Open the Door for Three

A trio of good friends playing great Irish music together

Open the Door for Three is fiddle player Liz Knowles, uilleann piper Kieran O’Hare, and Dublin-born singer and bouzouki player Pat Broaders. The trio’s music is a rare combination of unearthed tunes from centuries-old manuscript collections, newly composed melodies, fresh arrangements of songs old and new, homages to the musicians and bands they grew up listening to, and the unmatched energy of a trio of good friends playing great Irish music together.

The trio formed after spending nearly four years traveling together overseas, and they are a well-oiled machine of crafted arrangements and powerful music. Open the Door for Three has distinguished themselves over the last two decades, having played with Riverdance, Cherish the Ladies, Secret Garden, Anúna, Celtic Legends, The New York Pops, Don Henley, Paula Cole, Bonnie Raitt, and Josh Groban. They have performed in venues around the world: on Broadway, Carnegie Hall, L’Olympia and Palais de Congrès in Paris, The Kennedy Center’s Ireland 100 Festival, Cape Breton’s Celtic Colours festival, the Milwaukee Irish Festival, the Masters of Tradition series in County Cork Ireland, Malaysian rainforest festivals, piping tionóls in Ireland, theaters from Shanghai to São Paulo, cruise ships in the Caribbean, and even a bullring in Mallorca. 

Their debut CD, Open the Door for Three (2013), highlights Richard Thompson’s instant classic, “Beeswing,” two great old jigs woven into the “Snug in the Blanket” set, and a moving waltz written by Liz entitled “The Gift of Falling.” The trio’s second CD, The Penny Wager (2015), showcases the lively reels “The Rat in the Thatch,” “Johnny Loves Molly,” an evocative slip jig featuring Liz on the hardanger, and songs about Nova Scotia coal mines, dice games, and the story of a modern-day Cinderella called “The Golden Glove.” The Joyful Hour (2017) continues along this path. It is a rich and musically ambitious project, full of old and undiscovered melodies from a vast array of sources–from O’Neill’s Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (1920s), the Goodman (1850s) and Patrick McDonald (1780s) collections to wax cylinder recordings a century old, to the living tradition of music in Ireland and Cape Breton. The trio’s lush arrangements give color and context to traditional songs about subjects as diverse as the beauty of a river, the power of love, the tragedy of death, and unlikely victory in the face of adversity. On A Prosperous Gale (2024), the trio explores a fresh set of traditional tunes and new arrangements, delving deep into the tradition they inhabit. 

“I am in awe of the alchemy, the care given to the arrangements, the force of nature that is the band, and the masterful musicianship, both in tunes and song.” --Bill Verdier, WXNA, Nashville

“Theirs is a big and brilliant sound.” --Sean Smith, Boston Irish 

https://openthedoorforthree.com

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