Biography of Kevin & Geraldine Gill

Kevin & Geraldine Gill have been playing bluegrass music for the past twenty years, and have been part of the music scene in Cork where they are based. They first met in 1981 appropriately at a Doc & Merle Watson concert in Dublin. At the time Kevin was playing finger picking country blues guitar in the style of Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake etc. Geraldine was involved in the folk scene, singing songs from the traditional and folk influence. They both started playing music together from the time they met, trying to find a music that would be a blend of both their styles. Bluegrass music seemed to fit the bill, Kevin took up the 5 string banjo and then went on to play dobro and mandolin. Geraldine took up bass guitar and flat picking guitar.

They have both been involved in a number of bluegrass bands, 'Shades of Bluegrass', 'Uncle Bud’s Scratch Band', 'The Rusty String Band' and 'Last Chance'. Kevin is also a member of ‘'The Lee Valley String Band’, playing dobro. Over the years they have played support to Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, The Seldom Scene, The New Blue Velvet Band, Butch Waller & High Country, Bob Paisley, Bluegrass Patriots to mention but a few. More recently they have started to play as 'The Gill Family Band', with their two sons Cian ( Bass ) and Donal (Mandolin).

As well as playing music Kevin set up the website 'Bluegrass in Ireland' to provide information about activities in bluegrass and related music. This informative site gives details on Irish bands, promoters and Festivals.

'Bluegrass and Beyond' is a local radio programme that Kevin presents each Monday night on CUHFM from 6.00 p.m. to 7.30 pm. This programme features mainly acoustic music: folk, blues, americana and predominately bluegrass.

Their album 'So Many Times’ released on 7th OCT 2004 has thirteen tracks, nine of which are originals. There are three tracks which were co-written, including the title track ‘So Many Times’, with Kevin penning the lyrics and Geraldine the melody. These songs prove to be very popular at live gigs. Kevin has three original tunes on the album, two of which are dobro influences, ‘Hopping Steel’ and ‘Steel Eyes’, the third tune, 'Harmando' features the mandolin with twin harmony parts. While the album mainly features Geraldine's vocals, two of the original songs,'Self Destruct' and Turn of A Coin', display a more bluesy feel and showcase Kevin on vocals and finger picking guitar. The remainder of the tracks are four cover versions of some of the classic songs from the greats of bluegrass.

With influences as diverse as Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Alison Krauss and Doc Watson, and some original ideas added to the mix this album presents an interesting and exciting blend of music.
 
 
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