Patsy O’Brien and Justin Allison: Together Again for the First Time

What a cool event this will be! As of this writing they’ve never met each other but we feel sure it will be a concert to remember as these two master guitarists/songwriters swap songs and share the stories behind the songs. And somewhere during the concert they’ll also play some songs together, for their “Together Again for the First Time” public debut!

Hailing from Cork in the south of Ireland, award-winning songwriter and much sought-after guitarist Patsy O’Brien is renowned for his ability to meld songwriting and guitar styles seamlessly. It’s a trait that caught the attention of NPR, who featured his arrangement of the well loved traditional song Star Of The County Down, on their All Songs Considered program.

Though he’s well versed in jazz and rock and roll, he has a love and deep well of traditional ballads and songs in his musical quiver. And for the past couple of decades Patsy has become known as an excellent songwriter, some that sound like they could’ve come from his Irish tradition. Listen to a crowd favorite, “Good Times Coming” here.

As well as supplying the driving guitar rhythms on Celtic/World Music diva Eileen Iver’s last European tour, and frequently treading the boards and collaborating with many giants of the Celtic/World music scene (Paddy Keenan, Kevin Burke and Cathie Ryan to name just a few), Patsy’s songwriting reflects a strong interest in roots americana as well as Jazz influences. Veteran Irish music critic Paul Dromey declares Patsy “Ireland’s best-kept musical secret”, after attending his opening performance for Kinky Friedman some years back and the New Haven Advocate calls him “An Irish Robbie Robertson…falls in the void between Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson”.

He is a veteran of premier Irish festivals around the country and we are blessed that he loves the Salida area...so much that he and his wife are building a home here. Storyteller, entertainer, musician, gentleman ~ he’s the complete package and a wonderful entertainer.

Composer, guitarist/vocalist Justin Allison is a song stylist, an interpreter of the music he loves, music that stirs his soul. Be it a Brazilian samba or bossa nova, rock, blues or reggae, from the past masters, Duke, Miles, Monk and Porter to contemporary writers Sting, Stevie and Joni to the unmined gems of unknown authors, this music has taken Justin across the nation and around the world. Listen to his “Take Me Where the Moon Lives” here.

How it started…

A professional musician since the age of 12, beginning his career playing jazz standards and dance music on trumpet in his father’s band, Justin discovered his love of music and despite being an introvert, his love of playing for people! A few years later he also discovered that girls were more interested in guitar players than trumpet men and began playing guitar to form a rock and roll ensemble with some of his junior high school friends.

Justin attended college on a music scholarship for trumpet and continued to play guitar and bass in rock bands and eventually made Santa Cruz, California his home base, playing on the road for the next 10 years.

He was recruited to play bass and sing with Randy Sparks, founding member of The New Christy Minstrels, for a 3 month Scandinavian tour. It was on that tour that Justin met South African musicians Tony Cox and Steve Newman with whom he developed a professional relationship that took him to South Africa for a year of solo performance and with some of South Africa’s premier musicians including Winston Mankunku Ngozi. Because Justin was often going into the black townships to play music (this was illegal) and because of his political views against apartheid he was repatriated..

Justin has shared the stage and opened shows for a diversity of talent including Curtis Stigers, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Tuck and Patti, George Benson, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Rosanna Vitro, Al Green and Tito Puente.