Four Leaf Peat

Chad Beauchaine’s tunes sometimes race, sometimes dance lightly, and every now and then wail like a lonesome night wind. They’re by turns soulful, plaintive, merry to the ear—and swirling renditions of traditional Irish music, every one.
But somehow, even lost in the melody, playing off his bandmate’s sweet, clear, dulcimers, or making merry alongside the mandolin, the fiddler for Four Leaf Peat looks a bit like a pharmaceutical rep. Like maybe he shed his suit and tie an hour ago for jeans and a shirt, though his fresh haircut and eyeglasses stayed the same.
Fact is, Beauchaine is a pharmaceutical rep (“I sell drugs to support my musical habit,” he explains) and his three bandmates all have day jobs, too. Oak Ridge native Jason Herrera, who plays bodhran and whistles and sings with a lilting brogue, works as a hair stylist and does a bit of blacksmithing. Rick Hall has been playing hammer dulcimer 30 years now, since he saw one at the 1975 Knoxville Jubilee Festival, and also works as a veterinarian. Gil Draper, who coaxes Irish chords from a standard guitar and mandolin, works by day at CNX Gas. (Rose Kennedy)