French Canadian step dance combines with Celtic sounds

By John Benson

Leahy hopes to bring a lot of fun to Youngstown.

When Doug Leahy was growing up in Canada with his 11 brothers and sisters, performing around the house was commonplace.

Now decades later, this family of instrumentalists, singers and dancers called Leahy has made a career out of its unique Celtic-flavored sound and show. While in the past the octet has supported its four critically acclaimed albums — “Leahy,” “Lakefield,” “In All Things” and “Live — this year the act is touring its own holiday show “A Leahy Family Christmas,” which makes its Youngstown debut Saturday at Powers Auditorium in a concert with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra.

“We’re very excited about doing our first American Christmas tour, and we hope to bring with us what Christmas is like in Canada at our house with 11 brothers and sisters growing up,” said Doug, calling from his Lakefield, Ontario home. “We always get asked, ‘What’s Christmas like at your house? It must be crazy.’

“Well, it’s a lot of fun, it’s a lot of music. It’s a great time and we’re excited to take it on the road where we’ll be doing some of our own original music and a lot of Christmas favorites. Just be ready to have a blast.”

Leahy will be performing seasonal favorites “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “Silent Night” and “O Holy Night,” as well as traditional Canadian Christmas song “The Huron Carol.” As for original tunes, Doug said the group’s audience will recognize “The Call To Dance,” “Chasing Rain” and “Mission.” There’s also unreleased material that will surface next year as part of a new Leahy studio album.

“The music we create is really hard to define,” Doug said. “We don’t play country music. We don’t play rock music. We play a variety of everything. We do play classical music, but it’s a real blend of styles and a lot of people call it Leahy-ish music.

“We get compared to some of the other Celtic groups out there, but by no means are we the same. Still, we often we get described as being something like The Chieftains or with our dancing, people often refer to us as being like a ‘Riverdance.’ Our dancing is a Canadian style of dance. It’s called French Canadian step dancing. So there are so many different components.”

The two main components of Leahy’s music are Christianity and Celtic. The former is the inspiration running through the majority of the eight-piece’s material, while the latter is often colored from Celtic instruments used by the act. It’s for this reason that Doug said concertgoers should consider the upcoming Leahy date as a Celtic Christmas extravaganza.

“It’s a Christmas tour that’s going to be a lot of fun, almost as if we’re at home sitting around in our living room celebrating the season,” Doug said. “Christmas was one of the most exciting times of the year for us, and we want to bring that excitement, that energy, that passion on this tour with us. So we are excited.”