The McKrells will perform live at 6 on the Square on Saturday Feb. 26. The show will also be streamed live. Check 6onthesquare.org for more information. (Submitted photo)

OXFORD –The McKrells will bring their unique mix of folk, Celtic, bluegrass and Americana music to 6 On The Square in Oxford at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26.


Kevin McKrell pioneered American Celtic music in 1979 with Donnybrook Fair, and the trio’s 1982 album “Tunnel Tigers” remains a landmark of the genre, with its blend of Clancy Brothers swagger and upstate New York attitude. He honed his powerful performance style further in the 1980s with the Fabulous Newports, a rambunctious harmony group known as much for its antics, comedy and long list of members as for its sweet singing.


In 1998, McKrell — who has three solo albums to his credit — formed a powerhouse band under his own name, merging the Irish sensibility of Donnybrook with a steely, world-class bluegrass edge. The McKrells toured harder than Donnybrook, bringing its music — with McKrell’s lusty vocals supported by hot string band picking — to Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and folk, Irish and bluegrass festivals and concert venues around the country.
 He is best known for songs such as “Home in Donegal,” “You and Me,” “I Miss the Rain” and “All of The Hard Days Are Gone,” which have been sung and recorded by the Kingston Trio, the Furey Brothers, Seamus Kennedy, The Druids, the Dublin City Ramblers, North Sea Gas, Pat McKernan, Bob Shane, Hair of the Dog, Wood’s Tea Company and Get Up Jack.


Offstage, McKrell is a painter whose artworks hang in many of the venues in Ireland, Scotland and Italy where he’s performed. He has sold his work at Colorscape Chenango Arts Festival and will bring some paintings and prints with him to Oxford.


Joining McKrell at 6OTS will be percussionist Brian Melick, fiddler Frank Orsini, banjo player Scott Hopkins and bassist Arlin Greene.
 For more information, visit kevinmckrell.com.

Tickets for the Feb. 26 concert are $20 (plus $2 service fee); purchase online at  6onthesquare.org or call 607-843-OTS6 (6876) to make a reservation. Doors open one hour before the start of the performance.
 All patrons will be required to show proof of a vaccination, either by a card issued by the vaccine provider or by an Excelsior Pass on paper or an electronic device. Also, every person entering the venue for a concert needs to be masked, covering the nose and mouth for the entire time the person is in the venue, except when that person is eating or drinking.


The performance also will be streamed live online on a pay-what-you-can basis. Please purchase more than two hours before the show, or you will not get your viewing link in time. More information at 6onthesquare.org.


This concert is made possible in part with public funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by the Earlville Opera House.


6 On The Square, Inc. is an intimate, not-for-profit, volunteer-based acoustic music listening room and arts venue located at 6 Lafayette Park in downtown Oxford.

– From 6 on the Square