A couple years ago, Irish Fire was invited to the White House on St. Patrick's Day to perform at a reception honoring the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland. Last year, they brought their show of music, dance, story, and song to a sold out appearance at the Ram's Head in Annapolis, MD on St. Patrick's Night. That night - and the night before in The Birchmere in Alexandria,VA - they were joined by members of the Kevin Broesler School of Irish Dance, Sean Conner and Maura Hodgetts, along with Maura's elder sister, Catherine. Sean and Maura represented Maryland - and the Broesler School of Irish Dance - at the World Championships in Belfast last year. Maura, in fact, competed in this year's All-Ireland competetion, and was the third-ranked American in the 2001 championships. Sean and Maura will be on the stage with Irish Fire again this year.

The members of Irish Fire are no strangers to followers of traditional Irish music. Singers Grace Griffith and Dominick Murray are joined by fiddler Dave Abe. For this year's performances, piper Mark Hillman is not in the lineup, but Irish Fire welcomes the lovely flute playing of Tina Eck. (Unfortunately, Tina is not pictured above.)

Biographies of Irish Fire members follow:

Grace Griffith

Grace Griffith is a 12-time WAMMIE (Washington Area Music Award) winner for best female vocalist in Traditional Folk, Celtic/Irish and New Age categories. This distinction no doubt had an influence on the decision of Blix Street Records to distribute her recordings internationally. Since 1990, she has been lead singer of the trio Connemara. In this setting, Grace's haunting vocals become the centerpiece for a delightful combination of fiddle, Celtic harp, and other instruments in music of Irish and Scottish derivation. Connemara’s recording SirenSong won "Best Album" in the Celtic/Irish category from the Washington Area Music Association in 1995. That album, as well as their earlier "Beyond the Horizon" CD, is also being distributed nationally by Blix Street Records (singer Mary Black is another of Blix Street’s noted performers). Her performance repertoire draws from traditional Celtic sources as well as works by contemporary songwriters. Very much at home on stage, Grace laces her musical performance with easy humor and an ethereal sense of beauty that audiences of all ages find pleasing.

Dominick Murray

Irish-American musician and singer Dominick Murray has been one of the most influential figures on the Irish music scene in the Baltimore/Washington area since settling there in 1979. Born in Detroit into a large Irish family (he has more than 100 first cousins in the U.S. and Ireland), Dominick grew up with a strong connection to Irish music, nurtured by his father, an immigrant from Co. Sligo, and his mother, whose parents hailed from the North. The rich musical traditions of Gurteen, his father’s hometown in Sligo---and, incredibly, the place that gave the world such legends of Irish music as Michael Coleman, Martin Wynne, Fred Finn, Peter Horan, and Seamus Tansey---continue to shape and influence his own music.

For ten years, Dominick was both lead singer and rhythm guitarist with the traditional band Celtic Thunder, on whose INDIE-Award-winning album, The Light of Other Days (Green Linnet), he is prominently featured. His driving rhythm guitar and harmony vocals can also be heard on the recordings of Chris Norman and Ken Kolodner (Helicon) and Grace Griffith. He performs now most regularly with Grace Griffith and Dave Abe.

As solid as the affection for the rhythm of the dance music is his love for the stories in the songs. Dominick's vast repertoire extends from songs of emigration he learned as a child from his father's recordings, to others learned during visits to his family's home in Ireland, and, finally, to the highly acclaimed songs he has composed.

Dave Abe