Celebrate the Irish roots of country music at Galway Bay’s sixth annual ABC3 Festival this weekend.
The event kicks off Thursday at 7 p.m. with a performance by the Olson Band at the 8th Street Ale House in Hoquiam. The rest of the festival will take place Friday through Sunday at Galway Bay Irish Pub, 880 Pt. Brown Ave. NE in Ocean Shores.
ABC3 — short for Appalachian, bluegrass, country, cowboy and cavalry music — is a spinoff of Galway Bay’s wildly popular Celtic Music Feis, which brings in a couple thousand attendees every October. ABC3 has drawn about 200 to 300 in the past few years but is growing, according to event organizer William “Liam”Gibbons, the owner of Galway Bay.
The bands scheduled cover the entire range of ABC3 music. “People who like country and bluegrass, I think, would like it,” Gibbons said of the festival.
“The roots of country music came from the Irish. The Appalachian music, that was a bunch of Irish and Scots who came over at the turn of the century playing their fiddles and guitars,” he said. “The cavalry back in the old days, the Battle of Big Horn, they were all Murphys and O’Brians and Gibbons. The cavalry was all Irish.”
A two-year enlistment earned cavalrymen American citizenship, he said, so their influence was great, including their music.
“You watch those old John Wayne movies and stuff, there’s a bunch of old Irish tunes in them,” said Gibbons.
Hank Cramer is a regular at both the Celtic festival and ABC3. “He does all that stuff, sea shanties, all kinds of Irish cowboy and cavalry songs,” said Gibbons. “He’s there every year.”
The Bold Kentuckian is “a kid from Aberdeen, originally from Kentucky,” said Gibbons. “He does the Hank Williams country type of songs.”
The Shivering Denizens play similar music, but “more rocked up” — a good dance band, said Gibbons. The Harbor’s popular Olson Band will perform its original country songs, and Gibbons describes Badger Mountain as “a really good bluegrass band from east of the mountains.”
Also slated to perform are Carter Junction, Harmony Ridge and Derik Nelson.
A three-day pass gets you the most bang for your buck at $40. A Friday pass is $15, Saturday is $30 and Sunday is $10. All shows are restricted to those 21 and older.
Get tickets online at irishmusicfestival.yapsody.com/ event/index/479606/abc3- festival-2020.
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Schedule
Thursday, Jan. 30
The Olson Band, 8th Street Ale House in Hoquiam, 7 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 31
Hank Cramer at the Main Stage, 1 p.m.
Carter Junction at the Main Stage, 2:15 p.m.
Harmony Ridge, Tasting Room, 3:30 p.m.
Badger Mountain Band, Patio Stage, 3:30 p.m.
Shivering Denizens, Main Stage, 4:45 p.m.
Carter Junction, Tasting Room, 6 p.m.
Olson Band, Patio Stage, 6 p.m.
Badger Mountain Band, Main Stage, 7:15 p.m.
Hank Cramer, Tasting Room, 8:30 p.m.
Harmony Ridge, Patio Stage, 8:30 p.m.
Olson Band, Main Stage, 9:45 p.m.
Shivering Denizens, Main Stage, 11:15 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 1
Harmony Ridge, Main Stage, noon
Shivering Denizens, Main Stage, 1:15 p.m.
Hank Cramer, Tasting Room, 2:30 p.m.
Carter Junction, Patio Stage, 2:30 p.m.
Hank Cramer/Harmony Ridge, Main Stage, 3:45 p.m.
The Bold Kentuckian, Tasting Room, 5 p.m.
Badger Mountain Band, Patio Stage, 5 p.m.
Hank Cramer/Carter Junction, Main Stage, 6:15 p.m.
Harmony Ridge, Tasting Room, 7:30 p.m.
The Bold Kentuckian, Patio Stage, 7:30 p.m.
Badger Mountain Band, Main Stage, 8:45 p.m.
Shivering Denizens, Main Stage, 10 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 2
(All shows on Main Stage)
Hank Cramer/Harmony Ridge/Carter Junction, 11 a.m. and 12:15 p.m.
Badger Mountain Band, 2:15 p.m.
The Bold Kentuckian, 2:30 p.m.
COURTESY PHOTO The Olson Band
COURTESY PHOTO Hank Cramer
COURTESY PHOTO Harmony Ridge
COURTESY PHOTO The Olson Band
