Finnegan’s Wake

Finnegan’s Wake is an American band formed in 1974 at the County Cork Pub in Springfield, Illinois.  John C. Van Orman, William Furry and Bill Rintz joined together during weekly gigs at the Pub, which soon evolved into the band, Finnegans Wake, named after the James Joyce novel.  The three men, bound by a love of traditional American and British Isles music became favorites on the Springfield music scene, and eventually toured the Midwest and the Ozarks in an area circumscribed by Minneapolis, St. Louis, Mountain View, Arkansas, and Rockford, Illinois. They continue touring to this day.

Joanne Long, from the Springfield State Journal-Register described their instruments as “fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, concertina, and banjo,” but band members have always been instrumentally adventurous, and through the years have added tin whistles, bodhran, glockenspiel, finger cymbals, spoons, mandolin, harmonium, harmonica, oud, triangle, temple blocks, jingle bells, and hurdy-gurdy to their instrumental line-up.  Their musical repertoire consists of traditional ballads, sea chanteys, fiddle tunes, and Van Orman originals.

William Furry is currently Executive Director of the Illinois State Historical Society. Bill is an accomplished classical guitarist who also plays harmonium, glockenspiel, banjo, penny whistle, concertina and bodhran.   Besides performing with Finnegan’s Wake, he also performs with various small ensembles in the Springfield area, including Wild Columbine.

In addition to performing with Finnegan’s Wake, Bill Rintz was also a founding member of the Allen Street String Band and the Sangamon Valley Hoedowners. Rintz’s main instruments continue to be the fiddle and mandolin, but he also plays tin whistle and guitar. Bill currently plays fiddle for two Morris sides in St. Louis: the Capering Roisters and the River Rats Border Morris.

John C. Van Orman is a multi-instrumentalist and singer who has performed regionally in the Midwest and in the Ozarks. Van Orman’s original tunes have won him Minnesota Music Academy awards, as well as both WAMI and MAMA nominations in Wisconsin. His music has been recorded by Boiled in Lead, Bill Hinckley and Judy Larson, Sherry Minnick, and the Flash Girls. Jim Meyer of the Minneapolis Star Tribune refers to him as “a cult figure on the local folk circuit.” His main instruments include guitars, harmonium, gourd banjo, hurdy-gurdy, concertina and jaw harp.  John was Music Director at the Ozark Folk Center from 2000 to 2006; he currently performs in venues across the Midwest with Adam Helt-Baldwin as Van Orman & Helwin.