Gaelic Storm

folk · celtic

Gaelic Storm is an American Celtic band founded in Santa Monica, California in 1996, playing traditional Irish and Scottish tunes alongside original Celtic folk and rock material. The group began as a pub outfit at O'Brien's Irish Pub, where singer and accordion player Patrick Murphy was the manager, with Steve Wehmeyer, guitarist Steve Twigger, drummer Shep Lonsdale, fiddler Samantha Hunt and uilleann piper Brian Walsh. In 1997 the band appeared as the steerage band in the film Titanic, performing Blarney Pilgrim, John Ryan's Polka, Kesh Jig and Drowsy Maggie; the first two were issued on the film's second soundtrack album as An Irish Party in Third Class. Its self-titled 1998 debut on Higher Octave reached the top five of Billboard's world music chart, and the group has kept charting there since: How Are We Getting Home? entered at No. 3 in 2004, Bring Yer Wellies at No. 2 in 2006, and What's the Rumpus?, the first release on the band's own Lost Again Records, at No. 1 in 2008. Later albums include Cabbage (2010), Chicken Boxer (2012), The Boathouse (2013), Matching Sweaters (2015), Go Climb a Tree (2017) and One for the Road (2021). Personnel has turned over steadily. Twigger stepped away in 2024 for health reasons and formally retired in February 2025, leaving Murphy the only remaining founder. The current lineup pairs Murphy on accordion, bodhran, spoons, harmonica and lead vocals with percussionist Ryan Lacey, who joined in 2003, piper Peter Purvis on highland and uilleann pipes and whistle since 2005, fiddler Natalya Kay since 2022 and guitarist and vocalist Parker Hastings since 2024. The band tours the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Japan year-round, headlines Irish festivals across America, and describes itself as a working-man's band whose shows combine instrumental sets, storytelling and pub singalongs.

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