Biographies:  Richard Hughes

For over 30 years, Richard Hughes has been performing traditional folk music from Ireland, Scotland, Australia, and the United States. He has a vast repertoire of songs on varied topics, including love, life under sail, sheep shearing, the pleasures and pitfalls of drink, the glory, horror and sadness of war, and life in general, as seen by the common folk.

Richard is also accomplished at guitar and harmonica, skillfully using both to accompany his own and others' singing. His repertoire includes old and new songs from celtic traditions around the world: ballads, sea shanties, humorous songs, love songs, songs of sheep shearing, railroads, and more. His singing is a celebration of traditional working life and recreates a living history of human spirit in the process. In Richard's own words, "The reality of traditional folk songs enables you as the performer and you as the listener to leave the time you're in and experience that period of history."

Richard often sings in authentic dialects, and relates the historic context of the songs. In addition, he performs on the old-style wooden flute, tinwhistle, and guitar.

His performances as a featured performer include:

• TV: PBS, WQED, KDKA, WTAE
• Radio: KDKA, WQED, WDUQ, WYEP
• International Poetry Forum
• Carnegie Ceilidh Society
• Philadelphia Folk Festival
• Philadelphia Folksong Society
• Pennsylvania Council On the Arts
• Mariposa Folk Festival (Toronto)
• Eisteddfod Folk Festival (Mass.)
• World Affairs Council of Pgh. ("Nationalism & Irish Music")
• Three Rivers Arts Festival (Pgh.)
• Buffalo Folk Festival (N.Y.)
• Smoky City Folk Festival (Pgh.)
• Pennsylvania Festival of Folklife - 1976 Bi-Centennial (Phila.)
• Calliope House Concert series (Pgh.)
• Black Pearl (Newport, R.I)
• Fiddler's Green Folk Club (Toronto)
• Tri-Works Folk Club (New Bedford)
• Penn's Landing (Phila.) - Concert on the Gisella Primiera
• Cambridge Ceilidh Concerts
• Three Rivers Regatta
• Mid-Summer Celtic Festival

This project is partially supported by a grant from Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, a program developed and funded by the Vira I. Heinz Endowment; the William Penn Foundation; the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency; and the Pew Charitable Trusts; and administered by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.

Funding for concert performances and workshops by Road to the Isles is available to non-profit presenters throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. For more information contact PennPat at (www.pennpat.org) (215)496-9424, or Music Tree at () (412) 323-2707.