A rock-trad cocktail packing real punch -- that’s the debut album by the Kips Bay Ceili Band! Produced by John Simon, famed producer of albums for Bob Dylan and The Band, Digging In is full of chance-taking surprises and smiles from a band who have gained a red-hot reputation all across New York City and beyond. The music of Kips Bay Ceili Band is rollicking, challenging, and never less than riveting. Why else would they take Johnny Horton’s #1 hit of 1959, "The Battle of New Orleans," and remake it in their own rave-up Kips Bay image? The band features four of the best performers in traditional or rock music today: ex-Battlefield Band member Pat Kilbride on acoustic and electric guitars, cittern, and vocals, All-Ireland champion John Whelan on button accordion and keyboards, former Billy Idol bandmate Steve Missal on drums and vocals, and superb rock-jazz session player Richard Lindsey on six-string and fretless bass.

Together, they lend their talents to original songs by Kilbride and Missal, original tunes by Whelan, one galvanizing song written by all four band members as a salute to zydeco great Boozoo Chavis, and traditional Irish tunes spiked in the inimitable Kips Bay style. Blending their own talents into this heady musical cocktail are special guests John McGann on electric guitar, mandolin, and dobro, Tony De Marco on acoustic and electric fiddles, Joanie Madden on tin whistle and flute, and John Simon on keyboards and percussion. Get rhythm -- ’cause Kips Bay kicks out the jams!

Artists: Pat Kilbride, John Whelan, Steve Missal, Richard Lindsey, John McGann, Tony DeMarco, Joanie Madden, John Simon