Barleyjuice

Biography

After releasing their first collection of recordings, initially titled Barleyjuice and later known as One Shilling, the band became a full-time working group by 2001. The album includes traditional Irish and Scottish songs and one original, "Donnie Scot," written by Brewer, which appears briefly in the film Driven. In 2003, the second album Another Round was released, earning notoriety for the song "What’s Up Yours?", an ode to the kilt that was named Song of the Year by listener vote at Celtic Radio. The album's "Jig Set" was featured in Episode 13 ("Cheer Factor") of the eighth season of King of the Hill in 2004, and "Whiskey to the Sea" was included in the complete set of the iTunes Irish Music Essentials Collection. In 2006, Barleyjuice released Six Yanks, which Celtic Radio named Best Celtic Rock CD of 2006. On March 11, 2010, "Weekend Irish" was used in an episode of NBC's The Office and later appeared on the 2013 compilation Larry Kirwan's Celtic Invasion. The band released their fifth album, Skulduggery Street, in 2010, after which members Billy Dominick and Jimmy "Carbomb" Parkinson departed. The sixth studio album, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, came out in September 2013, with members Kyf Brewer, Keith Swanson, Eric Worthington, Shelley Weiss, and Gregor Schroeder; Weiss and Schroeder left soon after. In 2014, Alice O'Quirke (fiddle) and Keith Barnes (drums) replaced them, but Barnes played only a handful of live shows before leaving due to teaching and raising children. Drummer Ashley Ferrante of Dirty Purple performed a string of March appearances before Barnes officially left, and John Tracey, a longtime friend of Brewer and former drummer for the Ravyns and Crack the Sky, took over. In 2019, after contributing to the seventh studio album The Old Speakeasy, Swanny retired, ending a 20-year run. Chris Shepherd replaced him on guitar, mandolin, and vocals. Alice Marie and John Tracey also moved on, with Billy Dominick returning on fiddle and Claire Brewer, Kyf's youngest child, taking over drums; Claire had previously played guitar in Dirty Purple alongside Scotlyn Brewer, CoCo Brewer, Ashley Ferrante, and Kieran Corson.