Chrisy McCullagh and Ernie Sites
Friday, March 26, 2021 at 7:30 pm
Link on the web page
Alternative / folk / pop from Belfast and a cowboy trouadour from Idaho
Click Here To Go To The Arts on the Lake You Tube Channel. Stream will start about 7:15 with concert starting at 7:30. Be sure to adjust your volume to your liking.
This is a night of two different worlds coming together on our virtual stage. Young contemporary Irish musician Chrisy McCullagh playing with Mike Grandetti brings his unique alternative blend of folk, rock and soul music to our virtual stage. THEN they are followed by Ernie Sites an honest to god cowboy troubadour raised on a ranch in Idaho. All in all its going to be two continents coming together on AotL Virtual.
The event will be streamed via YouTube at no cost, however we ask you donate to the Center whatever amount you can afford. We will post link Friday afternoon.
Chrissy McCullagh, having moved to the Carmel area to pursue his music career in NYC, brings to his music a unique eclectic mix of folk, rock and soul, threaded with rhythms from world music and brought to life on select combos of bass, percussion, brass, specially tuned guitars and the lyrical vocals that have drawn comparisons with the late Jeff Buckley. Before Covid, Chrissy and his band were playing constantly in numerous clubs in the Brooklyn music scene, so we are lucky to catch them before all the venues open up.
"If you are looking for something different musically, Chrisy McCullagh is unique and you will not have heard anything like him before." - Damien Murry - The Daily Mirror, BBC, The Telegraph in UK.
A former rodeo cowboy, Ernie Sites was raised on a family ranch in Idaho. Combining traditional and original western singing, songwriting, cowboy poetry, storytelling, & trick roping with his own personal brand of western humor, Cowboy Ernie entertains and educates. Western author, Corinne J. Brown, has dubbed Ernie “the urban cowboy troubadour.” He has been a guest on CBS, PBS, TNN, the BBC, and Good Morning, America.
This project is made possible, in part, through the Putnam Arts Council’s Arts Link Grant Program with public funds provided through the NY State Council on the Arts with support from Governor Andres M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
About the Event
"Whether singing his self-written solo material as a singer/songwriter or playing his self-penned material with the musical collective, The Secret Animals, Chrisy McCullagh is a force to be reckoned with on the contemporary music scene. His high-register vocals are as unique as his almost dream-like lyrics and sound combinations. McCullagh's distinctive trance-like vocals, ranging from soulful to hypnotic, determine a degree of moodiness in songs like Empty Vase, while the atmospheric and psychedelic, Bright Lights, is retro with a modern edge; creating an almost dream-like soundscape within an unusual combination of instrumentation. Cry For His Name offers an avant-garde jazz sound, concealing a series of interesting instrumental moments, while the haunting feel of Empty Goodbyes hides an almost classically-tinged backing behind McCullagh's own wall of sound. If you are looking for something different, musically, Chrisy McCullagh is unique and you will not have heard anything like him before" - Damien Murry -The Daily Mirror, BBC, The Telegraph.
A western entertainer and an experienced cowboy, Ernie Sites hails from southern Idaho. Among his many talents, he is a western performer, songwriter, cowboy poet, trick roper, bull rider, rodeo clown, bareback rider, team roper and a calf roper. He has traveled the world over, using his gifts to teach people about cowboys and the west. Western author, Corinne J. Brown, has dubbed Ernie “the urban cowboy troubadour.”
His lifelong friendship with a guitar began when he was finally big enough to hold onto one, practicing his licks in the back room of the local barbershop, where the barber also happened to be a musician. Well before he learned to sing, he began developing his love for literature and rhyme by creating his own poetry. Eventually, he did learn to sing and to yodel, a combination that led him to the recording studio, “singing the stories of the West.” He formed his first band when he was 15. He continued to work on his cowboy skills along with his music, including hours of working to emulate his hero, Will Rogers, in the arena of trick roping. As his entertainer’s career grew, he discovered the National Cowboy Gathering at Elko Nevada, and was delighted to find there were many others who like him, were dedicated to preserving the cowboy life through music, poetry and storytelling. Along the trail, he has performed with such luminaries as Riders in the Sky, Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, Gene Autry, and the Sons of the Pioneers. He has been a guest on CBS, PBS, TNN, the BBC, and Good Morning, America. Along with these accomplishments, he is also a playwright and has created a fun filled songbook for kids.