Button accordionist huge draw at COD
If you're a fan of button accordionist David Munnelly and you still don't have a ticket for his band's Friday and Saturday night shows at College of DuPage, don't panic.
There still may be a few tickets left for the David Munnelly Band's third show on Sunday, added to meet the demand. The first two shows are sold out.
After a recent round of dates in Ireland and Belgium, the band is taking its current tour to the United States, including a return to the Chicago area.
"I am a big fan of Chicago. I have good friends there and have been there a good bit. We played the Irish Festival in September 2005 and 2006 and in the Irish (American) Heritage Center about two years ago," Munnelly wrote in an e-mail.
The band, which has toured with The Chieftains and De Danann, delivers traditional Irish music intertwined with music of the 1920s.
"It covers the music of the time, bits of klezmer-influenced stuff, Charleston, swing, old time - it is all and had all been influenced by the music of the Scots Irish," he said.
Munnelly said he always knew playing Irish music would be his life's work and passion.
"I started off at the age of 7, learning music of my grandparents and hearing names of Coleman and Morrison mentioned a lot. When I was old enough I researched into the names - and was amazed. It was great, colorful Irish music with influences from jazz, classical and klezmer," he said. "I always knew I wanted to be a full-time musician and I wanted to play that kind of music."
The band features Munnelly on accordion, singer Shauna Mullin, Paul Kelly on fiddle and mandolin, dancer Nic Garreis, Philippe Barnes on guitar, Ryan Molloy on piano, and David's brother, Kieran, who sings and plays flute, bodhran (Irish drum) and snare.
"Kieran is my youngest brother," Munnelly said. "And he, like the rest, are equal, valid members of the overall sound."
That sound inspires a widespread appeal, an appeal Munnelly ascribes to powerful instrumentals and vocals and the music's tendency to resonate, emotionally, with so many audience members.
"The songs are just so powerful, emotional, true," he said. "I play the same way in our parents' kitchen, to our pet dog, that I do to a few hundred people. I try to get across the whole enjoyment of the music I learned off people who have done the same. It was as much a part of the person listening as it was the person playing."
Munnelly said the band plans to return to Ireland at the end of this tour to record a new CD. Then, it's a tour through Ireland, a few concerts in Spain and Italy and then back to the United States for another five-week tour beginning in September.
For now, though, Munnelly and his band are looking ahead to playing the McAninch Arts Center and hanging out in Chicago.
"We are looking forward to coming back to a city that has a special place in our heart," he said.
If you go
What: David Munnelly Band
Where: College of DuPage McAninch Arts Center, Fawell and Park boulevards, Glen Ellyn
When: 8 p.m. March 6 and 7, sold out; 7 p.m. March 8
Tickets: $32-$40 for adults, $30-$38 for seniors, $22-$30 for youth; cabaret seating
Info: (630) 942-4000, atthemac.org or davidmunnelly.com