When fRoots called Dallahan “Lunasa for the new generation” on hearing their 2014 debut, the compliment carried the weight of a long lineage behind it. In the dozen years since, the Edinburgh-formed quartet has put in enough time — 25 countries, BBC radio and television, a trip to Nepal on behalf of the British Council — to have answered the question of whether they could carry it.
About the Show
Dallahan performs at Lovin’ Cup in Rochester on Wednesday, November 18, as part of a North American run that follows the Yachats Celtic Music Festival in Oregon the weekend prior. Jack Badcock (DADGAD guitar, vocals), Ciaran Ryan (banjo), Andrew Waite (accordion), and Benedict Morris (fiddle) formed in Edinburgh in 2013 and have spent the years since building a discography and a live reputation that reaches well past the Celtic folk starting point.
Their four albums document the progression: from the debut, When the Day Is on the Turn (2014), to Matter of Time (2016), Smallworld (2019) — shortlisted for the Folk category of the German Music Critics Choice Awards — to the most recent, Speak of the Devil (June 2023). Songlines gave it four stars and called it “Dallahan’s most accomplished disc yet”; BBC Radio 2’s Mark Radcliffe praised them for “bringing influences from around the world and playing it all brilliantly.” Those influences include not just the Scottish and Irish traditions where the band formed, but Balkan sounds, North American folk, and an outward curiosity that has led them, among other things, to collaborate onstage in Kathmandu with Nepali folk ensemble Kutumba. The live set runs from rousing jigs and reels to story-driven ballads, all infused with what their booking agency calls “humour and cheeky energy.” Badcock is a BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year finalist; Morris won the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year award outright. The band has collected five nominations for Folk Band of the Year across its career.
Venue & Logistics
Lovin’ Cup, a bar, restaurant, and music venue on Park Point Drive in Rochester and the Finger Lakes, holds 250 people — about right for a band whose music rewards close attention: the conversation between accordion and fiddle, what Badcock’s DADGAD tuning does underneath it all. Doors open at 7:00 p.m.; the show begins at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets
Tickets are $25, available through TicketWeb. Buy tickets