Irishtown Road Band History

Irishtown Road, a traditional Irish folk band based in the Adams-York County, PA area, has been on the Celtic music scene since 1997.

The versatile repertoire of Irishtown Road consists of traditional Irish songs and some traditionally arranged original work featuring intricate vocal harmonies and instrumental variety. With two albums to their credit and another in the works, the Adams-York area’s longest-tenured Irish musical group is in their 14th year of performing together. In that time, the band has firmly established themselves as a fixture in the regional Celtic music scene. Irishtown Road enjoys playing year-round to enthusiastic crowds at concerts, festivals, pubs, special events and other venues in Pennsylvania and Maryland following the tradition that for each band member can be traced back to their Irish ancestry.

Irishtown Road is comprised of siblings Brian Colgan of McSherrystown (vocals, fiddle, guitar and flute) and Eileen Colgan Bowling of Gettysburg (vocals, whistles and percussion); Brian's son Jesse Colgan (vocals, bodhran, percussion, piano and guitar); Denny Seitz of Red Lion (banjo, banjola and vocals); Rodney Owens of Harrisburg (uilleann pipes, bodhran and vocals) and Ben Wenk of Gardners (bass, guitar, mandolin and vocals).

The band took its name from the main road through the south-central Pennsylvania village where the Colgans' great-grandfather and his family settled after emigrating from Dromore, County Tyrone in the north of Ireland.

Irishtown Road released their first album, a self-titled collection of original music in March 2000 to great reviews.Their second CD titled The Road Home was released in 2005. Their third album, The One Road, a collection of live recordings and studio cuts is set to be released in 2010.

Irishtown Road enjoys playing to enthusiastic crowds in area pubs, at private parties and festivals. "Take a brisk walk down Irishtown Road yourself". You'll be glad that you did.

"The McColgans were a breed of people there was great music in. Music is a thing that follows tribes of people." ---From The Last of the Name by Charles McGlinchey (1986, The Black Staff Press, Ltd.: Belfast)