Austin Celtic Music and Musicians

Scottish & Irish folk songs combined with Lord of the Rings music and Celtic music fun at Renaissance Faires

Renaissace Faire Musicians Andrew and Marc of the Brobdingnagian Bards with autoharp, mandolin and recorder. Dressed up in costume. Greetings Austin Celtic music lovers and Texas Celtic music lovers! Welcome to the home of the Brobdingnagian Bards. My name is Marc Gunn. I play autoharp and sing for our group. Andrew McKee is my fellow bard. He plays the recorder and mandolin.

We play Celtic music unlike anything you've heard before. It's like a romantic musical comedy. Since 1999, we've played hundreds of performances and get over 1000 people listening to our music daily. We are also one of the most prolific bands online with hordes of MP3s floating around the net.

We play mostly Celtic songs, on very unique instruments: the autoharp, recorder and mandolin, and we play Celtic music every chance we get.You'll see us at Renaissance Faires around Texas, Austin pubs, on Sixth Street, St. Patrick's Day Festivals, at the University of Texas at Austin, in coffee houses, at weddings, at the Austin Celtic Festivals, and in front of Bass Concert Hall. You name it, we'll be there. Sheesh! You'll even find us in an office fixing your computer.

Despite our unique sound, we've been compared to such remarkable Celtic groups as The Dubliners, The Clancy Brothers, Incredible Strings Band, Phil Coulter, Martin Carthy, Dervish, The Fureys, Ewan MacColl, and the Wolf Tones. But our frequent performances at Renaissance festivals earned us the title "a Renaissance version of They Might Be Giants" by the Austin Chronicle. But in our opinion, our musical sound is far different all the above.

When you listen to our music, you will hear the traditional ballads of Ireland and Scotland. You'll hear music normally reserved for St. Patrick's Day or New Years, but you will also hear some incredible Celtic and Renaissance-inspired instrumentals like in our mp3.com hit song "Tolkien (The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings)". This song peaked at #14 on all MP3.com and is still our most popular song. But just when you think you have our music pegged, we throw a playful comedy your way, and your back to square one. Our music is so successful that we've recorded four studio albums, plus, compilations, EPs, live albums and singles to meet the enormous demand for our music.

We've made it our duty to offer dozens of Free MP3s to you, so you can enjoy Celtic music 24/7. You can help us to continue to offer free music. All you have to do is buy a CD, or donate a few bucks to our cause.

Last, if you have a few moments, please drop us a line. We'd love to hear from you. Slainte!

Austin Link Directory

Motorblade Postering Service : Promote your business with flyers all over town. This is THE place to go to promote your business in Austin
Austin Monthly : The city magazine of Austin. Commitmented to offering our readers relevant, entertaining and informative features and columns on topics that are important to Austinites.
Austin Go Go : A web directory of the small, independent businesses, and community-based organizations that make Austin a great place to live.
Austin Fit Magazine : Fitness magazine for Austin.
Hill Country Sun Magazine : A monthly magazine devoted to the interesting people, places and events in the scenic Central Texas Hill Country.
Austin Family : Serving the greater Austin community by providing up-to-date information and ideas that promote smart parenting and healthy families.
Diverse Arts : Featuring all the arts of Austin.
Austin Business Journal
Austin Yahoo : Yahoo's Austin metro guide. Lots'n'lots of links.
Texas Folklife Resources : A nonprofit cultural organization dedicated to celebrating and perpetuating the living, traditional arts and culture of the Lone Star State.
Roadstar Productions : Austin-area concert producers. They also put on several local festivals The Old Pecan Street Festival.
Experience Austin : Small Austin-area what's happening site.

Neighborhood Registry

South Austin : Neighborhood and community association. Dedicated to preserving the wonder and beauty of South Austin.
City of Austin Neighborhood Search : This is where South Austin gets most of their info. So if you want to find your neighborhood...

Austin Pubs & Celtic Music Venues

BD Riley's Pub : Sixth street pub run by John Erwin. Sponsor local Celtic Country/Rock band Pubcrawler and hold their own St. Patrick's Day festival down on Sixth Street. Only host Celtic music on occasion. Features the longest-running tune session in Austin from about 7:30 to closing at Midnight.

Cactus Cafe : The premiere Celtic music venue in Austin. All the best artists tour at the Cactus including: Sharon Shannon, Clandestine, Ed Miller, Andy M. Stewart, Gerry O'Beirne, Battlefield Band and many more.
The Dog & Duck Pub : Not a regular Celtic music venue, but they once hosted the Austin Celtic Festival and they usually host a huge St Patrick's Day celebration.
The Draught Horse Pub & Brewery : Another pub in town that used to host Irish music. We even played there a while back. But typically it's too small to continue to do so.
Empanada Parlour : The Empanada Parlour actually features more world music. But on occasion, they'll bring in a Celtic band.
fadó Irish Pub : One of the first Irish pubs in Austin. Fadó is also one of the few places in town that regularly hosts Irish music. They used to host a weekly tune session, but I think most of the players have moved over to Opal Divine's and/or BD Riley's. On Fridays, they feature Pubcrawler.
Mother Egan's Irish Pub : The latest addition to the Irish pub phenomena in Austin. This new pub has yet to host Celtic music, but we're hoping.
Opal Divine's Freehouse : A nice little pub. The owner used to own The Dog & Duck Pub, but no longer. Opal Divine's now hosts the Austin Celtic Association's monthly membership meetings. Nice atmosphere, but they only host Celtic music when the ACA asks them to.
Things Celtic : Not a pub at all, but a great place to buy Celtic gifts.

Reviews/Presskits to

Umlauf Sculpture Gardens : Art gardens located just off Barton Springs. Another popular spot for Celtic weddings featuring the Brobdingnagian Bards.
Austin Experience : See Austin through the eyes of a regular Joe.
Trois Estate : A romantic medieval-looking estate in the Austin Hill Country. Perfect place to have weddings or office parties with the Brobdingnagian Bards performing for you.

Festivals

Eeyore's Birthday Party : Annual fund-raiser to benefit non-profit groups in Austin
Bluegrass Festival : If you like Bluegrass music, head to this festival. Celtic music isn't too far removed from Bluegrass too. So you might even consider looking for us while you're there.
Annual Old Pecan Street Spring Arts Festival : Cool little arts festival located in downtown Austin.