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Gypsy Guerrilla Band : Ernie Rocks!
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A lively selection of traditional old time American, Irish, Scottish, and French instrumental melodies featuring the hammered dulcimer, autoharp, and drum.
Genre: Folk: Traditional Folk
Release Date: 2006
Ernie Rocks! Record Label: Gypsy Guerrilla Band
  • Buy CD - $14.97
SPECIAL: 20% discount if you buy more than one copy of it today!
Preview Song Name Time Format Price Select
Devil in the Haystack/Old Mother Flanagan Reels 2:50 Album Only
The Maiden Lane 1:46 Album Only
Mist on the Meadow Jig Medley 2:51 Album Only
Billy Sullivan\'s Polka 1:50 Album Only
Chez la Mère Antoine 2:07 Album Only
Teetotaler\'s Reel 2:10 Album Only
Bourrée in Dm 1:49 Album Only
The Nutting Girl 2:21 Album Only
Les Cloches 2:02 Album Only
Horse\'s Bransle 2:07 Album Only
Rory O\'More Jig 1:58 Album Only
The Gravel Walk Reel 3:26 Album Only
Humours of Whiskey Jig Medley 2:52 Album Only
Rota 3:19 Album Only
Mason\'s Apron Reel 2:24 Album Only
O\'Keefe\'s Slide 2:01 Album Only
Grimstock 2:19 Album Only
Tam Lyn Reel 2:32 Album Only
A Fair Wind 1:57 Album Only
Musical Priest Reel 1:50 Album Only
Atholl Highlanders Marching Jig 2:58 Album Only
Whiskey Before Breakfast Reel 2:05 Album Only
Izruçanka 3:14 Album Only
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Album Notes

It’s not an invasion, it’s a celebration of international music! The Gypsy Guerrilla Band plays "Hit and Run Music" with an exuberant mix of styles. Band members think like gypsies in their range of cultural influences, and like guerrillas in their aggressive approach to traditional instruments. The hammered dulcimer, autoharp, African kalimba, and Irish whistle create a hard-driving sound and bring new life to old-time, folk and ethnic music; the result is a repertoire characterized by big-spirited variety. On tour, the band adapts its material and costumes for the occasion. They often work with local performers and guest artists, and have been known to get a whole town dancing in the streets. They’re committed to music that will unify, entertain, and fire up people’s imaginations.

Jim Lillquist, who plays the hammered dulcimer, started out as a jazz, rock, band and orchestral percussionist. From Des Plaines, Ill., he and Joyce Lillquist, the band's autoharp player, have been married since 1974. Jim built his first hammered dulcimer in 1979, when he could no longer work as a Holiday Rambler RV salesman and manager, because his employer went out of business. The Gypsy Guerrilla band started playing at Renaissance festivals in 1983, the same year Joyce picked up the autoharp.

Starting with a few dozen tunes Jim learned from a hammered dulcimer book, the band's lineup now includes Irish, Scottish and English dances; Gypsy melodies; belly dance tunes; and, more recently, Welsh, French, Eastern European music.

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