Jigs, reels and waltzes; stories of false love, faraway places and fierce pride; the Shenandoah Valley-based group The Unfortunate Rakes bring all these and more to their performance of traditional music from Ireland, Scotland, England, Brittany and even Canada, tracing the far-reaching influences of Celtic music. The dynamic Celtic trio, comprised of Michael DeLalla on guitar, bodhran and vocal, Piper's Corner host Chas Fowler on tin whistles, pipes and flutes, and Bruce Wilkin on fiddle, tenor banjo and vocals, have steadily become one of the mid-Atlantic region's premiere Celtic groups; their "Celtic Suite", a collaboration with choreographer Erica Helm, premiered at Washington's Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

In the late 70's, three college students met at Shenandoah Conservatory. They quickly found that they shared a common interest in the music from Celtic lands, and started meeting in their own kitchen sessions to play this wondrous collection of tunes from Ireland, Scotland, and beyond. After their years at the Conservatory, they embarked on separate musical paths: Chuck would find himself toting a saxophone as a member of the 6th Army band; Bruce would become an orchestral violinist; Michael would become the guitarist in the acoustic quartet Oxymora. Through those ensuing years, they still managed to find the time to get together to play the Celtic music loved by all three. By 1988, they found themselves making a regular circuit of concert series, festivals, and the occasional pub. Thus began the odyssey known as The Unfortunate Rakes.

Since then, these three friends have recorded three albums, have appeared as guest artists for other performers, offered workshops in their approach to Celtic music, and through it all, have maintained the closeness that only friendships of 25 years can breed. No doubt, the friendship that they have built has become an integral part of the music they create. They celebrated that quarter century of camaraderie and chemistry with an exciting live CD entitled Rakes Alive!.

"a multi-instrumental and spirited sonic assault... a raucous mix of Celtic-influenced music... left listeners tapping their feet."
- Northern Virginia Daily

"... everything comes together and meshes into something wonderful"
- The Journal, Martinsburg WV

Rakes Alive! captures their signature sound in the immediacy and energy of the concert hall, where the electricity flowing between the trio and their audience is palpable. Fifteen selections add up to over an hour of music, including nine pieces never before recorded by the Rakes.

The Unfortunate Rakes have spent many years exploring the music from the vast expanse of Celtic lands. Along with their usual mix of offerings from Ireland, Scotland, the Shetlands, and Bretagne, guest vocalist Paddy Roy contribute several wonderful samples of Scots-Gaelic song: a heart-tearing lament from Nova Scotia, a tender song of clandestine love, and robust examples of puirt-a-beul, or "mouth music".

This celebration of Christmas, Winter Solstice & Winter Holiday music belongs in every collection. Michael DeLalla has collected pieces from Celtic lands (Christmas Day in the Morning, Gloucester Wassail, Drive the Cold Winter Away, O Come All Ye Faithful, Auld Lang Syne) to France (Breton Carol, Ding! Dong! Merrily On High) to the US (Children Go Where I Send Thee) tied together by his taut arrangements. Also included is an original work based on the poem by Robert Graves "To Juan: At the Winter Solstice".