Irish supergroup We Banjo 3 makes its first appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded live at Charleston, W.Va.'s Culture Center Theater. In keeping with the misnomer tradition of Ben Folds Five, Galway's We Banjo 3 actually has four members: Enda and Fergal Scahill and Martin and David Howley. Collectively, the two sets of brothers have been at the forefront of Irish music for almost two decades, holding multiple competitive music titles in banjo, fiddle, bodhran and guitar and making a name for themselves with their Americana-meets-traditional-Irish sound (or, as they affectionately call it, "Celtgrass"). Hours after performing this set in March 2016, the band traveled to the White House to share their mix of swing, soul and banjo with President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders.

We Banjo 3's latest album, String Theory, is a self-release that immediately shot to No. 1 on the Billboard World Music chart and cemented the band as the first independent Irish group to sit on top of the charts.

SET LIST

  • "Puncheon Floor/Late For The Dance/Sean Reid's"
  • "We All Need More Kindness In This World"
  • "Lonesome Road"
  • "Pressed For Time"
  • "Get Onboard"
  • "Bill Cheatum/Kitchen Girl/The Donegal Lass"
  • "Tripping Up the Stairs/The Fox/The Clumsy Lover"
Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

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