TKC Late Friday Night Influences: The Makem & Spain Brothers!!!

I'm up late and I thought I'd share a bit of cultural appreciation with the d-bags who might wander through here in the early morning hours.

I attended my first Irish Fest this month and I was lucky enough to witness an AMAZING performance by The Makem & Spain Brothers. It was already 8 in the PM at that point so EVERYONE was completely blitzed but folks stopped to notice the unqiue approach to Irish Folk Music.

I had already heard a few of these songs earlier in the day but was surprised to hear the M&S spin on the tunes. It's pretty hardcore manly stuff and sounds as if a rugby team took a break in their game just to start playing music . . . Maybe that's the appeal. A modicum of research led me to discover that the Makem Bros. are the sons of International Irish Folk legend Tommy Makem . . . Who I didn't know about until this week.

Long story short, I just wanted to share a bit of music I discovered through my adventures in all of KC's diverse communties with close readers of this blog; and I've been stuff I've been listening to nonstop for the past few days.

I was thinking that these guys probably didn't notice the deep racial divisions in Kansas City during their brief visit earlier this month but I really like how one of the members of the band talks about their music as a way to preserve an aspect of their culture . . . Only white people can say that stuff without getting flack for it but I know exactly what he means and it only increases my respect and appreciation for their music.