out there who are traditionalists. They think when you say "celtic music", you mean reels and jigs. Enya is not Celtic music. Okay, I can live with that.

But what bugs me the most is the perception of the Brobdingnagian Bards. This weekend, we went up to North Texas Irish Festival and had a booth. NTIF is supposed to be one of the biggest Irish Festivals in the U.S. and certainly in this region.

Now I realize the Brobdingnagian Bards are not one of the most traditional bands out there. Most of the feedback I hear is about our original music as opposed to our vast repetoire of traditional Irish and Scottish songs. And that's fine by me. I got started playing music as a songwriter. It wasn't until later that I realized how much Celtic music fit with my personality and lifestyle. Consequently, a lot of local Celtic groups don't care for our music, but they really don't matter much. The people that matter are the fans. You, who listen and enjoy. And I thank you!

So I found it very amusing this weekend when Steve Holloway came to our booth at NTIF. Steve plays the bodhran for Cathie Ryan, former singer for Cherish the Ladies, one of the big names in the Celtic music scene. Steve sought us out because he'd "heard of us everywhere online".

That made me feel good. I guess I was feeling a wee bit bitter because NTIF didn't hire us, but some of the music groups that were there were wayyyy below my standards for Celtic music. Yet, they didn't hire us. End of March, we'll have had over three million downloads of our music. About 750,000 of those downloads are of "Tolkien (The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings". It has established us as one of the foremost popular Celtic music groups online. And now, the big wigs in Celtic music are seeking us out at festivals. Yet, the locals try to ignore us.

I was happy at least to hear that there'll be some good people on the Austin Celtic Festival music panel this year. Last year, it was made up mostly of Celtic musicians...and traditionalists. I love traditional music, but there comes a time, when you have to accept the facts. Some people will be heard. And I'm doing my best to make us one of those people.

So if you do enjoy the music I create, traditional or not, bard or solo, go do a search on google for "celtic music". Drop by some of those top websites and tell them about the Brobdingnagian Bards and/or Marc Gunn. Hit some discussion groups and tell some people about us. I want to make an impact that will reverberate the world over! I want these traditionalists to say, "Wow! There's something special and unique about this band. Let's find out why?!" Help spread the word and share our music.

And thank you very much for all your love and support. It means the world to me!