Vintage Wildflowers

Though just a year old, Tulsa-based Crossroads has developed an enthusiastic legion of fans with their vibrant blend of Celtic harp, Irish flute, fiddle and vocals. Mix in bits of mandolin, whistle, guitar, concertina, bodhran, banjo and shruti box and you have an idea of what its like to spend an evening with these women. In their first few months together, Crossroads opened the 2009 Summerstage Festival with a sold out performance at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, headlined the Midwest Harp Festival, performed at the O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat and debuted at the North Texas Irish Festival. Their February 2010 performance at the University of Tulsa featured a standing room only crowd overflowing the concert hall into the lobby and hallways of the building. In March 2010, the group was featured on Public Radio Tulsa's Folk Salad with Scott Aycock and Richard Higgs. They gave an "in studio" performance which highlighted the release of their debut CD, "The Upstairs Sessions". Crossroads takes audiences on a journey from Appalachia to the Celtic lands and beyond, where music is more than art, it is a reflection of the language, landscape, and way of life of the people.

Dana Fitzgerald Maher (Celtic harp, vocals and bodhran) is a member of the piano faculty at both the University of Tulsa and the Barthelmes Conservatory; she is also Principal Pianist for Tulsa’s Signature Symphony. She received her Bachelor of Arts in 1991 and Master of Music in Piano Performance in 1996, both from the University of Tulsa as a student of Dr. Roger Price. In 1995, Dana founded the Amadeus Piano Festival which offered intensive training for young aspiring concert pianists; she served as the Festival’s Artistic Director for 11 years.

Dana’s interest in Celtic music grew out of a desire to connect with her family’s Irish roots. She learned to play the whistle and Irish flute after picking up a $10 penny whistle at the local music store but soon found herself longing for a traditional instrument that would make use of her strengths as a pianist. In January 2006 she began harp lessons with Lorelei Barton and has never looked back. She is currently on the board of the Midwest Harp Festival and is a founding member of An Tir Glas Ceilidh - The Green Country Irish Music Gathering. Dana also performs with Melissa Schiavone as Anam Crónán, blending their vocal harmonies with harp, whistle, flute, banjo and percussion.

Melissa Schiavone (Irish flute, whistle, vocals, banjo and concertina) has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Flute and a Master of Music in Music Theory from the University of Tulsa. She has performed as a classical flutist for many years at the University of Texas at Austin, at the University of Tulsa and around the city in many venues. She was active collaborating as both a performer and songwriter with the band Stephen Hero for several years and has been performing with Dana Maher as the Celtic duo Anam Crónán since 2005.

Melissa was raised listening to country and bluegrass music; she became a James Galway fan when her 9th grade English teacher gave her one of his classical albums. One day she came across Galway’s album with the Chieftains and her Celtic obsession was born. Melissa found that Celtic music meshed her classical flute training with her country and bluegrass roots in a cool, new way.

Abby Bozarth (fiddle, mandolin, guitar and vocals) began playing the piano at age eight until she was introduced to the violin in the sixth grade orchestra. The piano was quickly forgotten – she began private fiddle lessons with local expert Rick Morton in order to accompany her banjo-playing brother. The rest of the family soon joined them to form The Peach Pits, playing bluegrass regularly in Oklahoma and Arkansas area restaurants and festivals for several years. She has performed at the Tulsa, now Claremore, Bluegrass and Chili festival and the Wearin’ of the Green Irish Festival multiple years and was part of the Oklahoma Opry Gang. She has sat in with several Tulsa area musicians as well.

Abby was raised listening to traditional bluegrass and newgrass, sprinkled with a few Irish tunes from one of her favorite fiddlers, Oklahoma’s David Coe. In college, a friend introduced her to Leahy’s music and a new enthusiasm surfaced, beginning a fascination and excitement into learning more about Celtic fiddling.