Eileen Ivers reels in annual Christmas show

For plenty of of Eileen Ivers fans the fiddler s Christmas shows are now a traditional part of the holiday season I ll tell you I don t take it lightly she revealed this week Just for a couple of hours to be in a theater and feel the emotions that this time of year brings I like to stay in the lobby and hang out until the last person leaves it makes my heart full This will be her nd annual seasonal tour she even did them online during shutdown hitting Cary Hall in Lexington Sunday night And the title Joyful Christmas is no accident I feel that you only have so much time to have the privilege of being onstage and maybe you can touch people in a deeper emotional way There s a positive message in Christmas and we all need to hear it And I don t like to bang people over the head with the faith part of it but that s also part of who I am Fans can expect plenty of dazzling fretwork and her usual eclectic approach to Irish music There may be a minimal th century tunes and a inadequate things that people are less familiar with Like all things Irish which I love deeply there is a contemplative spiritual part of it which I approach through specific reflections that I speak onstage And there is the innate bliss of the season which will be reflected through specific dance tunes and a few rocking Christmas carols certain of which we ll do in a more Cajun-y way which reflects what Irish music has become since it came to America Ivers was part of Riverdance in its heyday but that s not where she learned to be so flamboyant onstage She credits that to Daryl Hall John Oates with whom she toured as a bandmember in the early s I was such a shy kid playing music I hated to speak onstage and even introduce songs It comes from having Irish parents that whole thing of Be humble and don t make a show of yourself I was when I played with Hall Oates and it was really eye-opening a good Ph D in rock touring She was invited by their bassist and bandleader after guesting on the largely acoustic album Change of Season I was onstage the whole night playing the Rich Girl lines with me and a cello They had an piece band the best of the best but what I really remember is how the saxophone member broke down the fourth wall when he soloed That s when it hit me as an impressionable budding performer that you can t just sit in a chair and put your head down and I took that into the Riverdance experience The band I ve had for a great number of years now can share that kind of fire We can say Let s improvise guys and take this out to where we are tonight She carries the rock flavor into her shows via her love of devices she plays fiddle through a wah-wah and the Christmas show features a looped version of a carol or two Oh I just can t help myself I m a big fan of the instrument and it can be rhythm lead countermelody bassline You can do all that with the magic of looping She says she likes spending time with traditional Irish musicians and more progressive ones There are particular great younger players out there who are set into their own very regional style that s who they are and what they love And then there are chosen with bigger ears At the end of the day I feel that you can dependably infuse Irish music with other genres as long as you represent it respectfully