Brian Miller started playing Irish music at age 17 in his hometown of Bemidji, Minnesota and has since risen to be one of the busiest Irish traditional music performers in the US. Wisconsin-native Randy Gosa is a rising star of Milwaukee’s thriving Irish music scene. Together, they perform Irish music with a distinctly Midwestern story: the songs and dance tunes carried by 19th century Irish-Americans to the lumber camp bunkhouses of the north woods.
"...the most fun thing at [the Milwaukee] Irish Fest this year"
-- Erik Carlson, "A Feast of Irish Folk" WHPK Chicago
Brian Miller’s intricate yet driving guitar style has made him one of the most sought after guitar accompanists in the North American Irish music scene. Esteemed Irish music critic Earle Hitchner writes: “The backing of Miller on guitar flexes not just muscle but a fully complementary style.” Also a renowned traditional singer, he is the founder of the Traditional Singers Club of the Twin Cities. Brian is a master of the Irish flute and the Greek bouzouki, an instrument that has been adopted into the Irish tradition in recent decades. He has performed across North America and in Ireland with various groups including Irish Music Awards’ 2009 “Top Traditional Group” Bua, Chulrua, The Máirtín de Cógáin Project and the Two Tap Trio. He has been featured on MPR's All Things Considered, CBC Radio's Canada Live, and Ireland's RTE television, RTE radio and TG4 television. He has been a guest lecturer on the Irish song tradition at University College Cork (Ireland) and he teaches flute, whistle and guitar at the St. Paul-based Center for Irish Music. In 2010, Brian received a prestigious grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board to fund the CD Minnesota Lumberjack Songs.
"Miller is a strong singer and a masterful instrumentalist...
each song is a gem." --Off Center Views
Milwaukee musician Randy Gosa has studied with several top Irish music masters including Liz Carroll, Silé Shigley, Andy Irvine and Tony Nother. He also studied music at the University of Limerick, Ireland with Niall Keegan and Sandra Joyce. He tours nationally with the innovative Celtic group Murzik. In addition to being a string musician for over 15 years, Randy is a graduate of Visual Art and Celtic Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is also an active céilí and set dance musician in Milwaukee and teaches at the Irish Fest School of Music.
"... driving, percussive, lyrical, gentle, dominant by turns. Randy belies his name with some exquisitely delicate fingerpicking on several tracks, and a stunning solo performance"
--Alex Monaghan (Folk World)