Welsh Music & Beer

Welsh Music

If you look in Wikipedia/Google for the words Wales and Music your search will net thousands of matches!

Wales and Music your search will net thousands of matches!Wales is still very much the land of song, and a lot of song at that. Many people think of Welsh music along the lines of traditional choral music and not much else, which is unfortunate as we have so much more to offer.

Most people have heard of Tom Jones but did you know that Duffy, Jem, The Stereophonics, The Lost Prophets, Bullet for my Valentine, Bryn Terfel, Shirley Bassey, Charlotte Church, Katherine Jenkins, Jon Langford, Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, The Manic Street Preachers, People in Planes and The Super Furry Animals are also all Welsh.

One of the many things we do as part of the Chicago Tafia is encourage and support Welsh musicians on tour in the Chicago area, some of the musicians we have worked with over the years includes: The Pendyrus, Bangor, Penrhyn, Black Mountain and Burlington Male Voice Choirs, Julia Jones & The Brit Bus Tour, Chris King, Cerys Matthews, Here Be Dragons, David Llewellyn and many others.

A great resource for looking up and listening to Welsh music is MySpace. If you have a chance please visit our MySpace page to see some of our recommendations. Or for a more broad perspective on the Welsh music scene visit the BBC Wales website.

Click below for some really interesting links to some new Welsh music labels:
Dockrad Records
Fflach Records
Sain Music

Welsh Musicians living in the Chicago area

Jon Langford
Newport’s own Jon Langford has lived in Chicago since the early 90’s and is something of a legend in the Chicago music community, he performs with the bands The Waco Brothers, Pine Valley Cosmonauts, The Mekons, Wee Hairy Beasties and can sometimes be found leading the Burlington Welsh Male Chorus when they are in town. He is also one of the hosts of the weekly radio program, ‘The Eclectic Company’ broadcast on WXRT 93.1 FM in Chicago on Tuedays at 10pm, and a regular contributor to ‘This American Life’.

Elia Einhorn
North Wales native, Elia is the ringleader of the Chicago-based chamber pop collective ‘The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir’.

Jay J. Brook
Is a musician and all around entertainer from South Wales who now resides in Valparaiso, Indiana. He was the special guest at the Tafia’s St. David’s day party in 2009 where he did a brilliant selection of ‘Tom Jones’ & ‘Stereophonics’ covers.

Trefor Williams
Trefor is a musician, baritone, conductor and entertainer from North Wales now living over the border in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Welsh Beer, Whiskey, Cider & Wine

We often hear the questions “Does Wales make beer” or “Does Wales make whiskey”, the answer to both is yes! Beers from the Felinfoel and Tomos Watkin breweries are available in the United States & Canada, as is the fine Welsh whiskey Penderyn. In the Chicago area they are all widely available at Binny’s Beverage Deopt, Sam’s Liquors and other good retailers. Unfortunately Brains has yet to make the leap to the US.

Felinfoel (Beer)
Contact Thames America Trading in California about distribution in your area: www.thamesamerica.com

Tomos Watkins (Beer)
Contact St Killian Importing in Boston about distribution in your area: www.stkillian.com

Penderyn Whiskey
Evan Evans (Beer)
Brains (Beer)

Gales Cider
The following is a very interesting find, a Welsh style cider called ‘Gales’ brewed in Madison, Indiana. The owners grandfather was from Wales and brewed cider during prohibition, the bottle features a large Red Dragon and at $5.99/litre the price can’t be beat.

There are also a couple of respected Welsh owned vineyards out in California.

Ambyth Estate Winery
510 Sequoia Lane
Templeton, CA 93465
Phone: 805-305-9497

Cambria Winery
5475 Chardonnary Lane
Santa Maria, CA
Phone: 805-937 8091

Welsh-American Whiskey!
Did you know that the ‘Evan Williams’ family distillery was originally located in Dale, Pembrokeshire! And that the family of Jasper Newton “Jack” Daniel emigrated from Aberystwyth, Wales.

The Williams distillery opened in 1705, however the family later emigrated to the USA during the temperance period of the Welsh non-conformist church and helped found the Kentucky whiskey industry, a number of high quality bourbons are sold under the Evan Williams name to this day.

www.evanwilliams.com
www.jackdaniels.com