Crazy Guggenheim

The Guggenheim Grotto--an oddball name for an excellent duo from Ireland. Specifically, they’re Kevin May and Mick Lynch. As you’d expect from a group from Ireland, they feature great vocals, and their harmonies are hauntingly beautiful. Their songs are catchy folk/pop in nature and most of them have offbeat lyrics. On their recording “Happy the Man”, every tune is a hit. Many of them are earworms, and there isn’t a weak song among them. But Guggenheim Grotto is a group that you really need to see live.

My daughter bought us tickets for Christmas, and we saw them a week ago in Ann Arbor. What a fantastic show. They played just about every tune they’ve ever recorded and it was hard to believe that two musicians could produce such a full sound--at least like a quartet. And they told funny stories in between numbers. Kevin told one about how his five-year old nephew was singing along with the lyric to “Her Beautiful Ideas”. But instead of singing, “Let’s get naked and get under the sheets” he was singing, “Let’s get naked and get under the sheep”. Kids say the darnest things!