Meet Sixpenny
Sixpenny is a hot, jumping band of dedicated musicians who share a passion for traditional Irish and Celtic music. Their sound is “fiddle-forward”: musicianship is front and center, with dual fiddles leading the way. Guitar, mandolin and flute step out in front, and bass and guitar lay down a driving rhythm. Interspersed between the reels and jigs are songs with rich vocal harmonies.
Sixpenny is based in the East Bay of northern California. The band formed in 2022, with members bringing together their years-long experience playing trad Irish music. Sixpenny is dedicated to an authentic Irish and Celtic musical style, presented on all acoustic instruments.
Meet the band:
Jean Olds
Fiddle
Jean started playing piano as a preschooler, learning first from her piano-teacher grandmother. She took up violin in junior high orchestra, playing through high school. But she really found her musical focus when she switched from classical music (violin) to folk/traditional (fiddle). She enjoys exploring and combining tunes from all traditions, but especially Irish and Scottish.
Ken Passeri
Fiddle, guitar, Mandolin
Ken plays mostly fiddle in the band and has a very tight collaboration with Jean, achieving the rich possibilities of her arrangements for two violins. As a lifelong folk guitarist and string player, Ken also augments the band’s repertoire as rhythm guitarist, and stepping out in front on mandolin.
Larry Milder
Guitar, mandolin, Octave Mandolin
Larry honed his chops on guitar and mandolin as a long-time student of National Flatpicking Champion Orrin Star. Larry served as the guitarist for the Boston-based folk-dance ensemble Hamakor, before founding the innovative Jewish band, Elijah Rock. He has released five albums of original music, and his songs have been recorded and published in a number of anthologies. His most recent album, American Psalm, features beloved California musicians Joe Craven and Dave Nachmanoff.
Nancy McGhee
Acoustic bass, cello, bodhran
Nancy grew up on Long Island, New York, in a public school district that valued music education. She played a variety of wind instruments from 3rd grade through high school. It wasn’t until moving to California in her twenties that someone thrust a double bass at her at a party and she never looked back (well, she looked back a little: still plays flute sometimes). More recently Nancy inherited a cello from a relative and has added that to her repertoire. Although she has been playing Celtic and Americana music with Sixpenny, Extended Roots, and the Roving Clovers, Nancy also plays in the Bulgarian Bitov (village-style) band Yabulka, and is being pulled into Swedish music by her husband.
Lauren Nourse
Flute, Irish Whistle
Nestled among the strings of Sixpenny is Lauren playing Irish whistle and flute. She played flute all through college but took a long break until finding Celtic music. Since then, she has been on a journey into the world of Irish, Scottish and other roots music.