Dr. K not only knows what ails you, he got a cure on hand! Tonight, he brings to our stage three superlative—and superlatively fun—Bay Area bands for an evening of hard rockin Irish traditional music.

Name a musical act after one of the great warriors of Irish legend, and you'd better be prepared to crank out some energetic, larger-than-life performances. Culann's Hounds does the trick with their self-described "punk-Irish-hoedown" sensibility, grounded in the mythic energy and spirit of traditional Irish music. The melodies of Steve Gardner (fiddle) and Renee de la Prade (button accordion); the harmonies of Mike Kelleher (guitar); and the driving rhythm of Scott Marshall's bodhran meld with rich vocals that are a staple of the Irish tradition.

Based in San Francisco, Quin delivers traditional Irish music with purity and passion. Featuring Tedd Colt on guitar, Ciaran Marsden on flute, Conall O'Raghallaigh on uileann pipes, Doreen O'Reilly on vocals and bodhran, and Michael Stack on fiddle, this quintet offers spirited performances that bring alive centuries-old music and song.

Mix a former jazz trumpet player (Bo Bowen), a former California State Fiddling Champion (Linda Relph), an accomplished bluegrass multi-instrumentalist (Kathy Barwick), a bodhran artiste (Chris Dunlap), and top it all off with the vocal stylings of a very talented singer (Brady McKay), and you end up with the dynamic recipe for the Sacramento-based musical dish known as Nine-8ths Irish, or, as they say, "Irish and a wee bit more."

Visit Culann's Hounds' website

Visit Quin'sMySpace page

Visit Nine-8ths Irish's website

Listen to a track from Quin: