The Pratie Heads play Celtic and British Isles music, Renaissance and early music, and good old-fashioned American music for weddings
Based in Durham/Chapel Hill, North Carolina, we've been playing for weddings for more than twenty years and we know how to make a crowd happy! We're willing to learn tunes or songs especially for you and have a huge repertoire. Our tunes and tender love songs from Ireland, Scotland, England, America and parts beyond may even put a tear or two in your guests' eyes. We can play for your prelude, processional, recessional, and reception. We can play acoustically or bring a sound system.
Our music speaks for itself, so we've just issued a "wedding sampler" cd called Hearts' Delight - we recorded it live in June 2007, just the two of us sitting in Jane's living room exactly as we'd sit at your wedding. (You can get a copy for $10 (postpaid) if you're considering us for your wedding.)
Here are some examples of our music, mp3s free for download, mainly from the new collection:
| For preludes, receptions, general background music:
Dick's Maggot (the 17th and 18th century dance "maggots" came from the Italian word maggioletta, meaning a whim or delight) Draper's Maggot (waltz rhythm) Mrs. Jamieson's favourite (Scottish slow air) Martin Hayes/The Rubber Man (Irish hornpipe and reel) Sea Duck's Waltz/Thirty Year Jig (Swedish) For processionals: March of the King of Laois (Brian Boru's March) (Irish) For recessionals: Morgan Megan (O'Carolan tune) Dragger's Reel (Scottish/contradance) Dubuque (contradance) | Waltzes: (for "first dance")
Milosc (Polish) Swedish Wedding Waltz from Orsa Songs: Strings in the Earth and Air (Irish love song) My Faithful Johnny (Scottish love song) Papir iz dokh vays (Jewish/Yiddish love song) Toda Una Vida (Mexican/Spanish love song) Corn Rigs are Bonny (Scottish) My Greenwood Laddy (English love song) I Live Not Where I Love (English) The Lord of Drum (Scottish) Mary and her Gallant Soldier (Irish) |
Rates: We operate on a sliding scale, on the honor system. Is your event very modest? Our lowest base price (for events close to Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, and Hillsborough, the Triangle, the Triad, Research Triangle Park, general Orange, Alamance, Chatham county, etc.) is $300. Is your event mid-sized, do you have reasonable resources? Our price would be $500. Is your wedding sumptuous? If you are spending generously on location, caterer, cake, dress, flowers, etc., if your resources are ample and/or if you are using a wedding planner, $700 will be our fee. You decide where you stand on our luxury-scale.
Amplification: We charge $50 to bring, set up, and operate our sound system
Travel: Out of town, we ask $30 per hour of traveling. Example: Greensboro is one hour away, so this would be an additional $60. If you are more than three hours away, and your event will run late, plan to find us (humble) accommodations for the night. If you are more than 5 hours away, let's talk.
Overtime:If your event will require our presence for more than 3-1/2 hours, we will charge a pro-rated $100 per hour.