Hi,

I believe I've also barged in without properly announcing myself.

My name's Rich Kelly. I play guitar and mandolin and am making headway on the tenor banjo and tin whistle. At least it's not sounding quite like I'm squeezing a cat.

My wife and I met in NYC in '95 while I was playing in an Irish trio, mostly in the Bronx. One son later, we moved to Eastern Ct, around Norwich, for a quieter pace while we raise the boy and enjoy being a family.

My wife, Dee, has a fantastic voice. Heck, she's even trained! Her background is jazz and show tunes. I came to Celtic music via The Pogues and Oyster Band. In high school I played in a punk band called Nixon's Sweethearts. Yes, my musical sins were many.

Our backgrounds, at least, show that musically-mixed marriages do work.

Neither of us had performed in the last few years. Last year we were invited to play for several days aboard a tall ship. After being heckled by a British passenger for playing Irish music, we realized how much we missed performing. Last Sept we were invited by sea shantyman Don Sinetti to play a few songs at Sag Harbor's weekend festival. Nothing was thrown at us, so now we're actually rehearsing and hope to get out more often to perform.

I've haunted this site for months and am always impressed with the knowledge and helpfullness of this site. Hope I have a chance to contribute soon.

Rich Kelly