Tommy Sands concert September 19, 2007

This years Dewey Decibel Concert Series opens with a rare weeknight concert featuring Tommy Sands, member of the legendary Irish singing family, who has achieved something akin to legendary status in his own lifetime. Sands will be joined in concert by his daughter and son Moya and Fionan on Wednesday, September 19 at 7:30 p.m. The Williamsburg Library Theatre is located at 515 Scotland Street. Tickets are $16 for adults, $12 for students with ID and $8 for those under 16. They can be reserved with a credit card by calling the library at (757) 259-4070.

From his pioneering days with the highly influential Sands Family, performing classic Irish music from New York's Carnegie Hall to Moscow's Olympic Stadium, Tommy Sands has developed into one of the most powerful songwriters and enchanting solo performers in Ireland today. Sands songwriting has drawn the admiration of Nobel Poet Laureate Seamus Heaney and father of folk music Pete Seeger. "Sing Out" magazine regards him as "the most powerful songwriter in Ireland, if not the rest of the world." Artists as diverse as Joan Baez, Kathy Mattea, Sean Keane, Frank Patterson and The Dubliners have recorded his music.

Tommy Sands is most proud of using his music to better society. Back home in Northern Ireland he has completed a CD written with Protestant and Catholic schoolchildren about their own towns and villages. During the Good Friday Agreement Talks to bring peace to the North of Ireland, his impromptu performance with a group of children and Lambeg drummers was described by Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon as "a defining moment in the peace process." In December 2002 although the Northern Ireland Assembly had been stood down, Sands managed to persuade the members to return for a special Christmas musical party together. As one politician after another joined him on stage for a song, Loyalist leader David Ervine was heard to remark, "Tommy Sands is the only man, without a private army, who can intimidate me."

Come hear the magic of Tommy Sands, which the Wall Street Journal describes as a stirring, spellbinding performance.

Event submitted by Eventful.com on behalf of programs.