T HIS WRITER FIRST HEARD TOMMY MAKEM on the classic Clancy Brothers albums of the sixties. In mono or stereo, the effect was the same, and I understood why my eighth-grade teacher swooned at the sound of their names. Makem and the Clancys helped bring about the folk music renaissance of the sixties with those rousing, manly voices. I suspect that for many, as for me, they were an introduction to Irish culture as well. More respectable than Brendan Behan yet equally fine companions in the pub, they sang of Irish rebellion, rovers and beggarmen and tinkers, a lass named Eileen Aroon, Tim Finnegan’s Wake, a jug of punch, and built a storied world in my head that made Borstal Boy rather more romantic than it might have been otherwise.

Tommy’s had a long and varied career since his years with the Clancys, producing shows and performing on television and the stage, at countless festivals, concert houses and smaller venues, writing books and documentaries, and garnering an extensive and well-earned share of awards and degrees, not to mention a reputation as the modern-day Bard of Armagh and “The Godfather” of Irish music.

Armed with his banjo, tinwhistle, poetry, stagecraft and his magnificent baritone voice, Tommy has been mesmerizing audiences for more than four decades. He has expanded and reshaped the boundaries of Irish culture, and infused a pride in that culture in the Irish, and a quest for knowledge of that culture in countless others.

As anyone attending his last concert at the Me&Thee will attest, Tommy has lost none of his fire and hell-raising tendencies should the word “whiskey” come up in a song — and you may even get to see the next generation of Makems backing him up (just don’t get him started on bagpipes).

We encourage you to order online via PayPal (see button at top) or call in your order. Come early and take your place in line, because Tommy packs the house!