SWITCHBACK

About

Switchback is a Chicago duo, Brian FitzGerald and Martin McCormack, who blend bluegrass, Americana and traditional Celtic music into something that works just as well in a pub as on a festival stage. Their roots go back to a group led by County Kerry concertina master Cuz Teahan, and from there they helped form the Wailin' Banshees, whose first album did well enough that Chevrolet used one of its songs to sell the Chevy Blazer. These days they play over 200 shows a year, from the Stan Rogers Folk Festival in Nova Scotia to a Michigan festival crowd of 15,000, and they head to Ireland every year, including a pub in Westport owned by The Chieftains' Matt Malloy. They've shared stages with Cherish the Ladies, Gaelic Storm and Liz Carroll, and their music pops up on RTÉ Radio One and on PBS stations across the US. The catalogue runs from Ain't Going Back in 1994 to Red or Blue in 2025, with a pair of Mass albums along the way.