Biography
Wolf Loescher launched his vision for a Celtic supergroup by seeking out players who had already mastered their own niches, whether or not they belonged to another ensemble at the time. By 2001 that search had brought six additional musicians into the fold, and Jiggernaut was born. Though Loescher’s German-American background might appear an unlikely foundation for a Celtic musician, his earliest tastes were shaped during the 1960s folk revival by the Irish Rovers, the Clancy Brothers, Peter, Paul & Mary, the Kingston Trio, John Denver, and James Taylor. A decisive shift occurred when his family moved to East Kilbride, Scotland, for three teenage years; there he absorbed Scottish folk traditions, most memorably at a live Corries concert. Back in the United States he enrolled at the University of Texas in Austin, performed with marching bands, percussion ensembles, and groups spanning country, pop, and rock, and steeped himself in recordings by the Chieftains, Old Blind Dogs, and Silly Wizard. In 1991 he entered the Celtic arena by joining Silver Thistle Pipes and Drums, first on snare and later on bagpipes. By 1993 he had switched to congas and formed Two O’Clock Courage, his initial foray into lead vocals and guitar; four years later he assembled SixMileBridge, a project that fused folk with rock & roll. After releasing the solo album Holy Grail in 1998 he began crystallizing the Jiggernaut concept in 2000 and started recruiting. Impressed by Deanna Smith’s voice, he extended an invitation to join the emerging ensemble.
Smith traces her performing drive to a backyard show at age eight. Raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she credits her parents with both her voice and her passion for music; the Everly Brothers, Dion and the Belmonts, the Kingston Trio, the Beatles, big-band repertoire, and Broadway scores formed her earliest listening. By sixth grade she knew every lyric of West Side Story and Funny Girl. In high school she described herself as “a music geek,” singing in “any choir they would let me into” and researching songs. She still seeks powerful lyrics: “Nothing is more moving to me than a song that captures what I am feeling,” says Smith, “or transports me back to a moment of joy or sorrow. That is what I aspire to as a songwriter.” Youth-group campfires helped her locate her personal singing style and introduced further influences—Bill Staines, James Taylor, Carole King, and Joan Baez among them. She acquired a used Ovation guitar and, after an open-mike night at a local Irish pub, helped form the trio Free Whiski, which played pubs, fraternity parties, and repeated engagements at Milwaukee’s Irish Fest. When one member relocated, Smith joined the blues band Mystery Train in 1998. Eager to return to Celtic music, she traveled to Scotland and Ireland that same year and wrote what she calls “my first real song” in Dublin. Around the same period she met Loescher while he toured with SixMileBridge; she hosted the band during Irish Fest, their friendship deepened, and Loescher sat in with Free Whiski at the 1999 and 2000 festivals. In summer 2000 she recorded her debut solo album, Bright Light, Dark Sky. After performing at the Tampa Bay Highland Games and later with Loescher at an Austin Celtic Association event, she accepted his invitation to join the still-unnamed group, relocated to Houston, Texas, in January 2001, and contributed to Jiggernaut’s first CD. The remaining members are Matthew Williams, Rodger Harrison, Lars Sloan, Brendan O’Sullivan, and Richard Kean.
Matthew Williams, whose parents were longtime circus performers, spent childhood evenings playing an old acoustic guitar with them. He later studied composition at the University of North Texas, where he drummed in the “not-quite-legendary 8 O’Clock Lab Band.” Across eastern Texas and Louisiana he worked with artists in blues, rock, jazz, dixieland, funk, zydeco, and klezmer. Although he admired Texas songwriters Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, and Townes Van Zandt, he discovered an unexpected home in Celtic music, drawn especially to “the stories behind the songs, and the polyrhythmic possibilities found in jigs and reels.” In the early 1990s he joined the Blarney Brothers and continues to record and tour with them while also performing in Jiggernaut.
Rodger Harrison, likewise a member of both the Blarney Brothers and Jiggernaut, states, “I live to play music. That’s all I ever wanted to do.” He began on bass in a high-school classic-rock band, where he first met Williams. College years brought what he recalls as “several disturbing years playing some of the seedier honky-tonks of North Texas,” after which he resolved to find a genuine band again; Celtic music proved the answer—“Something clicked.”
Lars Sloan began bagpipe lessons at age seven and won his first competitions at nine. By eighteen he had reached the open class, ultimately collecting more than forty trophies and two hundred medals across the United States, Canada, and Scotland. Internationally recognized, he has performed for mayors, governors, and two presidents, including Lady Bird Johnson at her daughter’s wedding, and has shared stages with Clint Eastwood, Jane Seymour, and Kevin Costner. In 1983 he founded the Hamilton School of Piping in Houston; he also composes for and performs with the Rogues, another Texas Celtic band.
Born in Ireland, Brendan O’Sullivan arrived in the United States at age five. Irish reels and American rock & roll shaped his early listening. He began on piano at family singalongs, later adding accordion. After working with various ceilidh bands on the East Coast he formed Full Circle with piper Neil Anderson; two albums and two years of touring later he sought a fresh direction and found it in Jiggernaut.
The newest member, Richard Kean, a native of Ottawa, spent three years apprenticing with a master bagpipe maker in Edinburgh. Before Jiggernaut he belonged to the world-champion Hamilton Pipe Band, Poor Man’s Fortune, and the Loch Dhu Dancers.
Smith traces her performing drive to a backyard show at age eight. Raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she credits her parents with both her voice and her passion for music; the Everly Brothers, Dion and the Belmonts, the Kingston Trio, the Beatles, big-band repertoire, and Broadway scores formed her earliest listening. By sixth grade she knew every lyric of West Side Story and Funny Girl. In high school she described herself as “a music geek,” singing in “any choir they would let me into” and researching songs. She still seeks powerful lyrics: “Nothing is more moving to me than a song that captures what I am feeling,” says Smith, “or transports me back to a moment of joy or sorrow. That is what I aspire to as a songwriter.” Youth-group campfires helped her locate her personal singing style and introduced further influences—Bill Staines, James Taylor, Carole King, and Joan Baez among them. She acquired a used Ovation guitar and, after an open-mike night at a local Irish pub, helped form the trio Free Whiski, which played pubs, fraternity parties, and repeated engagements at Milwaukee’s Irish Fest. When one member relocated, Smith joined the blues band Mystery Train in 1998. Eager to return to Celtic music, she traveled to Scotland and Ireland that same year and wrote what she calls “my first real song” in Dublin. Around the same period she met Loescher while he toured with SixMileBridge; she hosted the band during Irish Fest, their friendship deepened, and Loescher sat in with Free Whiski at the 1999 and 2000 festivals. In summer 2000 she recorded her debut solo album, Bright Light, Dark Sky. After performing at the Tampa Bay Highland Games and later with Loescher at an Austin Celtic Association event, she accepted his invitation to join the still-unnamed group, relocated to Houston, Texas, in January 2001, and contributed to Jiggernaut’s first CD. The remaining members are Matthew Williams, Rodger Harrison, Lars Sloan, Brendan O’Sullivan, and Richard Kean.
Matthew Williams, whose parents were longtime circus performers, spent childhood evenings playing an old acoustic guitar with them. He later studied composition at the University of North Texas, where he drummed in the “not-quite-legendary 8 O’Clock Lab Band.” Across eastern Texas and Louisiana he worked with artists in blues, rock, jazz, dixieland, funk, zydeco, and klezmer. Although he admired Texas songwriters Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, and Townes Van Zandt, he discovered an unexpected home in Celtic music, drawn especially to “the stories behind the songs, and the polyrhythmic possibilities found in jigs and reels.” In the early 1990s he joined the Blarney Brothers and continues to record and tour with them while also performing in Jiggernaut.
Rodger Harrison, likewise a member of both the Blarney Brothers and Jiggernaut, states, “I live to play music. That’s all I ever wanted to do.” He began on bass in a high-school classic-rock band, where he first met Williams. College years brought what he recalls as “several disturbing years playing some of the seedier honky-tonks of North Texas,” after which he resolved to find a genuine band again; Celtic music proved the answer—“Something clicked.”
Lars Sloan began bagpipe lessons at age seven and won his first competitions at nine. By eighteen he had reached the open class, ultimately collecting more than forty trophies and two hundred medals across the United States, Canada, and Scotland. Internationally recognized, he has performed for mayors, governors, and two presidents, including Lady Bird Johnson at her daughter’s wedding, and has shared stages with Clint Eastwood, Jane Seymour, and Kevin Costner. In 1983 he founded the Hamilton School of Piping in Houston; he also composes for and performs with the Rogues, another Texas Celtic band.
Born in Ireland, Brendan O’Sullivan arrived in the United States at age five. Irish reels and American rock & roll shaped his early listening. He began on piano at family singalongs, later adding accordion. After working with various ceilidh bands on the East Coast he formed Full Circle with piper Neil Anderson; two albums and two years of touring later he sought a fresh direction and found it in Jiggernaut.
The newest member, Richard Kean, a native of Ottawa, spent three years apprenticing with a master bagpipe maker in Edinburgh. Before Jiggernaut he belonged to the world-champion Hamilton Pipe Band, Poor Man’s Fortune, and the Loch Dhu Dancers.
Albums
