Raised on the roots music of Appalachia, Mark Warford caught the ‘ceol’ bug back in the early ’90’s in East Tennessee. Russell Hopper, a local fiddler, set him on the right path with some recordings of Paul Brady and Daithi Sproule. Within months of joining monthly seisiún in downtown Knoxville, he dropped into DADGAD, never to return to standard tuning. Over the years, he has had the fortune to study with accomplished artists like Joseph Sobol and Dennis Cahill. Additionally, stringed specializations have diversified a bit, each new instrument and tuning offering a richer texture to the tunes. Some of his main gear, in addition to DADGAD guitar, include:
- 5-Course Midscale Cittern by Lawrence Nyberg (DGDGD)
- Herb Taylor Tenor with Classical Bass (DdADAD)
- Matsikas Trixordo Bouzouki (DAD)
- Martin 1930 Tenor Guitar (GCGC)
- Puerto Rican Cuatro (BEADG)
From Knoxville to Buffalo, Warford has established some enduring Irish trad gatherings, namely the highly acclaimed Saturday afternoon Celtic Seisiúns at Nietzsche’s (in its 20th anniversary year), the Shannon Pub seisiún, and a collaboration between Buffalo and Rochester musicians at O´Lacy´s Pub in Batavia, the ´Fin-Wyn´ Seisiún Gathering, which is named for the Tom Finucane (Rochester) and Martin Wynne (Buffalo) branches of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann.
Band projects have ranged from Finnegan´s aWake and Evan Carawan´s Travelers (East Tennessee) to a World Music project called Abe´s Lily, led by accomplished clawhammer banjo player, Laurence Sugarman, which features Irish, old time and jazz voicings on the cuatro and bouzouki. You can download our recording on Amazon or iTunes. More current ensemble projects include Abanalan, and Setanta.
If you are interested in learning more about Irish trad accompaniment, I welcome you to register for my upcoming workshop at the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann 2024 convention (April 4-7, Buffalo, NY).
Thanks for dropping in! Always looking for recording projects, gigs, and the opportunity to teach Irish accompaniment. Please feel free to drop a line with any inquiries or post a note.
Photo from the monthly seisiún at Shannon Pub, which was featured in an interview with Eileen Buckley (WBFO): Irish trad seisiún
mark warford music 
Hello Mark. my name’s Tandy Nicely (a good East Tennessee family name that comes from my Dad who was born in Washburn up in Grainger County). I’ve lived a number of places over the years, including East Aurora, Colorado, Gatlinburg, Northern California, and am now finally back to Buffalo. I get back to East Tennessee as often as I can as I still have family in around that region and a family cabin on Norris Lake (I also need to get my live dose of WDVX!).
I’ve played a bit of fiddle over the years but have mainly been concentrating on the mandolin for the last number of years (I hope to one day become an adult prodigy at some point, as my child prodigy chances have long expired).
I plan to start showing up for the Saturday afternoon gathering at Nietzsche’s and will look forward to meeting kindred spirits and learning some new tunes. Do you by chance have a list of regularly played tunes or should I just show up and see what’s being played?
Best regards
Tandy Nicely
707 888 3799 (still have my NorCal cell number)
LikeLike
Tandy-
Thanks for your email. East Tennessee and WDVX will always be close to my heart- in fact I used to host the Irish trad show, back when it was in a camper off I-75 in Clinton. Peyton Manning used to bring his date to our Thursday night seisiún at Patrick Sullivans. Good times!
Best way to get the repertoire is to check out the Buffalo Seisiun Musicians page on facebook. Werner, the tenor banjo player, posts tunes from time to time. We encourage recording- no problem there.
Look forward to seeing you @ Nietzsche’s!
Mark
LikeLike