The Wee Heavies

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2023 Line Up

The Wee Heavies are a mostly a cappella band started in 2014. They were drawn to the traditional music of Ireland and Scotland because they felt that they could all really relate to the main themes of traditional Celtic music: Drinking, working, fighting, love, and drinking. (Truth be told, their bass is a tee-totaler and has never been drunk in his life, but he makes up for it with the fighting.) The Heavies love nothing more after a long (and typically futile) day of whaling on the Mississippi near their home base of St. Louis, to pick up a frosty glass, reminisce about the days of the Jacobite rebellion, and sing in earth-shaking, heart-rending four-part harmony about the complexities of coal mining.

The Wee Heavies are Aaron Schiltz, whose stratospheric high notes power the Heavies through the roughest of storms; Peter Merideth, who croons so sweetly that he breaks the hearts of sirens and mermaids; Jay Harkey, whose powerful tone emboldens the hearts of his crew mates and strikes fear in his enemies; and Steve Neale whose low notes can rumble the blackest depths of the sea. While based in their home port of St. Louis, MO, the Heavies have sailed to the farthest corners of the Midwest, and have sung at the North Texas Irish Festival, the St. Louis Scottish Games, the Missouri River Irish Festival, and filled venues and halls such as the Hett Theater, the Sheldon Concert Hall, and the Focal Point. They have entertained audiences from the middle of Kansas, all the way to the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.

Wherever they go, their audiences are left laughing, smiling, singing along, raising a glass, shedding a tear and screaming “FAR AWAY” at the top of their lungs. Their mix of rough-and-rowdy working songs, and exceptionally beautiful, soulful ballads, combined with whatever else they might like to sing, and a healthy dose of not taking themselves seriously at all, make an evening with the Heavies a memorable, moving and fun event, full of unexpected moments and astonishingly good music.