The Irish Arts Center hosts a semi-regular series dubbed Muldoon’s Picnic named for the host, poet, and lyricist Paul Muldoon. The March edition of the show including Mac Con Iomaire flying from Ireland for the night (but getting stuck in NYC for longer due to a blizzard), poet Marie Howe drawing from her book Magdalene, novelist Peter Quinn reading selections from a couple of books (one was Dry Bones) plus songs from house band Rogue Oliphant interspersed.
Mac Con Iomaire performed two pieces in the first half of the show, “Emer’s Dream” from his solo debut The Hare’s Corner and “From the Mountain to the Sea”, his most recent song recorded for the Dublin tribute Starboard Home compilation. After intermission, he performed the lovely tribute to his late sister “In the Arms of the Angels”, accompanied by Justin Carroll on piano. An angelic chorus (via samples) reverberated in the room as Mac Con Iomaire built the song with guitar and violin. The song is off his second album And Now the Weather which was one of my favorite releases in 2015 (it’s hard to track down physical copies but available to stream). It was all too brief of a performance and a visit, but at least one could chat with Mac Con Iomaire after the show.
Source: Colm Mac Con Iomaire Brings Pastoral Tranquility to Muldoon’s Picnic | PopMatters