March is, of course, high tide for Irish/Celtic music happenings, especially around these parts. A look at some upcoming events:

•For starters, Lúnasa is in town, playing at the Somerville Theatre on Sat., March 8. You can read about it in a separate story on PAGE XX.

•As noted previously in this space, Irish American powerhouse Solas is back on the road after an eight-year hiatus and will be performing at the Groton Hill Music Center on March 1. 

    Groton Hill will hold a St. Patrick’s Day Celebration of the Celtic diaspora, with matinee and evening performances on March 15 and a matinee on March 16. The line-up: Boston-area native Katie McNally, who has cultivated an exuberant, passionate Scottish/Cape Breton fiddle style; Neil Pearlman, whose Cape Breton-flavored piano accompaniment makes use of jazz harmony and funky syncopations that evoke Cuban and Brazilian influences (he’s also an accordionist and step dancer); Boston’s acclaimed traditional Irish music duo Matt and Shannon Heaton, with their flute-guitar/bouzouki renditions of muscular reels, vivacious jigs and emotive slower tunes, and  dynamic singing of old and new songs; and Troy MacGillivray and Andrea Beaton, among the foremost Cape Breton musicians of their generation. Beaton, a fiddler, composer, and step dancer, and MacGillivray, a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer and dancer, both hail from notable musical families, and have helped promote and contribute to the history and evolution of their Celtic and Gaelic musical traditions. Individually, they’ve earned a ton of honors and awards.

Tickets, information at grotonhill.org/tickets

•We might have thought we were seeing the last of legendary singer Mary Black in the US when she went on her “Last Call” tour in 2017 – which at the time was supposed to be her final slate of performances abroad – but lo and behold, she’s returning to Massachusetts, sharing the stage with The High Kings at the Chevalier Theatre in Medford on March 14. The Dublin native first rose to prominence in the 1980s as a solo singer and a member of the traditional band De Dannan. Her albums “By the Time It Gets Dark” and “No Frontiers” established her as an international star of folk, contemporary, and traditional genres, and led to her appearance on the landmark compilation recording “A Woman’s Heart,” along with other pioneering Irish female artists like Maura O’Connell and Dolores Keane. Last year, she added to her considerable store of accolades with an honorary doctorate in Literature from University College Dublin and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards.

The High Kings aren’t exactly chopped liver, of course. The quartet – co-founders Finbarr Clancy, Darren Holden, and Brian Dunphy, and most recent member Paul O’Brien – derives its sound from the classic Irish ballad style of the 1950s and ’60s popularized by such bands as the Clancy Brothers and The Dubliners. Over the course of their 17-year history, the High Kings have broadened their repertoire and style, culminating in “The Road Not Taken,” which featured collaborations with Irish artists such as The Script, Kodaline, Picture This, Ryan Sheridan, JC Stewart, and Wild Youth, and guest appearances by icons like Steve Perry (Journey) – on the single and associated video “The Streets of Kinsale” – and Sharon Corr (The Corrs). They’ll be starting their “Step It Out” world tour this fall.

See chevaliertheatre.com

•The Burren Brian O’Donovan Legacy Series, not surprisingly, has a full calendar for this month and beyond that starts on March 2 with an appearance by RUNA, which fuses Irish and Scottish music with Americana/roots, adding harmonies, rhythms and tints of jazz, bluegrass, flamenco and blues. In its decade-and-a-half, the quintet of Shannon Lambert-Ryan (vocals, bodhran, step-dancing), Fionán de Barra (guitar), Cheryl Prashker (percussion), Jake James (fiddle), and Tom Fitzgerald (fiddle, mandolin) has earned honors in the Irish Music Awards and Independent Music Awards. 

Irish singer-songwriter Karan Casey will follow RUNA on March 5. The Solas co-founder and former member has had a storied solo career that has seen her explore jazz, rock and pop as well as traditional and contemporary folk. Her faculty as a songwriter was confirmed on her most recent album, 2023’s “Nine Apples of Gold,” including songs inspired by Irish legends and folk tradition, the plight of the Gullah Geechee people, and the painful chapters of history for Irish women. Casey also has extended her artistic interests to include a theatrical song cycle, “The Women, We Will Rise,” highlighting Irish heroines like Agnes Ryan, Kathleen Clarke and Countess Markievicz.” For this tour, she is accompanied once again by fiddler Niamh Dunne and guitarist Seán Óg Graham, both of whom have been key collaborators in her more recent songwriting.

 The series hosts bluegrass-folk-Irish quartet JigJam on March 12. The band – Jamie McKeogh (lead vocals), Daithi Melia (five-string banjo, dobro), Gavin Strappe (mandolin, tenor banjo), and St. Louis native Kevin Buckley (fiddle) – boasts extensive traditional Irish credentials, with quite a collection of All-Ireland titles at Fleadh Cheoil competitions. To this they add an appealing blend of bluegrass and Americana styles and a lively stage presence, not to mention dapper wardrobes – a combination that, along with their albums, has brought them acclaim well beyond Ireland (in 2023 they played to a sold-out Grand Ole Opry). Last year saw them release a new album, “Across the Pond,” that includes original instrumentals and a take on New Grass Revival’s “This Heart of Mine,” as well as a fun rendition of the Bascom Lamar Lunsford/Scotty Wiseman standard “Good Ole Mountain Dew.”

Prior to JigJam will be a special performance by Irish harpist Kieva McGonagle, a Donegal native now living in Boston who last fall released the EP “Across the Atlantic” – inspired by her move from Ireland to America and all the tunes and opportunities she has encountered from both countries, such as “Planxty Monaghan,” “The King’s Shilling,” and “I Courted a Wee Girl.”

Dàimh comes for a return engagement to the series on March 13. Based in the Isle of Skye and West Lochaber, the quintet – former winner of Folk Band of the Year honors at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards – focuses on the wildly beautiful music traditions of the Scottish Highlands and islands. Angus Mackenzie (bagpipes) and Gabe McVarish (fiddle) lead the melodies, backed by Ross Martin (guitar) and Murdo “Yogi” Cameron (mandola, accordion); vocalist Ellen MacDonald imbues the songs, in Scottish Gaelic, with a full emotional range. They also have their own YouTube channel of teaching videos, “School of Dàimh.”

 A very potent combination winds up the month for the Legacy Series on March 26: eclectic, inventive quartet Reverie Road and singer-songwriter Antje Duvekot. Recently named a Brian O’Donovan Legacy Fund grant recipient, Reverie Road includes two original members of Solas (that’s three mentions of that band in this column), fiddler Winifred Horan and accordionist John Williams, along with ex-Gaelic Storm fiddler Katie Grennan and pianist Utsav Lal, who studied locally at New England Conservatory. As they demonstrated on their debut album last year, the band combines a strong traditional Irish character with influences from France, Shetland, and chamber music, among others. Locally based but well-traveled, Duvekot has won some impressive songwriting awards – including one named for John Lennon – for a body of work that the late Boston Globe writer Scot Alarik described as “intricate [and] closely observed” with “deftly chiseled” lyrics. Although more ensconced in the contemporary folk neighborhood, she has ties to the Irish/Celtic domain: Her first album, “Big Dream Boulevard,” was produced by Seamus Egan of Solas (there’s that name again), and accompanying her first professional performance in Europe – at Denmark’s Tonder Festival – were Karan Casey, John Doyle, Liz Carroll and Mick McAuley. 

Multitasking singer-songwriter and musician Sina Theil returns to the ICC on March 13. German-born and Irish-based, Theil is a social media influencer, psychologist, a contributing health-and-wellness writer for Irish Runner Magazine, a motivational speaker, and a TV and radio presenter. Theil draws on country and acoustic pop styles for her own material, such as the tender, wistful “Wishing Well” and a playful holiday number, “Mistletoe Rock,” and covers of traditional and contemporary songs like “The Parting Glass,” “Fields of Athenry,” Dougie MacLean’s “Caledonia” and the Saw Doctors’ anthemic “Green and Red of Mayo.” She recently collaborated with Meadhbh Walsh to record Frank and Seán O'Meara’s heartstrings-tugging “Grace,” an evocation of artist Grace Gifford’s marriage to 1916 martyr Joseph Mary Plunkett hours before his execution.

 •Those whose tastes in Irish/Celtic music extend to include Nordic traditions can enjoy the innovative fiddle band Frigg at Passim on March 4, a performance marking its 25th anniversary, a brand-new album, and a change in its line-up. Frigg began a quarter-century ago as a group of teenage musicians who, over time, fashioned a sound that interpolates Nordic with modern-day Americana – “nordgrass,” as it’s been dubbed. Last year, the band became a sextet, as long-time member Tommi Asplund left to pursue other projects. Their current line-up is Alina Järvelä and Tero Hyväluoma (fiddle); Esko Järvelä (fiddle, piano, harmonium); Petri Prauda (mandolin, cittern, bagpipes); Topi Korhonen (guitar); and Juho Kivivuori (double bass). They’ve just released their 11th album, “Dreamscapes.”

See passim.org

•The Boston College Gaelic Roots series will hold a come-one-come-all ceilidh on March 28 at 6:30 p.m. in Gasson 100 on the BC Main Campus. There’ll be participatory social dances taught by Jackie O’Riley and music provided by series organizer Sheila Falls and others from the community. Free and open to the public.

See events.bc.edu/group/gaelic_roots_series

•Speaking of ceilis – or "ceilidhs" in this case -- there will be one in the Scottish/Cape Breton vein at the Canadian American Club of Massachusetts in Watertown on March 29. Providing the music will be fiddler Troy MacGillivray, part of the vanguard of the new generation of talented Cape Breton musicians, and Massachusetts' own virtuoso Cape Breton/Scottish-style pianist Janine Randall; Summer McCall will call the dances. 

See canadianamericanclub.com

      •Canadian Celtic-folk-rock-fusion-and-more outfit Enter the Haggis will be at City Winery Boston on March 13 as part of what they’ve announced is their farewell tour (although they’ve announced plans to hold their “Camp Haggis” weekend next January at a resort in Vermont). From head-banging, arena-friendly Celtic rock to more nuanced, lyrical, indie-type offerings, ETH combines a versatile repertoire with sociopolitical conviction. In 2023, they released a 20th-anniversary commemoration of its milestone album, “Casualties of Retail,” including two remakes featuring ETH’s current line-up: Craig Downie, bagpipes, guitar, keyboards, whistle; Rose Baldino, fiddle; Brian Buchanan, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, accordion; Trevor Lewington, guitar, mandolin, keyboards; Caroline Downing, bass, vocals; and Tom Barraco, drums. 

Information and tickets at citywinery.com/boston/events

•The Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport hosts The Irish Tenors on March 4 and 5. Ronan Tynan – who left the trio to pursue his own career for several years before returning in 2012 – along with Anthony Kearns and Declan Kelly, combine classical, operatic, and popular-music styles and a repertoire heavy on Irish traditional and folk, as well as inspirational songs. They celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2023 with a major tour and a new CD. 

      
  Danú plays at the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport.

Danú, representing the musical heritage of the counties of Waterford, Cork, Dublin, and Donegal, comes to the Shalin Liu on March 8. Massachusetts resident Oisín McAuley (fiddle) is part of a talented, accomplished line-up that also includes Benny McCarthy (accordion, melodeon), Nell Ní Chróinín (vocals, whistle), Éamon Doorley (bouzouki), Tony Byrne (guitar), Billy Sutton (bodhran), and Ivan Goff (uilleann pipes, flute, whistle). In its more than two decades and various iterations, Danú released nine albums – including 2018’s “Ten Thousand Miles” – and a DVD while touring Europe and North America (once playing at the Hollywood Bowl), and winning Best Traditional Group honors twice at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Their performances also have been broadcast on NPR, the CBC and the BBC.

On March 15, Dervish – which gave a stirring show at BCMFest in January – returns to Massachusetts with a performance at the Shalin Liu on March 15. Originally formed in 1989, the sextet of Cathy Jordan (vocals, bodhran, bones, tenor guitar), Shane Mitchell (accordion), Liam Kelly (flute/whistle), Brian McDonagh (mandola/mandolin), Michael Holmes (bouzouki), and Tom Morrow (fiddle) has built its compelling sound around the instrumental and song traditions of Sligo, Leitrim, and North Roscommon. Dervish has performed all over the world, represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest, served as cultural ambassadors to China (where they held an impromptu session on the Great Wall), and, in 2019, received a BBC Lifetime Achievement Award. They also have a couple of albums on the way, including a sequel to “The Great Irish Songbook” (which featured classic Irish songs sung by special guests like Steve Earle, Andrea Corr, Vince Gill, Kate Rusby, Imelda May, and Rhiannon Gidden) and another release that will be on the more characteristically trad side.

The Shalin Liu website is at rockportmusic.org.

Aoife Clancy and Eddie Dillon will perform in New Bedford's First Unitarian Church. 

•She’s living farther south now, but onetime New England resident Aoife Clancy is coming through town: She and Boston area native Eddie Dillon perform at the First Unitarian Church in New Bedford on March 15. Clancy began her musical career in her teens, singing with her father Bobby Clancy of the Clancy Brothers, and went on to perform at various festivals and concerts around the world where she became known for her passionate vocals and diverse repertoire. Clancy was a member of the groundbreaking Irish American all-woman band Cherish the Ladies (their performance this month noted elsewhere), and her other collaborations have included a trio with Robbie O’Connell and Donal Clancy as The Clancy Legacy. Dillon was the only American ever to tour with the Clancy Brothers, when he joined up with them in the late 1990s. He has written songs recorded by the likes of Seamus Kennedy, Barleycorn, and Kieran McDermott, and served as a backing musician (he plays guitar, mandolin, banjo and bass) for various friends and acquaintances. He also created the theatrical/musical piece "An Irish American Family," a collection of reminiscences and stories of Irish Catholic family life in the 1960s.

Tickets, info at www.uunewbedford.org/events-1/celtic-music-with-aoife-clancy-eddie-dillon

•A new era dawns for Cape Breton’s renowned musical family, as the Cabot Theater in Beverly presents Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy: Four on the Floor on March 16. Fiddlers/stepdancers/spouses MacMaster and Leahy – who themselves come from two legendary family music traditions – have for some years incorporated their seven children into their performances, but in this concert their two eldest, Mary Frances (piano) and Michael (guitar), will be a full part of the show.  

More at thecabot.org/whats-on