on

On a cold stormy night in Bethlehem PA in early 1996 Al Keller and Sean Hennessy met in the smoky confines of Quinny’s Pub in Bethlehem, PA to plot world domination and form a new Lehigh Valley based Celtic supergroup from the members of Blind Mary and The Balladeers. The rest is history…..

It’s been a wonderful 25 years and we’re happy that the world is opening up in time for us to celebrate it together with our fans and friends.

To celebrate, we’ve commissioned a new line of merchandise to celebrate our anniversary and invite you to check out our store for a wide variety of clothing and other doodads with some of our best designs from years present and past.

Also, keep an eye on the calendar as we continue to add shows throughout the coming months!

Thanks for all your love and support over the years. We can’t wait to see you from the stage again real soon!

Love and Best Wishes,

Sean, Alison, Fionna, Tom, Chris and Al

on

We hope that all of you are healthy and doing as well as you can under these trying times. If you’ve lost anyone to this terrible disease, our deepest sympathies go out to you and your loved ones.

We miss getting out and playing music for you all but we have been busy while cocooning (hate the word lockdown) and have taken the opportunity to revamp our website to give everyone easier access to our music, our performance schedule and some memories of more than 20 years together as a band. We hope that you enjoy the new website. Let us know if you spot any errors or issues or have any suggestions.

Until we get to see each other again in person, please keep well, keep safe and remember that we will all get through this far better together than we ever will alone.

Cheers!

Sean, Alison, Tom, Fionna & Chris

on

We’re playing around at a few different venue over the month of March.  We hope to see you at some point during the month.  Loads of new music ready to be unveiled for your listening pleasure as well as a few take on some old favorites!  Concerts, pubs, hotel brunches, sessions…plenty of chances to see us along the way! Godfrey Daniels on March 16th is always one of our favorites!  Get your tickets early for that one.

The calendar has been updated with some new dates through the summer as well.  More to come!

on

Blackwater is back with another wonderful Celtic Christmas Celebration for 2017!

On December 10th at 2PM, we’ll be in Bethlehem, PA at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity along with the choral group Bricolage Project and the Moravian College Celtic Ensemble.  Tickets are $15 at the door and the event will be followed by a Christmas Tea prepared by our hosts!  A lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

On December 30th at 7:30PM, we’ll be back at The Church of the Precious Blood in Monmouth Beach, NJ along with some soon to be announced special guests!  We had a wonderful time here last year with a great crowd and expect no less for 2017!  This is the night before New Years Eve so a great opportunity to wrap up your Christmas festivities and kick off your New Years bash!  Tickets are $20 in advance and are available online or by phone at 732-222-4756.  $25 at the door the night of the event.

Full details for both shows are available in our tour calendar here.

on
Festival Season is Here! Blackwater is hitting the road with a new lineup (Welcome Chris Finnegan) and loads of new chunes!
Hope to see you along the way. Be sure to stop by and say hello!
 
Saturday 9/16  – Irish Festival at the New Jersey Shore in Sea Girt, NJ
We’re on stage from 4-6PM Music all day with Derek Warfield & The Young Wolfe Tones, Bogside Rogues, Birmingham Six, Mother’s Pride at Jersey Shore Irish Festival with Gabriel Donohue, Jameson Sisters, Teresa Kane & Beatty and Shay Mac. Gaelic Games with the Jersey Shore GAA, food, drink and more! I’ll be emceeing the festival all day long!  Info Here
 
9/22, 9/23 & 9/24 – The 30th Annual Celtic Classic in Bethlehem, PA
We’re honored to be back again at the LARGEST (and BEST) FREE Celtic Festival in North America the incomparable Celtic Classic in Bethlehem, PA!   We can’t wait to hit the stage on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Check out the festival website for the incredible lineup of sports, entertainment and activities the Celtic Cultural Alliance has in store for everyone this year!
9/30  – Shamrocks by the Sea Festival in Seaside Park, NJ
We’re in Seaside Park, NJ on 9/30 for the inaugural Shamrocks by the Sea Festival hosted by the Ocean County St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee. We’re onstage at 5PM. Click here for more info.
 
10/14  – New Jersey Celtic Fest
We’re headlining another brand new festival in South Amboy, NJ at the New Jersey Celtic Fest. We’ll be onstage from 3 to 5PM.  More info can be found here.
 
11/10 – 11/12 – Maryland Irish Festival, Timonium MD
We’re back in Timonium, MD for the Maryland Irish Festival at the Cow Palace on the Maryland State Fairgrounds.  This is a fantastic INDOOR festival with a full weekend of music on three stages, loads of great food, countless top quality vendors and thousands of GREAT people.  The festival is run by Catholic Charities of Maryland.

on

Thanks everyone for another great year for Blackwater!  We enjoyed every gig along the way and hope you had as much fun listening as we did playing.  Just a quick recap of the year.

17-Jan                  AOH Fundraiser, Freehold, NJ

14-Feb                  AOH Division 1 My Irish Valentine, Little Silver, NJ

8-Mar                   Rumson St. Patricks Day Parade

13-Mar                 Irish American Club, Kearney, NJ

14-Mar                 Godfrey Daniels, Bethlehem, PA

16-Mar                 Sands Casino, Molten Lounge

17-Mar                 Sands Casino, St. James Gate Pub

11-Apr                  14th Annual Evening with the Irish, Freehold, NJ

16-May                Central Jersey Irish Festival, Freehold NJ

13-Jun                  GaelFest 2015

28-Jul                   Chalfonte Hotel Summer Concert Series, Cape May, NJ

29-Jul                   Chalfonte Hotel Summer Concert Series, Cape May, NJ

1-Aug                   Breezy Point Memorial Day, Breezy Point, NY

8-Aug                   Irish Heritage Night, Lakewood Blue Claws Stadium, Lakewood, NJ

12-Aug                 MusikFest, Bethlehem, PA

15-Aug                 Delaney’s Irish Pub, Cape May, NJ

16-Aug                 Hunter Mountain Celtic Festival, Hunter Mountain, NY

12-Sep                  Private Wedding, Southampton, PA

12-Sep                  Delaney’s Irish Pub, Cape May, NJ

19-Sep                  Irish Festival at the Jersey Shore, Sea Girt, NJ

19-Sep                  Delaney’s Irish Pub, Cape May, NJ

25-Sep                  Celtic Classic, Bethlehem, PA

26-Sep                  Celtic Classic, Bethlehem, PA

27-Sep                  Celtic Classic, Bethlehem, PA

18-Oct                  The Smithville Irish Festival, Smithville, NJ

24-Oct                  House Concert, Middletown, NJ

25-Oct                  McCarthy’s Red Stag Pub, Bethlhem, PA

31-Oct                  Delaney’s Irish Pub, Cape May, NJ

7-Nov                   Mauch Chunk Victorians Annual Ball, Mauch Chunk, PA

27-Nov                 Sands Casino, St. James Gate Pub

13-Dec                 “The Holly and the Ivy, A Celtic Christmas Concert”, Bethlehem, PA

27-Dec                 “The Snowy Path, A Seasonal Celtic Concert”, Coopersburg, PA

 

Looking forward to seeing everyone in 2016!!

 

on

Go raibh maith agaibh! A BIG Thank You to all the wonderful organizers, volunteers, sound crews and anyone even loosely connected with the Celtic Classic which just wrapped this weekend in beautiful downtown, Bethlehem, PA.  The Celtic Cultural Alliance did another bang-up job of assembling a seamless weekend of music, sports, dancing, food, fun and frivolity!  We can’t wait for 2016!

on

We had a great time on Memorial Day playing at MayFair Festival of the Arts down at the Allentown Fairgrounds.  Loads of great food and plenty of great people all looking to wrap up their holiday weekend with some sun (their was plenty), fun (even more) and good music.  We were very happy to be asked to close out the Discovery stage with a two hour show.  In case you missed it, here are some pics and a video of  our show so you can pretend you were there next time you see us!  Thanks as always for listening.

Farewell to Ireland – Blackwater at MayFair Festival – 05/26/2014

on

Thanks for being patient these past few weeks while we worked on updating the website.  We hope the new format makes it easier to stay on top of the who, what, when and where of Blackwater. (We’re not going to try to tackle “Why”!).  We’ve added lots of content including some new videos from our latest show at Godfrey Daniels.  If you have photos or video of us through the years, send it on over and we’ll put it up on the site.  Enjoy your visit to Blackwatermusic.com and as always, Thanks For Listening!