Norah Rendell
Norah sings and plays Irish flute and whistle "with a degree of style and sensitivity envied by many" says Tim Carroll of FolkWords. In Canada, Norah has performed live on the CBC and at the Mission Folk Festival, the Rogue Folk Club and venues throughout British Columbia and Alberta as a founding member of Canadian roots band Cleia.
In 2005, Norah was awarded a grant from the Canada Council for Performing Arts to study traditional flute and singing in Ireland. She kept busy, earning an MA in Irish traditional music from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in between island hopping excursions to such venues as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Sidmouth Folk Festival with the UK/Ireland-based band The Outside Track.
Brian Miller
Esteemed Irish music critic Earle Hitchner writes that "the backing of [Brian] Miller on guitar flexes not just muscle but a fully complementary style." Also an accomplished singer and flute player, Miller began playing Irish music as a high-schooler in Bemidji, Minnesota.
He has been a highly visible character in the Twin Cities Irish music scene since 1998, while often sneaking away to his other adopted home of Cork, Ireland. As a member of a number of groups and duos including The Tommie Cunniffe Trio, Gan Bua, The Doon Ceili Band, 5 Mile Chase and Laura and the Lads, Miller has performed throughout the US, Canada and Ireland. In Ireland he has been featured on TG4, RTE television and RTE radio. The Irish Times called his guitar accompaniment on Tommie Cunniffe's 2007 solo album "superb".
Nathan Gourley
Nathan held his first fiddle at 2 years of age. With support from his musical family (in particular his father who is a fiddler), Nathan enrolled in Suzuki violin lessons when he was 5 years old. He went on to study classical violin with Gene Purdue, former first violin of the Thouvenel Quartet. In his younger years, Nathan made regular stage appearances as a guest in many of his father's bands such as Stone Soup, Buffalo Trail and Rosewood Moct.
It was during annual trips to numerous fiddle and folk music festivals where Nathan was exposed to all sorts of fiddlers such as Martin Hayes, Liz Carroll, Alasdair Fraser, Brendan Mulvahill, Dale Russ and Laura Risk. In spite of his classical background and a stint as a member of the University of Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, traditional Irish music has become Nathan's passion. Now settled in the Twin Cities, he is also a member of The Doon Ceili Band and is active in numerous Irish sessions.
Eric Carlson
Eric Carlson began playing bodhran as one of the three members of the Irish music trio, The Gaels. The band formed in Bemidji, where local music was being showcased monthly with a refreshingly organized, and highly talented open mic night conducted by an organization known as "The Northwoods Folk Collective". It was on this stage and on the streets of downtown Bemidji that word was spread about the band.
Soon, their first recording, "Rince" was listed by the Irish Gazette in Saint Paul as the #1 release of that year. Eric, who provided some vocals for the group, also composed two tracks for the CD. One song "Play Patrick Play", eulogized the late Pat Ryan, his bodhran mentor who tragically died in a train accident shortly after teaching Eric how to play the drum. The other, entitled "Heart and Home" was a song that invoked the legendary construction of the log house his father built when he was a child.
Eric continues to play with the Gaels and various ensembles of Irish musicians in the Twin Cities area. He frequently joins the Two Tap Trio in place of Norah for dance performances.