Four Men and A Dog - Ready for some Action
Photos by Paddy McGlinchy

Four Men and a Dog are in action again. After a few hectic days at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow the band are heading home to rest up and recharge the batteries so they will be ready for March the busiest month of the year for any Irish band. With only one show in February in Dublin they should all have the energy to carry them through the St Patrick's Day celebrations.

Four Men and a Dog are one of the most exciting live bands to come out of Ireland in the last 20 years. Defying definition they play traditional Irish music with an Americana backbone. Kevin Doherty's songs have an unquestionable authentic Irishness to them but draw on strong influences from Bob Dylan to Hank Williams. Gino Lupari is a powerhouse of a front man and effortlessly shifts from rap and roll to the most traditional Irish sounds you can imagine. Add Cathal Hayden and Gerry O'Connor to the mix, two traditional players who have taken their fiddle and banjo and broken all the rules and you have musical mayhem that is as exciting to watch as any musical show on the road today.

The band took a break from playing for a couple of years but reformed to play some shows and record a fifth album, Maybe Tonight last year.

Deliberatly playing only hand picked gigs they each work on solo projects and regroup once in a while which keeps them fresh and not road weary.

Here are the dates for March

For more info on 4 Men and a Dog see the JigTime Profile