This is a free, all-ages event. Advanced registration is required. Participants are encouraged to join us for a half hour before the event, from 12:30-1:00 p.m. for optional conversation and socializing. 

Click here to register. 

We all have a particular lineage, a continuing story connecting us across centuries to ancestors, land, and traditions. But in our modern lives, this story often amounts to little more than a list of names and places. What does it really mean to be from a place, from a heritage?  And what from our distant pasts do we wish to carry forward into the future?

Embark on a spirited exploration with musician Corey Murphy, who blends research, music, and storytelling to revive and reimagine traditional folk songs of Irish immigrants who settled in Lake and Klamath Counties. He’ll show us how stories and songs offer a rich conduit for accessing our cultural heritage, orienting us not only toward our past, but toward our present and future. We’ll map our own migratory paths, honoring the ways in which they converge and diverge from others in our community. 

This workshop is for anyone who wants to awaken or deepen their sense of cultural heritage and/or identity, while engaging in thoughtful dialogue about how these might impact our roles and responsibilities as residents of our current communities. 

After the workshop, participants are invited to join Corey for an intimate concert experience, "Irish Songs of Oregon and the West," at Brevada Brewhouse from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Corey will perform a selection of the songs he has collected, written, and arranged related to the Irish diaspora in Oregon, including many that have not been performed for decades. All ages are welcome, and there is no entry fee.

Venue and workshop details

• Shaw Historical Library is a fully ADA-accessible venue.
• Venue parking is available as well as nearby street parking.
• This venue has separate men and women's ADA-accessible restrooms.
• Participants can expect to be seated for the majority of this workshop. Comfortable seating will be provided.
• There will be 1-2 breaks throughout the workshop. Participants are encouraged to break as needed for their own comfort.
• Complimentary beverages and light snacks will be provided. 
• Please contact r.medina@oregonhumanities if you have specific requests for accommodations or concerns about any aspect of participating in this workshop.

About the Presenter

Corey Murphy sings songs from his father's birthplace of Newmarket, County Cork. He collects and performs music of and for the Irish diaspora, with a special focus on Lake County, Oregon. In the mid-1800s through the 1960s, thousands of Irish people- mostly young men- left their homes in Duhallow, near the Cork/Kerry/Limerick border. Almost all of them came to Lake County in southeastern Oregon to work as sheepherders and cowboys. Corey carries forward the tunes, songs, and stories of Sliabh Luachra that made the journey to this remote part of Oregon to strengthen the connection between Ireland and Oregon, and shine a light on these two small, yet beloved, places and their community.