SPH Presents: Concerts in the Chapel with Piper Jones Band!
Doors 6:30, Show 7:30
The bagpipes are going to be ringing out in the Rose Chapel for this wonderful Saturday night concert! There will be a full bar available and a session afterward so this will be the place to be.
The Piper Jones Band has one mission: to bring spirited, magical dance tunes and songs to everyone - from Celtic music veterans to those hearing it for the first time.
Frances and EJ are a lyrical, high-energy duo based on the moving and beautiful sounds of the Highland bagpipes, accompanied by unique percussive chords from the bouzouki. While maintaining a strong musical base in traditional tunes from Ireland, Scotland, and Appalachia, the group also performs original instrumental compositions and powerful vocal harmonies, as well as stepping off stage from time to time to lead the audience in traditional dances.
Piper EJ Jones is currently serving as the Music Director for Grandfather Mountain Highland Games and has been performing and excelling as a performer of traditional Highland bagpipe music and folk music since began studying the pipes as a child in 1987. He co-founded the touring group Clandestine in 1991, with whom he released five albums, then a solo album, The Willow, with Gerry O’Beirne, and most recently five albums with the Piper Jones Band. EJ is known for his technical expertise in lyrical piping and has long been a participant in the solo and pipe band competition circuit as his performing schedule allows. He is a strong advocate for traditional music in the commercial sphere.
Frances Cunningham is a native of Southeast Texas and fell into Irish music at an early age. She learned the Irish Bouzouki and became a founding member of the Celtic Rock band SixMileBridge which recorded and toured heavily from the late 90s into the 2000s. She moved to Nashville where she picked up the Tenor Banjo and since then has gone on to be an in-demand accompanist and session musician in the Nashville recording scene. She is a winner of the Midwest Fleadh on both the Bouzouki and Banjo. Frances spent 5 years playing the Bouzouki weekly on the Grand Ole Opry in the Mike Snider String Band and was very pleased to be an ambassador for the instrument to Country music audiences during those years.
She currently tours with EJ Jones in the Piper Jones Band singing, playing, composing and Scottish Step Dancing. She released her first solo album in 2016 which has been featured on Fiona Ritchie’s ‘Thistle and Shamrock’ and in 2024 she was on the teaching staff of the Acacia ME and Portal NM music camps.