Beggar Man's Frolic
'I have spread my dreams under your feet. Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.'
-W. B. Yeats
Tradition in Innovation
Beggar Man's Frolic doesn't just play Celtic Music...
Founded by Randy Peters and inspired by his careful music and culture studies as he traveled to Celtic lands, this group of artists strives to bring excellent examples of standard Celtic pub music repertoire, adding their own creative flavors to the stew, while still remaining true to the music's tradition. Their careful study of the music makes their music fresh to the ears but also one of the most authentic Celtic experiences around.
"It's a long way from Clare to here..."
About Randy
“Randy is a storyteller.” This seems to be the defining consensus of those who
are familiar with his performance. A resident of Northwestern PA since 1960, he
is a 50-year enthusiast of Celtic music, history, and culture. While wandering the
back roads of Ireland, in the 1980’s and 1990’s he collected stories first hand of
the Irish experience and songs not generally known in this area, since interest in
Celtic music was just beginning to take hold in Northwester PA.
A compulsive researcher, his lifelong interest in History contributes to his ability
to understand the music more thoroughly and to convey that understanding in his
performances. A regular performer at Sullivan’s Café in Erie and Charley’s Pub in
Meadville, PA, among other venues, he cut back his musical activities in the mid
1990’s to pursue a career and raise his family.
Now he is renewing his musical pursuits and is currently developing a number of
projects along with a friend and fiddle player from South Africa and a very in
demand jazz bass player in the Cleveland/Pittsburgh/Akron, area. His approach to
the music is to remain as true as possible to the traditional music while
incorporating the more contemporary traditional style and songs that have found
their way into the Celtic repertoire. A given performance may contain music from
Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Galicia, Cornwall or the Isle of Man. The
objective is to create a musical experience that would not be unfamiliar to anyone
sitting in a pub in any of the Celtic strongholds of Europe on any given musical
evening.
