Windy City Irish Radio

The train keeps on rolling in the Windy City Irish Radio studio this week as the lads make several stops along the musical landscape and visit with The Chieftains with Ricky Skaggs, FullSet, Flogging Molly, Donegal's The Henry Girls, Irish rockers Bagatelle, Kansas City's finest The Elders, Prince Edward Island folk heroes Ten Strings And A Goat Skin, Glen Hansard, and Scythian. Listen for new music from Marc Gunn's Kilted Kings, Newcastle artist Ren, and a song from Flatfoot 56 lead man Tobin Bawinkel and his band 6'10. Join us every Wednesday from 8PM - 9PM on WSBC 1240AM and catch this week's podcast at www.windycityirishradio.com

With the St. Pat's holiday season behind them, Mike and Tim throw on a pot of coffee, wake up to the Rambles of Spring and welcome to the show Armagh piper, Cillian Vallely​, from the world-renowned traditional Irish supergroup, Lúnasa​. Cillian discusses the band's shows this weekend at the Old Town School of Folk Music​, breaks some news about his own appearance with bandmate Kevin Crawford​ at the Irish American Heritage Center as part of the Salon Concerts Chicago​ Series in May, and tells stories from his work with the Mullingar Man by way of New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen​, and on Broadway's Riverdance​. Tune in as the boys boys spin tunes from Cillian's newest release, The Raven's Rock, Lunasa and the Boss along with music from Trian featuring Liz Carroll, Billy McComiskey & Dáithí Sproul​ New York celt-rockers, The Prodigals​, harmonica master, James Conway, County Clare's Socks in the Frying Pan​, legends Tommy Makem​, Liam Clancy​, Jerry Garcia​ and David Grisman​, a

Born a flouting believer in Christianity, a young Maewyn Succat was captured by pirates and sold into slavery at a tender age of 16 where he tended to sheep. During that time of captivity, Maewyn strengthened his relationship with God through prayer; eventually leading to his conversion to Christianity. A few years after escaping captivity, young Maewyn, in a vision, was harkened “We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us” and walk among them, he did. Roaming the countryside he taught the message of Christianity through his analogical shamrock teachings and his legendary expulsion of ophidian creatures. Shedding the Succat name, he became the first successful evangelist of Christianity; The Apostle of Ireland, St. Patrick, and he is once again celebrated by virtue of devotion, tradition, and legend with music, dance, song and a celebratory pint or two. Join Tim Taylor and Mike Shevlin for an extended evening celebrating the first Bishop of Armagh with stories about the life of times

Who loves a parade? WE DO! We're in the midst of St. Patrick's Month with parades of celebration in the north, the south, east and the west snaking through the streets of our fine city in honor of our patron saint. This week on Windy City Irish Radio, the boys explore the history of St. Patrick's Day in this country and play music from many of the artists making a stop in Chicago this week and next including Eileen Ivers, Gaelic Storm and Cherish the Ladies along with a fantastic new song off of Sharon Shannon's new album, Sacred Earth, in preview of her March 17th show at Buddy Guy's Legends. Also featuring music from The Saw Doctors, The Corrs with Bono, Rig the Jig, Beoga, and putting an exclamation point on the mightily varied demographic of our Windy City Irish Radio listeners, international pop superstar of today, Ed Sheeran, and of yesteryear, Bing Crosby! Join us each and every Wednesday on WSBC 1240 AM from 8PM - 9PM as we bring you the best in Irish entertainment and che

To paraphrase the late Irish poet Seamus Heaney, there are some songs that leave you with a sensation that you have been visited. Glorious exultations, they overwhelm us with transcendent beauty. This is how Jim Sullivan describes the classic traditional Irish folk songs on his brand new album, Catch the Heart Off Guard. Backed up by friends and bandmates, Jimmy Moore, Gerry Field and Matt O'Connor, Jim sings some songs and tells the stories behind them this week on Windy City Irish Radio. If that is not enough, Tim and Mike welcome fiddle sensation Winifred Horan from the band Solas in to preview their big concert this Saturday night at the Irish American Heritage Center. It's truly a JAM-PACKED hour of quality Irish entertainment! Tune in to WSBC 1240 AM every Wednesday from 8PM - 9PM and check out this week's podcast at www.windycityirsihradio.com

This week on Windy City Irish Radio the lads take a trip way down yonder to New Orleans for their annual Mardi Gras extravaganza! Tune in as Mike and Tim explore the connection between the Big Easy and The Emerald Isle with a joyful hour of musical gumbo, shrove talk and all the pancakes you can handle! Mixing NOLA with Eire, listen as we throw you some tunes from from Limerick's Goitse, Crescent City Legend Professor Longhair, ANÚNA with former member Hozier, Tom McDermott with Lucia Micarelli, Fiddle Queen Eileen Ivers, Irish rockers The Coronas, Drops of Green, The Dixieland Stars, Gallimaufry, Solas, Bing Crosby with Louis Armstrong, Rosemary Clooney and and New York native Crescent City at Heart, Tara O'Grady. Feet don't fail me now! Ayy-EEEE! Tune in each and every week from 8PM - 9PM on WSBC 1240 AM and catch this week's Mardi Gras special at www.windycityirishradio.com

Tonight on Windy City Irish Radio, the boys celebrate the embarrassment of entertainment riches that the St. Patrick's Day Season brings to our fair city. Whether it's Dervish / We Banjo 3 at the Old Town School of Folk Music or Michael McDermott and T.J. English at City Winery Chicago, Makem & Clancy: The Tradition Continues this Friday at the Irish American Heritage Center or Solas in Concert on March 4th, there is no shortage of opportunities to get into the spirit of the St. Pat's season. Also featuring music from Cleveland rockers Marys Lane with High King Martin Furey, the first single from The Chancey Brothers new album Patriots and Immigrants, The Great Whiskey Project, and Máiréad Nesbitt. Tune in NEXT WEEK for our 4th Annual Windy City Irish Radio Mardi Gras Mambo!! Join us every Wednesday 8PM- 9PM on WSBC 1240AM and check out this week's podcast at www.windycityirishradio.com

In a small house on a big hill in County Galway, Ireland, the Folan women live out an uneasy truce. Forty year-old Maureen and her elderly but iron-willed Mother, Mag, spend their days in endless rounds of petty insults and physical threats as each maneuvers for control of their isolated existence. But when an old family friend reappears and offers Maureen a chance at love and a new life, this once-benign terrain grows treacherous and the two women, bound by blood but driven by desperation, will do anything to survive. Jaimelyn Gray and John Wehrman from the Bluebird Arts Theatre's drop by to discuss their performance of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Martin McDonagh's Tony Award-winning play to be performed at the Athenaeum Theatre in Chicago. Plus, music from Socks In the Frying Pan, Solas, Dylan Walshe, Rory Makem, Donal Clancy, Carlos Nunez, Gaelic Storm, Bryan Ferry and Van Morrison. Join Mike and Tim each Wednesday night from 8pm to 9pm on WSBC 1240 AM or on our podcast at www.windycityiris

Join us this week on Windy City Irish Radio for an action-packed hour of story and song. Listen for legends of the great saint of Ireland, St. Brigid of Kildare, and her trusty red-eared cow traipsing the Irish country-side passing out miracles, butter and bevies. Tune in for a Special Health Report on the benefits of Guinness to the human condition, and listen for some great music from The Mickey Finns, Luka Bloom, The Pogues, De Dannan, music from the great new release from Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, Michael McDermott, Scythian and a special tribute to St. Brigit from Andy Irvine with Dónal Lunny and singer-songwriter Kevin Heider. The lads also preview some upcoming Chicago concerts with The Merry Ploughboys at Chicago Gaelic Park and Makem & Clancy: The Tradition Continues at The Irish American Heritage Center. Don't touch that dial! Join us every Wednesday from 8PM - 9PM on WSBC 1240 AM or check out the podcast at www.windycityirishradio.com

Caught between two thorns, 2016 Rose of Tralee winner, Maggie McEldowney, flowers the Windy City Irish Radio studios with her graceful presence. McEldowney, from Chicago's Beverly neighborhood, was crowned Ireland's Rose of Tralee in August 2016 and shares her journey and experience as Chicago's first Rose winner in 29 years! Mike and Tim feature music from Dougie MacClean, Girsa, Horslips, Jim Sullivan of the Sullivan Brothers fame, Donal Clancy, Makem & Spain, Solas, Goitse and even a song from the Rose, herself, Maggie McEldowney! Join Mike and Tim each Wednesday night from 8pm to 9pm on WSBC 1240AM or on their podcast at www.windycityirishradio.com.

St. Stephen's Green's New Album, Need Not Apply, a refrain heard throughout the annals of the history of Irish America. They spend their days teaching the youth of Chicago but by night they traverse the pubs, taverns, and alleys of the city and its surroundings singing songs of the struggle of the Irish-American experience. They are St. Stephen's Green and they are live in the Windy City Irish Radio studio! Tune in as the band plays songs off of their new release and listen as Mike and Tim spin tracks from Solas, The Gleasons, House of Hamill, Hothouse Flowers, The Saw Doctors, and the Prodigals. Listen to the show live every Wednesday night from 8PM - 9PM on WSBC 1240AM or check out this week's podcast at www.windycityirishradio.com

Tune in this week to Windy City Irish Radio as the boys discuss some of their favorite things! 2016 was a great year for new music and tonight Mike and Tim celebrate the best of the best. As the lads reminisce about the year that was, listen for some of their favorite new releases from We Banjo 3, The High Kings, Runa, Van Morrison (Official), Aoife Scott, JigJam, Dallahan, The Narrowbacks, Pauline Conneely, James Cramer, Michael McDermott and a special tribute to one we lost from Glen Hansard. Off we go. Tune in each Wednesday to WSBC 1240AM from 8PM - 9PM and check out this week's podcast at www.windycityirishradio.com

Happy New Year from Windy City Irish Radio! Tune in to this week's show as the boys ease into 2017 with music from Dougie MacLean, Mary Black with Joan Baez, Donal Clancy, ELVIS PRESLEY, Aslan, and Robbie O'Connelland Liz Carroll with John Doyle. Also featuring fantastic new music from Virginia songwriter Ben-David Warner, Philly's House of Hamill, Northern Irish trad band Connla, and County Meath's Pauly Fagan. All in all, it's a great start to what is sure to be a musical new year! Join us each week on WSBC 1240 AM from 8PM - 9PM and check out our first podcast of the New Year here at www.windycityirishradio.com

The Christmas season in Ireland carries on from Christmas Day to St. Stevens Day to New Year's Day right on through January 6th -- the Epiphany -- or what is commonly known as "Little Christmas". Like Ireland, the Christmas season continues unabated in the Windy City Irish Radio Studios with Tim Taylor and Mike Shevlin featuring music of the extended Christmas season from Eileen Ivers, Kiltartan Road featuring Kathy Cowan, Luan Parle, Walking On Cars, Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, Garry O'Meara with We Banjo 3's Fergal Scahill, Rhiannon Giddens, Bing Crosby, Cherish The Ladies, The Chieftans and Mairi Cambell & Dave Francis. All this and a few seasonal holiday traditions to brighten your holiday season! Listen to the podcast at www.windycityirishradio.com.

Sleigh bells ring. Are you listening? It's Christmas time in the Windy City Irish Radio studio as the lads hang the tinsel, sip the eggnog, and spread some holiday cheer to celebrate the season. Tune in as Mike and Tim unwrap brand new holiday chestnuts from Eileen Ivers, Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, Chicago rockabilly stalwart Rick Lindy, Dublin's rockabilly queen, Imelda May, and Galway's Lorraine and Keith McDonald. Also featuring Christmas music from Cherish the Ladies, Gemma Hayes with Richard Egan, Makem & Spain, bohola, Glen Hansard with Mark Geary and The High Kings. Do you hear what I hear? Nollaig Shona Duit from WIndy City Irish Radio! Tune in to WSBC 1240 AM every Wednesday from 8PM - 9PM and check out our Christmas podcast at www.windycityirishradio.com

Tis the season to be jolly and the lads are awfully jolly this week on Windy City Irish Radio as they celebrate the season with their annual Christmas show. That's right, it's a Windy City Irish Christmas in the studio with special guests Rory Makem, Bob and Dave from The Chancey Brothers, Windy City Irish Tenor Mark Piekarz and our lady of Knox Avenue, Kathy O'Neill, singing songs and telling stories of the holiday season. Baby, it's cold outside and the hot toddies are flowing. Also with holiday music from Milwaukee's own The Gleasons, Eleanor McEvoy with James Cramer, John Munnelly, Eileen Ivers, We Banjo 3, and Kathleen Keane. Get in the holiday spirit and check out the podcast at www.windycityirishradio.com

A Bishop, a money-lender and a car mechanic walk into a bar.......and so we wonder what sort of hilarity may ensue with the punch line to come. But tonight on Windy City Irish Radio, we are treated to just that scenario as Mike and Tim welcome esteemed Chicago actor, Peter Bradley Armacost, into the studio to discuss his many current rolls on stage and screen. Brad is awfully busy these days portraying characters in the ghostly realm and channeling the words of some of our greatest playwrights. As Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at the Drury Lane, Brad plays Dickens' curmudgeonly miser with aplomb, portraying his journey to redemption with the help of haunted visitors of his past, present, and future. Bah Humbug, indeed! In his role as Chicago's Bishop Egan in The Exorcist FOX each Friday night on our television, we learn very quickly that Satan takes no holiday! Finally, in his role as Jack in Conor McPherson's triumphant play, The Weir, Brad reprises the role that won him a Jeff Award i

Over the last 20 years, The Larkin and Moran Brothers have spread good cheer in just about every pub, bar and eatery all over Chicagoland and beyond. You'll see them at Irish festivals throughout the MIdwest and can travel with them if you dare on their magical mystery tours of Ireland. Tonight on Windy City Irish Radio, Tim and Mike celebrate two decades of brotherly harmonies and musical merriment and talk to the guys about their many adventures over their long career and some stories behind the songs they've written. Pull up a chair, pour yourself a pint, and cook up a meatpie and join us each Wednesday from 8PM to 9PM on WSBC 1240 AM and catch this week's entertaining podcast on our website at www.windycityirishradio.com. Eistigi!!

Over the river and through the woods to the Windy City Irish Radio studio we go as the boys celebrate all that they are thankful for this holiday season. They are especially thankful for the kind citizen of Dublin who sent provisions across the sea on the ship named The Lyon to rescue the Pilgrims from certain starvation leading to the holiday we celebrate today. Had the Irishman not saved Thanksgiving, Tim and Mike would not be here today to regale you with a cornucopia of songs of the season invoking the major food groups of the Thanksgiving feast. There's bread and honey and butter from Dublin's I Draw Slow and Bloomington's Shanties, there's parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme from The Gothard Sisters and the necessary meat and drink from The Quinn Family. Don't forget the Potato on the Door from the great Liz Carroll, and the holiday favorite, The Cranberries. And, of course, Thanksgiving would not be complete without Dustin the Turkey. Also featuring music to be thankful for from

This week on Windy City Irish Radio, the boys are treated to the dulcet tones of the Green Meadow Boys and their melodious take on some Irish classics promoting their upcoming performance at the Irish American Heritage Center on December 9th. Tim and Mike chat with the Boys between songs and spin some tracks from the recent Gaelic Storm release, trad greats Téada, Irish Canadian rockers Great Big Sea, Project West, and Orla Fallon. Tune in for music to give you a taste of what's to come at the Irish Heritage Singers Fall Concert this Sunday November 20th at the IAHC and from Cathie Ryan before her Salon Concerts Chicago on December 8th. Finally, the lads pay tribute to the late great Leonard Cohen by way of Damien Rice. That's a whole lot to fit into a one hour show! Tune in every Wednesday night from 8PM - 9PM to WSBC 1240 AM or check out the podcast at www.windycityirishradio.com