The Wood of O in Concert

‘The Wood of O’, Breege Phelan & Will McLellan, has been mesmerising audiences for the past four years with their unique original material and classic folk songs. If you enjoy haunting, heartfelt vocals that reach into the bottom of your soul and melodic fingerstyle acoustic guitar that flows between genres, then this group is worth searching out. 

This year, for their return to The Clancy Brothers Music and Arts Festival in Carrick-on-Suir, they are delighted to be joined on The Brewery Lane Theatre stage by three very talented musicians; Clonmel guitarist Liam O’Reilly, bassist Cha Taylor from Athenry, Co.Galway and local vocalist Sandra Power. 

Breege and Will spent most of lockdown recording their debut EP ‘MountainSkyMoon’ at home, after restrictions put a stop to going to studios. Will made good use of his lockdown time by entering a steep learning curve on how to engineer, mix and master songs and they both have worked hard to bring an accomplished collection of 5 original folk songs to their audience. Their soon to be released EP takes inspiration from deep roots in their Irish identity: ‘Meadow Song’, is inspired by the Irish Aisling style poems and songs of the late seventeenth century. In ‘Meadow Song’, an unknown woman wanders through the beauty of the Tipperary countryside and the lyricist knows that his heart will not be at peace until he can be with her. ‘Gráinne’ is inspired by the sixteenth century historical figure Gráinne Ní Mháille or Gráinne Mhaol. Breege was inspired to write this ballad after searching for songs about Gráinne, which lead her to realise that this woman had largely been ignored in the Irish musical canon. ‘The Ballad of Tadhg Dall’ takes inspiration from the leannán-sídhe of Celtic mythology, a powerful female fairy whose sole objective is to entrance artists, poets and musicians, from whose lifeforce she gains sustenance but, “a fool will cross the leannán-sídhe and to no one you’ll belong”. 

‘MountainSkyMoon’ will be released in June 2022.

“The Wood of O’s performance for us as part of our Clonmel Culture Night events in September 2021 was just sublime –  a real lifting of the spirit after so many months without live music. If you get a chance to see Breege and Will perform live, grab it with both hands!”

Helena Tobin, Artistic Director, South Tipperary Arts Centre.

“This duet can create tones across the entire audio spectrum…with beautiful guitar picking and chord progression combined with a unique and stunning vocal delivery, The Wood of O are a force to be reckoned with”

Paul Boland, Director at CWB.ie Management and Production Company.