Wake the Dead was born in 2000 when three veteran Celtic performers who shared a love for the Grateful Dead experienced a joint flash of inspiration and began weaving the two seemingly alien musical genres into something new and immediately appealing. Singer-fiddler-mandolinist Danny Carnahan, singer-mandolinist Paul Kotapish, and Celtic harper Maureen Brennan assembled a septet of seasoned Celtic, jazz, and new acoustic players and recorded their eponymous CD “Wake the Dead” as a lark. But Grateful Dead Records took one listen, immediately signed the band, sold 25,000 copies of the CD, and booked Wake the Dead at the Fillmore. Nice start for what has turned into a 16-year romp that has seen the band’s fan base spread as far as Canada and Colorado and their repertoire blossom beyond the Dead canon to emcompass a whole, delightfully Celtic Summer of Love.
