The Molly Maguires


Irish Ballads


Photo by Chuck Lauth 2009.

Marc Michael

In 1989 Marc attended an Irish folk festival in Louisville, KY having recently taken an interest in his own heritage (his maternal great grandparents were Irish and his paternal grandparents were Irish and Welsh.) It was there that he first heard and fell in love with Irish music, ballads and rebel songs in particular. It was just a few years later that he formed the "The Molly Maguires" with Stephen Cooper in Chattanooga, TN. The Mollys played successfully across the southeast for several years (Huntsville, Birmingham, Knoxville, Nashville, Chattanooga, Memphis, Louisville to name a few...) before Stephen Cooper left to pursue other interests and Marc continued as a solo act, occasionally guesting with other celtic groups including Jack Daves and the Secret Commonwealth from Murfreesboro, TN. In spring of 2005 Marc attended Fleadh Nua, a traditional music festival in Ennis, Ireland where he had the great pleasure and privilege of finally hearing the music at it's source. It was a life changing experience. Today Marc continues to play clubs and festivals and has finally made it to the studio where an album is currently in production.

Michael Walters

Michael Walters has been playing music for twenty years. He is a mostly self taught musician and only picked up the mandolin a couple of years ago. It was seven years ago that he first developed an interest in all things Celtic and since then has devoted much time to studying the culture, language and music of the Celts. As a teenager and young adult, Michael performed music from several genres, but feels that Celtic music and bluegrass call to his heart. Michael is delighted to be playing in a band where he can combine his love of good music with his love of good beer and scotch.

Julie Kunesh

Julie Kurtz-Kunesh, a southern Tennessee gal with a little rhythm, grew up in Chattanooga Tennessee. Julie is married with 3 kids and a cat. Julie's journey into the Celtic music scene began when she started hosting music parties at her house a few years ago. It all blossomed from there. She enjoyed her trip to Eire, especially the black pudding -Julie has a nice beat and is easy to dance to.