Joanie Madden News

Cherish the Ladies, one of the most popular and successful Irish music groups in the world, makes a long awaited return to the Vail Valley's Vilar Center on Monday in a concert titled, "A Celtic Christmas." This is not just another night of Irish music at the Vilar Center at Beaver Creek.

In the beginning, she and her band mates got a chance to perform, and then record, because folklorist and musician Mick Moloney considered the notion of an all-female Irish traditional music group an incredible "phenomenon." But today, Cherish the Ladies band leader Joanie Madden says the group's success is anything but gender dependent.

You dona TMt need emerald-colored eggnog to celebrate Christmas the Irish way. Two great Celtic acts, Cherish the Ladies and the Celtic Tenors , will be in the neighborhood this holiday season to put a little brogue in your stocking.

Joanie Madden's talent on the whistle has brought her great success. The flute-like instrument is something most young Irish students are taught to play in school, she said.

Dozens of the world's finest Irish musicians and dancers will be on the campus of Davis & Elkins College this week as part of Augusta Heritage Center's Irish/Celtic Week.