PULL UP A CHAIR: CELTIC CROSS INVITES US INTO MEET ME IN THE KITCHEN

The New York Irish-American Sibling Band Turns Family Traditions, Irish Roots and Shared Memories Into Its Next Chapter

Every family has a place that seems to hold everything, and on their new EP, Meet Me in the Kitchen, Irish-American sibling band Celtic Cross returns to the room that held it all for them: the celebrations, the bad news, the secrets, the prayers, the conversations that lasted until midnight and the quiet moments when simply sitting beside someone was enough.

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At the heart of the EP is its focus track and namesake, “Meet Me in the Kitchen,” inspired by the room where siblings Kathleen Fee, John Vesey and Ken Vesey learned that family shows up for everything. It was where tea was poured and whiskey was passed around, where coats landed on chairs, music filled the room and everyone gathered through every season of life.

More than 35 years after forming Celtic Cross, the New York-based family band turns those memories into Meet Me in the Kitchen, out October 9, an EP about family, heritage, belonging and the places we return to when the rest of the world feels uncertain.

“Our house growing up, the kitchen was the central space where everyone gathered to share tea, soda, whiskey, good news, bad news and whatever was going on,” the band shares. “It was the same in the stories our parents told us about growing up in Ireland.”

Raised in New York by Irish immigrant parents with roots in County Mayo and County Longford, Kathleen, John and Ken grew up with Ireland woven into everyday life through food, family sayings, music and stories passed from one generation to the next. Ireland may have been an ocean away, but around their kitchen table, it never felt very far.

Celtic Cross was shaped just as deeply by New York City. Formed in 1990, the siblings began playing Bronx pubs as teenagers, absorbing the rock, folk, country and pop sounds surrounding them while holding onto the Irish music they inherited.

“We were very fortunate to grow up in a time in NYC when bands were in every bar, and we soaked in different cultures with our own,” the band shares. “That is why we decided on the name ‘Celtic Cross.’ It is a cross between our Irish music and everything else in NYC.”

Led by Kathleen’s vocals and songwriting, Ken’s fiddle and John’s accordion, Celtic Cross has carried that hybrid sound from Bronx pubs to stages including The Theater at Madison Square Garden, Joe’s Pub and PNC Bank Arts Center, with support from outlets including The Irish Echo, IrishCentral and WFUV, as well as a national television appearance on Fox & Friends.

After years of touring, raising families and pursuing individual projects, Meet Me in the Kitchen brings Celtic Cross back to where so much of their story began. More than three decades later, Kathleen, John and Ken are no longer simply the kids around the kitchen table listening to the stories. They’re now the generation carrying them forward, and with Meet Me in the Kitchen, they’re pulling up another chair and inviting the rest of us in.

The EP also brings Celtic Cross together with an accomplished group of songwriters and collaborators whose credits span some of Country, Rock and Americana’s biggest names. Marti Frederiksen has written and produced for artists including Aerosmith, Carrie Underwood, Daughtry and Ozzy Osbourne, while Rebecca Lynn Howard is a Grammy-winning songwriter and artist whose songs have been recorded by Martina McBride, Trisha Yearwood and others. The project also features contributions from acclaimed songwriters Lance Miller, Paul Jenkins, Elisha Hoffman and Kylie Sackley, bringing decades of hit songwriting and Nashville experience into Celtic Cross’ distinctly Irish-American story.

MEET ME IN THE KITCHEN TRACKLISTING (songwriters in parenthesis)

Meet Me In The Kitchen (Paul Jenkins, Kathleen Fee, Lance Miller, Elisha Hoffman)

Dancin’ Belfast (Marti Frederiksen, Kathleen Fee)

JFK Set (John Vesey, Ken Vesey and Frank McCotmick)

Slán Go Fóill (Goodbye For Now)

Toss It Back (Rebecca Lynn Howard, Elisha Hoffman, Kathleen Fee)

Right Now (Marti Frederiksen, Elisha Hoffman, Kylie Sackley)

For more information on Celtic Cross, please visit:

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