Gregory Grene is best known to many as a member of the band, the Prodigals, one of the foremost Celtic rock bands in the country.
“I’ve appeared in Cape May a couple of times with the Prodigals,” he disclosed in a recent telephone interview. “We’ve been together about 13 years.”
But this year, Grene will be performing his acoustic mix as the opening performer at the 20th Anniversary season of the Cape May Music Festival, presented by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts (MAC).
The leader and founding member of The Prodigals, Grene opens the Cape May Music Festival with a sound atypical to that usually heard from the Prodigals.
“What we’ll bring to the Music Festival is an acoustic mix that is a different thing—a different feel,” he said.
Some of the differences are visible.
“In this acoustic mix, instead of drums, as he plays with the Prodigals, the drummer will play a cajon, a Latin box drum,” he said. “And the electric banjo from the 1940s is replaced by an acoustical banjo from the 1920s.”
Grene grew up between Cavan, Ireland and Chicago. His acoustic music has traditional Irish melodic roots and influences ranging from jazz to Cajun (gregorygrene.com).
The publication Punchline declared, “His original songs stay true to the style and tone of old, yet speak to modern life, in some of the most well-crafted and poetic verses I have seen.”
Grene will bring his acoustic mix to the Paul W. Schmidtchen Theatre in Lower Cape May Regional High School, 687 Route 9 in Lower Township, May 17 at 8 p.m., beginning the first of four weeks (May 17 through June 11) of world-class orchestral and chamber music performances, and a popular world traditions series.
The first week of concerts will feature Irish and Chamber music.
To order tickets or for information about MAC’s year-round schedule of tours, festivals and special events, call 609-884-5404 or 800-275-4278, or visit MAC’s website at capemaymac.org.
“This will be so much different than a rock concert,” Grene said. “When the Prodigals appear at a rock concert, there’s a lot of noise, a lot of jumping up and down. “Doing an acoustic mix, the people listen in a different way. They listen more…tightly to what’s going on.”
Nevertheless, Grene assured, the acoustic mix is still a “vivacious” experience, albeit a different kind of interaction with the audience.
“Acoustical was a part of me I wasn’t exploring,” he confessed. “Then a promoter in Texas prodded me into doing it. It was a terrifying gig; people in ties and jackets—a far cry from a rock concert.”
Although some of the songs they will do at the Music Festival are those they also do at a Prodigal concert, Grene said the songs transmute.
“They wear different clothes,” he said.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
