PORT ANGELES — The Juan de Fuca Festival Season Concerts start this weekend with Men of Worth — Scotsman Donnie Macdonald and Irishman James Keigher — at the Peninsula College Little Theater on Saturday night.
The duo’s music comes from the faraway Hebrides, Scotland’s outer islands, and from Keigher’s native County Mayo, yet it’s clearly infused with the men’s boyhood musical heroes: Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
They’re songs about Scottish and Irish history, brought to America by immigrants and “time-polished,” as Macdonald has said.
Tickets to Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. concert are $15 at Port Book and News, 104 E. First St., Port Angeles, and Pacific Mist Books, 121 W. Washington St., Sequim.
Tickets also will be will available at the door of the Little Theater, on the main Peninsula College campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
Macdonald and Keigher met in California in 1985 and adopted “Men of Worth,” an old song by Scottish singer Archie Fisher, as their name.
The pair has since created its own blend of music and humor via voices, mandolin, guitar, mandocello, banjo, concertina and bodhran drum.
“Our music,” Macdonald said, “was a part of the fabric of everyday life [in Scotland], and it came to America with the immigrants a century ago . . . For us, the irony is we were brought up in Scotland and Ireland, and as boys, we listened most eagerly to the music of America, and not especially to the music of our own areas.
“On our radios, we heard Hank Williams Sr. and Jim Reeves,” the Scotsman said.
These days, the men’s songs come from everyday sources: Keigher wrote one after overhearing two women gossiping about him in a village market.
Other tunes come from Macdonald’s mother’s poetry.
Both musicians are married to Americans. Keigher lives in Ashland, Ore., while Macdonald lives outside Sacramento, Calif.
Subscription prices
For those who want to catch all nine Season Concerts from this month through April, subscriptions are available.
The general seating price is $99 for nine shows; premium seating is $119.
Both provide a discount from the single-ticket prices, which range from $15 to $35.
The Season Concerts include the Rolling Stones tribute band Midnight Rambler at Olympic Cellars winery Aug. 3, Geoffrey Castle’s Celtic Christmas in Port Angeles on Dec. 15 and the Harlem Gospel Choir on April 4.
For information, visit www.JFFA.org, find the Juan de Fuca Festival on Facebook or phone 360-457-5411.
_________
Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
