Willson Center St. Patrick's Day celebration with Hog-Eyed Paddy

The Willson Center for Humanities and Arts will host a public celebration of St. Patrick's Day with Irish music and good cheer at Hendershot's, which will be free and open to all. Athens duo Hog-Eyed Man will join with multi-instrumentalist Paddy League to form the redoubtable Hog-Eyed Paddy, and to make this a very special evening not to be missed.

Fiddler Jason Cade and multi-instrumentalist Rob McMaken usually record and perform as the acclaimed string duo Hog-Eyed Man, playing the traditional music of the southern Appalachians, including many tunes that crossed the Atlantic from Ireland in the 19th century or even earlier. Both hold a deep appreciation for traditional Irish music. McMaken honed his fiddle-tune chops busking in New Orleans, while Cade lived for many years in both Ireland and New York City, where he played in and led weekly sessions with some of today's best Irish musicians. In 2005, Cade won the senior fiddle division of the Mid-Atlantic Fleadh, allowing him to compete in the All-Ireland Fleadh, held in County Donegal that year. As Cade and McMaken await the production and release of their fifth Hog-Eyed Man album, they have rekindled the Irish music flame.

Multi-instrumentalist Paddy League grew up in a family of Irish and Greek migrants.  He has performed and recorded with John Doyle, Mick Moloney, Martin Hayes, John Whelan, James Kelly, Susan McKeown, Jerry O’Sullivan, and many other artists on both sides of the Atlantic. He puts an intimate, improvisatory spin on the commonalities between Irish, Scottish, and Quebecois traditions. Paddy is assistant professor of ethnomusicology at Florida State University and director of the Center for Music of the Americas. He plays bodhran, guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, and concertina, among other instruments.