Music influenced by Irish roots

SUGAR LOAF — The Canadian musical group Leahy will perform at the Lycian Centre for the Performing Arts in Sugar Loaf, on Thursday, March 20 at 8 p.m. Leahy is comprised of eight musical brothers and sisters providing fiddle-driven music, dance, and vocals augmented by keyboards and percussion. Their music combines the influence of their Irish and Scottish roots and the Los Angeles Times recently wrote, “[Leahy’s] approach seems so gloriously free of the commercial pollution of so much American pop that it felt like a tonic for the spirit.” The Leahy clan grew up in Lakefield, Ontario. Each learned to play fiddle from their father, while their mother, a champion step-dancer born and raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, taught them to sing, dance and play piano. In 1997, they released Leahy — a CD that went platinum in Canada and reached number four on the Billboard World Music Charts. The CD garnered two Junos in 1997 (Best Instrumental Group and Best New Group) and a third in 1998 (Best Country Group or Duo). It was at this time that Shania Twain invited them to join her first world tour and appear in two of her television specials. Leahy played 175 tour dates with Twain and received standing ovations each night. In their second CD, Lakefield. the group took on greater writing, recording, and producing responsibilities and the effort resulted in a CD that helped them become Virgin Canada’s largest selling domestic group worldwide. Their most recent recording, In All Things, earned them another Juno nomination in 2005, this time for Best Roots and Traditional Album by a group. Tickets are $37 for adults and $27.75 for youth (18 years and younger) and can be purchased by calling the Lycian Centre Box Office at 469-2287 Tuesday through Saturday between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. For more information visit; www.lyciancentre.com.