One for the Foxes

with Ella Jordan & Rob McCormac

Dave Curley, Tadhg Ó Meachair & Joanna Hyde form an exciting and dynamic transatlantic trio that presents a rousing blend of Irish and American folk music, having already won over audiences on both sides of the ocean. The group is made up of Dublin’s Tadhg Ó Meachair (Goitse), Galway’s Dave Curley (SLIDE) and Denver, Colorado’s Joanna Hyde (The Hydes), and features a mix of Irish and American folk music and song – both traditional and newly- composed – presented in an energetic and engaging manner.

Their performances strike a tasteful balance between the stories found in ballads across both sides of the Atlantic and the respective instrumental music traditions of these places. Award-winning instrumentalists each in their own right, Dave, Tadhg & Joanna take a unique twist on the diverse strengths of their individual backgrounds, weaving between traditional melodies, their own compositions, and songs from the broader folk canon.

The results are highly personalised and thrilling in their daring and forthright grasp of the material. Through a shared deep-rooted passion for Irish traditional music, this trio highlights the vital role of Irish traditional music as an origin of many American folk musics, and explores how those styles can interact with one another in a manner both eclectic and grounded.

With a new, yet-unnamed project, the duo of Ella Jordan and Rob McCormac bridge disparate musical backgrounds to traverse a sonic landscape that is at once poignant and pensive.  Remaining true both to their respective Texas and North Carolina roots, their music harmonizes with the folk, swing, and old-time legacies they venerate in performance, all while sharing stories best heard in their thoughtful, original songwriting. Following their recent relocation to America’s Heartland, the couple is, for the first time, leaning fully into a collaborative musical effort—one that seeks to capture the fragile beauty of a mutable now. 

Ella Jordan is a Berklee College of Music graduate and the 2023 winner of the FreshGrass Awards fiddle contest. In addition to performing with notable artists such as Asleep at the Wheel, Joe K. Walsh, Darol Anger, and Tristan and Tashina Clarridge, she has toured with the renowned Boston-based bluegrass band Mile Twelve since 2021. Their album Close Enough to Hear (2023) features both her distinctive fiddle stylings and her original songwriting. The band has also collaborated with California musical legend Jody Stecher on two recent releases: Mile 77 (2023) and Instant Lonesome and the Twinkle Brigade (2024). Ella is further featured on Darol Anger’s most recent album, Diary of a Fiddler, Volume II (2025), and Joe K. Walsh's record, If Not Now, Who? (2023).

Since beginning his Ph.D. studies in ethnomusicology at Indiana University, Rob McCormac’s day-to-day life has largely shifted from performing music to writing about the flows of vibrant natural materials that constitute the instruments musicians hold dear—and he wouldn’t have it any other way! Prior to this return to academia, Rob toured for five years with the North Carolina bluegrass band Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road, winners of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s 'Momentum Band of the Year' award. A passionate educator, he has held teaching positions at Appalachian State University, where he taught courses in both Appalachian Studies and music theory, and has been invited to teach and lecture at music festivals and camps across the United States and Canada.