The Chieftains Show Their Irish Roots

For 50 years, The Chieftains have been playing the best of Irish roots music and tonight the band gave DC a day-early St. Patrick's Day gift by performing at the Kennedy Center as part of their 50th anniversary tour.

As it has been since the beginning, the group is fronted by Paddy Moloney on tin whistle and Uillean pipes. The rest of this year's touring lineup, each member of which was given ample time to shine on extended solos, includes:

• Matt Malloy, flute
• Kevin Conneff, dodhran and vocals
• Sean Kean, fiddle
• Jon Pilatzke, fiddle and dancer
• Triona Marshall, harp and keyboards
•  Jeff White, guitar and vocals
• Deanie Richardson, fiddle

On several numbers, the main band was augmented by Alyth McCormack on vocals and Cara Butler and Nathan Pilatzke as ethnic dance demonstrators. For one number each and the finale, the Chieftains were joined by a DC-area young Irish dance group and a high school drum and bagpipe corps.

In a special tribute to both The Chieftains and the incredible lasting power of Celtic music, Irish-American astronaut Cady Coleman joined the group on several numbers. The NASA astronaut marked last St. Patrick's Day in space by playing a solo on Paddy Moloney's pennywhistle and Matt Molloy's 100-year-old Irish flute she had borrowed as she traveled on the international space station.

"I might not have mentioned that the trip would have been six months long and that their flutes would have traveled millions of miles before they came home. Actually, they were never far from home because we flew over Ireland several times a day," Coleman said following a video of her far out (in space) performance.

Tales, Tidbits, and Traveling Tips
In their 50-year career, The Chieftains have recorded with a who's who of rock and country music stars, including Sting, Ry Cooder, Van Morrison, and Vince Gill. My favorite Chieftains CD is The Long Black Veil, which included the title track with Mick Jagger and "The Rocky Road to Dublin" with all the Rolling Stones. Tonight the band (without the Stones) played the latter track. To get an idea of what the Celtic Roots/Rock combination can sound like, check out these 2 videos. The 1st is The Chieftains with the all-female Irish band The Corrs, who opened for the Rolling Stones on one of their tours. The 2nd is a version of The Who classic "Behind Blue Eyes" sung by Roger Daltrey with backing from the Chieftains.