BAND SPOTLIGHT | Mulligan Munro

With the full intent of blending Irish and American folk music in song, Mark Butler (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Don Wright (vocals, five-string banjo), Mark Hudson (vocals, upright bass) and Katie Heilman (vocals, fiddle) became Mulligan Munro. As for what’s in a name, Mulligan comes from both the term for a stew made from on hand ingredients and the rule of getting a second chance in a game, while Munro comes from a Scottish name for mountains over 3000 feet tall and the father of bluegrass music, Bill Monroe himself. The moniker is a fitting description of a band featuring an accountant, a vet, a banker and a teacher spanning almost three generations in age, set to play “full tilt Irish-American folk music.” Utilizing an open-tuned guitar, straight harp, finger-style banjo, upright bass, old-time fiddle and vocals by all band members, they cover songs by the Pogues, traditional Irish folk, Bob Dylan, American bluegrass standards and whatever fits into the mix of Mulligan Munro.