Four Shillings Short - Don’t Miss This Opportunity For Their Farewell Tour!
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Saturday, December 12, 2026 at 7:30pm, doors at 7pm, KN95+ earloop style masks required and provided free, beverages $3.
“Musicians Aodh Og O’Tuama and Christy Martin are embarking on a two-year farewell tour before settling in Ireland. As Four Shillings Short, they feature a mix of musical instruments and traditions from around the world, from medieval and Renaissance works to Celtic folk songs to Indian ragas, South and North American music and original compositions. (Photo Courtesy Leela Devi.)
Celtic, world, and folk band Four Shillings Short got its start in Palo Alto decades ago so, as Aodh Og O’Tuama and Christy Martin prepare to say goodbye to the nomadic life and settle down overseas, Palo Alto will play a part in the farewell celebrations. Retiring to O’Tuama’s native Ireland has long been in the plans for the married musical duo and the time has come at last – although not immediately. On July 18, 2026, Four Shillings Short will kick off a lengthy final U.S. tour with a concert in Palo Alto, a tour that will take about two and a half years to unspool.
“Being on the road for 30 years, we just figured it was time to do one final, full U.S. tour, and then set down our roots, finally, in Ireland,” Martin said. In between legs of the American tour, they’ll continue to lead music, folklore and archaeology tours in Ireland, which they’ve been doing for the past decade. The plan is that by the time the U.S. touring wraps up in late 2028, the couple will have found a suitable spot in the Emerald Isle to call home permanently.
“By then, we hope to have located a place in Ireland that we can afford to live in,” O’Tuama said. They’re searching for a piece of land on which they can have a small home, a garden, and space enough to host musical performances and guests, bringing out-of-town friends and audiences to them, for a change. We think of ourselves as not just musicians, but as bards and troubadours, and, you know, that whole bardic tradition of being the go-between, between the old ways, the traditional ways, the ancestors, and the present,” Martin said.
Part of their mission, she said, is “to keep traditional music and folk music in the next generation. To have an opportunity for young people and to inspire them to think about music as a pastime, as a vocation, as just something that makes life so much richer and more fulfilling.” For their farewell tour, Christy notes: “That’s one goal: to bring in favorite pieces; one from each album maybe, and then some of the newer stuff that we’re doing,” she said. “I think it is going to be kind of a retrospective, and with stories. It really is our farewell.”
They have at least two more records in the works currently and, once they’re settled in Ireland, Martin is considering putting together a musical memoir, drawing on the years of journals and photos the couple has accumulated during their time on the road. “That might be the next thing we do,” she said. “… I really sit down and I recount the life of a modern-day troubadour.” The duo is known for its diverse mix of musical instruments and traditions from around the world, from medieval and Renaissance works to Celtic folk songs to Indian ragas (Martin specializes in the sitar), South and North American music, original compositions and more. (Credit to Palo Alto Online)
Join us for this special celebration as we approach our 40th Anniversary Year of presenting a wide variety of live performances in an intimate, listening room environment.
“Musicians Aodh Og O’Tuama and Christy Martin are embarking on a two-year farewell tour before settling in Ireland. As Four Shillings Short, they feature a mix of musical instruments and traditions from around the world, from medieval and Renaissance works to Celtic folk songs to Indian ragas, South and North American music and original compositions. (Photo Courtesy Leela Devi.)
Celtic, world, and folk band Four Shillings Short got its start in Palo Alto decades ago so, as Aodh Og O’Tuama and Christy Martin prepare to say goodbye to the nomadic life and settle down overseas, Palo Alto will play a part in the farewell celebrations. Retiring to O’Tuama’s native Ireland has long been in the plans for the married musical duo and the time has come at last – although not immediately. On July 18, 2026, Four Shillings Short will kick off a lengthy final U.S. tour with a concert in Palo Alto, a tour that will take about two and a half years to unspool.
“Being on the road for 30 years, we just figured it was time to do one final, full U.S. tour, and then set down our roots, finally, in Ireland,” Martin said. In between legs of the American tour, they’ll continue to lead music, folklore and archaeology tours in Ireland, which they’ve been doing for the past decade. The plan is that by the time the U.S. touring wraps up in late 2028, the couple will have found a suitable spot in the Emerald Isle to call home permanently.
“By then, we hope to have located a place in Ireland that we can afford to live in,” O’Tuama said. They’re searching for a piece of land on which they can have a small home, a garden, and space enough to host musical performances and guests, bringing out-of-town friends and audiences to them, for a change. We think of ourselves as not just musicians, but as bards and troubadours, and, you know, that whole bardic tradition of being the go-between, between the old ways, the traditional ways, the ancestors, and the present,” Martin said.
Part of their mission, she said, is “to keep traditional music and folk music in the next generation. To have an opportunity for young people and to inspire them to think about music as a pastime, as a vocation, as just something that makes life so much richer and more fulfilling.” For their farewell tour, Christy notes: “That’s one goal: to bring in favorite pieces; one from each album maybe, and then some of the newer stuff that we’re doing,” she said. “I think it is going to be kind of a retrospective, and with stories. It really is our farewell.”
They have at least two more records in the works currently and, once they’re settled in Ireland, Martin is considering putting together a musical memoir, drawing on the years of journals and photos the couple has accumulated during their time on the road. “That might be the next thing we do,” she said. “… I really sit down and I recount the life of a modern-day troubadour.” The duo is known for its diverse mix of musical instruments and traditions from around the world, from medieval and Renaissance works to Celtic folk songs to Indian ragas (Martin specializes in the sitar), South and North American music, original compositions and more. (Credit to Palo Alto Online)
Join us for this special celebration as we approach our 40th Anniversary Year of presenting a wide variety of live performances in an intimate, listening room environment.
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