Roscommon-based band Gatehouse are unashamedly trad and proud to present the music that has been the very heartbeat of their home turf – Connacht province of western Ireland – for generations. Where much of the country’s modern musical output tends these days to focus on edgier or left-of-centre styles, with more emphasis placed on showy speed and dexterity, here, we find four kindred spirits all with one common purpose – keeping the old-school approach ticking over sweetly.

 

Proud to be fully paid up members of the how-it-used-to-be club, they tap into a rich time-tested seam. It’s an approach that provides much-needed “comfort” that many of the better-known figures of the genre find appealing, such as that great guardian of the Donegal tradition, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, of Altan, who describes their playing as “music that lifts the spirit.”

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“Individually, these musicians are superb but when they combine as Gatehouse, they are outstanding!”

Irish Music Magazine

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Gatehouse are John McEvoy (fiddle/mandolin/mandola) Rachel Garvey (vocals), Jacinta McEvoy (guitar/concertina) and John Wynne (flutes/whistles).