Biography

Aug 30, 2013

#1 ALBUM ON ROOTS MUSIC FOLK AND ROOTS COUNTRY CHARTS

"PRESSED FOR TIME" by Burning Bridget Cleary

For Immediate Release:

February 17, 2014

Burning Bridget Cleary, the high-energy Celtic band from Harleysville, has been nominated for another international music award for their song "Oh My Little Darling / Fire On the Mountain" from their newest album "Pressed for Time."

The Celtic Radio Music Awards is a program sponsored by Boston-based Highlander Radio to acknowledge and promote exceptional Celtic music. Nominations for this award are made throughout the year by listeners and members of Celtic Radio. This year nearly 700 songs were reviewed. After a careful screening process based upon listener nominations, ratings, requests, and other radio statistics, three songs were selected in six categories for community voting. Categories are Celtic Rock, Traditional, Jigs & Reels, Contemporary, Bagpipes and Roots Traditional.

In addition to awards for each song category, one album will be awarded the Celtic Radio Album of the Year. In 2009, Burning Bridget Cleary was the recipient of that top award for their second CD, “Everything is Alright.” Voting is open through March 17, 2014 at: http://www.celticradio.net. Awards will be announced on St. Patrick's Day.

Fiddler and vocalist, Rose Baldino, commented on the honor,
“This is amazing news and it’s funny in an ironic sort of way. The song that was nominated - “Oh My Little Darling” - is an old-timey song. It’s the only non-Celtic song on our album. But, it must be popular because Fiona Ritchie, host of NPR’s internationally syndicated show, “Thistle and Shamrock,” also chose it to play it on her program. So if it meets her approval for a Celtic radio program, we’ll take it!”
Burning Bridget Cleary has had a string of success lately. In December, Burning Bridget Cleary was also nominated as “Top Traditional Group in a Pub, Festival, or Pub” by the Irish Music Association. Their 2013 release, “Pressed for Time hit #1 on the Roots Music Folk and Roots Country Charts in August. It also spent three summer months in the top ten of the Folk-DJ radio charts and ended the year as one of the most played albums of 2013.
This week, the band members will travel to Kansas City, MO, where they have been invited to showcase at the Folk Alliance International Conference. Their touring expanded in 2013 from Buffalo to Michigan to Tennessee. Recent shows have been attracting sell-out crowds.


For Immediate Release:

September 5, 2013

HARLEYSVILLE, PA -- "Pressed for Time" is #1 Album on the Roots Music Folk and Roots Country Chart

Burning Bridget Cleary, the high-energy Celtic folk band from SE Pennsylvania, continues to set new milestones with their fourth release, "Pressed for Time."

The CD was named #1 album for the week of August 30 on the Roots Music Folk and Roots Country Chart. "Pressed for Time" has remained in the top ten on the Folk DJ Charts since jumping to the #2 spot in June. In addition, a track from "Pressed for Time" was featured on Thistle and Shamrock, NPR's long-running Celtic music show hosted by Scotland-based, Fiona Ritchie. It was included in her August 22nd show entitled, "New Summer Releases, Part 1."

Burning Bridget Cleary returned this past Monday from Kansas City, MO. There, they performed on two stages as part of the Kansas City Irish Festival, one of the top five Celtic music festivals in the U.S. To help promote the festival, they were also invited to play a morning set at the newly opened Folk Store, the new Kansas City headquarters of Folk Alliance International.

This coming Friday the band will be taking part in the first annual Delaware Irish Festival at World Cafe Live at the Queen in Wilmington, DE. They will be among five bands sharing both the upstairs and downstairs stages for a grand celebration of Irish music that runs the gamut from traditional to Celtic-fusion to rock. Also featured will be the John Byrne Band, Mythica and Melissa Cox, the Young Dubliners and Black 47.

Background: Roots Music Report (RMR),the world's number one independent music chart, compiles weekly radio airplay charts for various roots-related genres. These are based on spin totals reported by music directors and DJs from more than 400 terrestrial and Internet radio stations. RMR compiles radio airplay data from radio stations around the globe that play all forms of roots music.


Brian McNeill writes about "Pressed for Time:"

“How refreshing - the art of folk arrangement isn't dead after all!
 
From the first track here, a fine, innovative, setting of Gordon Duncan's 'Pressed For Time' to the last track, 'Stor Mo Chroi', we have here a band who have decided that Celtic and traditional-based music deserves depth, light and shade, and above all, thought. Nothing here is either inappropriate or forced, and it's all beautifully presented by a band that's learned the first rule of instrumental expertise - clever and effective are not the same thing, and the latter will always hold enough of the former to impress any audience.
 
The result is a confident, mature band that wears its flair lightly, knows how and when to drive the tunes and songs hard, and when to let the quieter mood prevail. The tradition is beautifully respected here - just listen to the gorgeous version of 'Sitting In The Stern Of A Boat' - but it's not treated like any sacred cow; whatever treatment's appropriate is used. The whole recording is pervaded by an overwhelming air of musicians who know how to let serious music speak, and when to let rip a bit and just have great fun.

The result is a beautiful, eclectic album - and I'm already looking forward to the next one.”

- Brian McNeill, Founding Member of The Battlefield Band

Walt Haake, Radio Host of WDVR's Celtic Sunday Brunch, is even more effusive in his reaction:

“The album is a triumph!

Really, after just one listening I can tell you it hits all the right notes with me. The arrangements, performances, production and sequencing all come together in a way that makes for a wonderful listening experience. It's adventurous, intelligent, playful and ever so satisfying.

What a truly remarkable accomplishment. I can't wait to get it on the air, not only on Celtic Sunday Brunch, but my other show, "Wednesdays with Walt." I want everyone to get a taste of it.

By the way, it's not like me to gush over new recordings. It just so happened that this one knocked my socks off.”

Band Bio:

What people are saying:

“One of the most exciting bands I’ve seen in the last couple of years . . .–Jack Baker,The Irish American News

“ . . . a rockin’ Celtic sound”! -irishphiladelphia.org

“. . . a highlight of this summer’s Philadelphia Folk Festival” -Michael Kornfeld, acousticmusicscene.com

Burning Bridget Cleary features the remarkable fiddle talents of Rose Baldino and Deirdre Lockman, who lead the band with high energy and tightly woven harmonies in both fiddle and vocals. A driving rhythm and bass end is supplied by veteran Philadelphia guitarist, Lou Baldino, and Toronto native, Peter Trezzi, on djembe.

Since 2006, BBC has played hundreds of festival and music series performances, and produced four full length CDs. Their fourth CD, “Pressed for Time” was released on June 1, 2013, and has already received enthusiastic airplay nationwide, hitting #1 on the 8-30-13 Roots Music Folk and Roots Country charts.

Their second release, "Everything is Alright" was awarded "Album of the Year 2009" by Boston-based CelticRadio.net. In 2012, the Irish Music Association nominated Burning Bridget Cleary as “Best New Irish Artist.”