2018 Storytellers
Catherine Koehler
Catherine Koehler has been singing and performing for over 40 years. The songs she grew up with as well as the stories she has adapted from contemporary and historical sources have delighted audiences of all ages throughout the southeast and beyond. Easily shifting between Broadway show tunes and bluegrass, she has recently reclaimed her Celtic culture by focusing on traditional Irish tunes, many recalled from her childhood.
She has appeared at such venues as The Great Lakes Gathering, North Texas Irish Festival, CelticFest Mississippi, Fairwynd, Celtic Fest New Orleans, and the West Tennessee Celtic Festival. She was awarded the Kathleen O'Connell Memorial Bardic Award in 2014 and was a medalist at the 2016 regional Fleadh Cheoil in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Gary Whitaker
Gary Whitaker The Storyman has been performing for 20 years across Texas and for 15 years at the North Texas Irish Festival Stages. He loves to tell Irish and Scottish stories of wonder and adventure. He is a Lover of folk tales and legends. He brings stories to life through his dramatic style of telling.
Jane McDaniel
Born in Limerick, Ireland in 1945, Jane started to write, retell and publish stories (local newspapers, Radio Telefis Eireann, John Bull, a weekly magazine in England) at an early age (10) thanks in part to a rich family storytelling tradition. She lived to a certain extent between two cultures, as her father was English and a staunch Protestant and her mother was from Belfast, N.I., and Catholic. She attended schools in Limerick and university in Germany, and worked as a business print journalist and radio news reporter and radio news anchor (AFN, Hessischer Rundfunk, both in Frankfurt) for 26 years before moving to the US in 1993.
Her love for storytelling grew out of those evenings as a child in Limerick, spent around the fire with family and neighbors. She treasures an intimate relationship with the great Celtic myths and romances, and delight in telling rollicking Irish folk tales as well as stories of Irish country people from the 1950s.
She also tells a range of international wonder tales, participatory tales and riddle stories for children.
John Burleson
A childhood fascination with mythology, history, and folklore set the stage for John Burleson’s lifelong dedication to storytelling.
A professional storyteller since 1989, he has been a frequent performer at the North Texas Irish Festival, Mississippi Celtic Fest, and Texas Folklife Festival. Even as far away as Ohio, Ontario, the Republic of Ireland, and the North of Ireland, he has entertained audiences of all ages.
John brings to every performance a wide repertoire of Irish tales stretching across the centuries, from the ancient legends of the Fenian Cycle to rollicking accounts of Irish immigrants in America, and never fails to keep his listeners spellbound. His stories will make you laugh, bring a tear to your eye, and perhaps inspire the storyteller in you, too.
Willow and Her Giant
Willow and Her Giant are children’s entertainers with an old world feel. Willow holds a masters degree majoring in early childhood development. And as fairies tend to do she has spent the majority of her life working with kids.
Germy, her faithful giant is a classically trained harpist and a true Irish tenor. Together they weave story with song and create a masterpiece for audiences young and old alike.