In Gaelic, the word Góilín means making music.
Bill McIlwain, Beth Hyland, and Jake Ruddiman met through an Irish music session that started at UNCSA in the fall of 2013. Other musicians joined and left the group over the next couple of years until a core group of five players formed a band and started playing gigs across in Winston-Salem and Greensboro.
The current trio continues to perform a wide variety of traditional Irish songs and tunes, especially jigs, reels and hornpipes. In 2019, the band expanded its repertoire to include local folk music favorites - Bluegrass, Old Time, Blues, and Scottish.
“We even play a few polkas and mazurkas that have found their way into the Irish repertoire,” says Bill, the band’s guitarist and lead singer.
The band rehearses weekly, learning new tunes, making new arrangements, and polishing old favorites.
Beth explains, “My favorite thing about playing folk music is that we can take what looks like a very simple tune on paper and arrange it into something new with ornaments and harmonies. No two musicians, not even the ones in the same band, play a tune the exact same way."
In addition to learning new music, the musicians have also discovered new instruments to play. Bill, guitarist and lead singer, has picked up the tenor banjo and concertina, Jake has tackled whistles and bodhran, and Beth, a diehard instrumentalist, has started singing. To add another layer to the group's performance, Bill has even taken up traditional Sean-nós dancing.
From 2016 until 2017 the band hosted The Reynolda Session, an open-to-the-public jam session at The Barn at Reynolda Village. From October 2017 to March 2019, the group hosted monthly sessions at the central branch of the Forsyth County Public Library on Fifth Street in Winston-Salem.
Jake remarks, “We know we’re getting it right when the children are dancing in the aisles.”
In their time together, Silas Creek String Band (formerly Góilín) has played at Arbor Acres, Salemtowne, Bermuda Village, Brookridge Retirement Community, Well Spring Retirement Community, Historic Bethabara Park's Apple Festival, Bethabara Highland Games, Cobblestone Farmers Market in Old Salem, Foothills Brewing Tasting Room, and Fiddling Fish. In 2018, they were invited to play on stage at Reynolds Auditorium with the Wiley Middle School Orchestra, Reynolds High School Orchestra, and Winston-Salem Civic Orchestra.
Bill McIlwain, Beth Hyland, and Jake Ruddiman met through an Irish music session that started at UNCSA in the fall of 2013. Other musicians joined and left the group over the next couple of years until a core group of five players formed a band and started playing gigs across in Winston-Salem and Greensboro.
The current trio continues to perform a wide variety of traditional Irish songs and tunes, especially jigs, reels and hornpipes. In 2019, the band expanded its repertoire to include local folk music favorites - Bluegrass, Old Time, Blues, and Scottish.
“We even play a few polkas and mazurkas that have found their way into the Irish repertoire,” says Bill, the band’s guitarist and lead singer.
The band rehearses weekly, learning new tunes, making new arrangements, and polishing old favorites.
Beth explains, “My favorite thing about playing folk music is that we can take what looks like a very simple tune on paper and arrange it into something new with ornaments and harmonies. No two musicians, not even the ones in the same band, play a tune the exact same way."
In addition to learning new music, the musicians have also discovered new instruments to play. Bill, guitarist and lead singer, has picked up the tenor banjo and concertina, Jake has tackled whistles and bodhran, and Beth, a diehard instrumentalist, has started singing. To add another layer to the group's performance, Bill has even taken up traditional Sean-nós dancing.
From 2016 until 2017 the band hosted The Reynolda Session, an open-to-the-public jam session at The Barn at Reynolda Village. From October 2017 to March 2019, the group hosted monthly sessions at the central branch of the Forsyth County Public Library on Fifth Street in Winston-Salem.
Jake remarks, “We know we’re getting it right when the children are dancing in the aisles.”
In their time together, Silas Creek String Band (formerly Góilín) has played at Arbor Acres, Salemtowne, Bermuda Village, Brookridge Retirement Community, Well Spring Retirement Community, Historic Bethabara Park's Apple Festival, Bethabara Highland Games, Cobblestone Farmers Market in Old Salem, Foothills Brewing Tasting Room, and Fiddling Fish. In 2018, they were invited to play on stage at Reynolds Auditorium with the Wiley Middle School Orchestra, Reynolds High School Orchestra, and Winston-Salem Civic Orchestra.