Celtic MP3s Music Magazine  June 10th, 2008 by Catherine L. Tully

With roots firmly placed in the genre of traditional Celtic music, the Beggarmen are excellent ambassadors for their style. This Iowa City-based quartet are experts with their craft and wield their instruments with the confidence that comes only with ability. "Newry Town" is only the band's second effort in terms of a CD release, but they sound terrific and well-polished.

Each of the four band members has been in love with music from an early age and this fact shines through. There is an ease with this group that almost makes you feel as though you are listening to a family play together.

The band tends to mix and match their offerings; part original tunes and part traditional. This is a nice combination, never going off in a direction that doesn't feel just right. They know how to create a good flow and vibe by putting tracks in the right spot. The CD has a "folk" feel in places, due mostly to the guitar, which is allowed to come through when it needs to. All of the instruments are allowed a chance in the spotlight and they all take advantage of it by sounding terrific.

This is just a plain ol' good CD, and is definitely worth a listen. The professional sound here is as good as any I've heard.

Iowa City Press-Citizen  November 15, 2007 by Jim Musser

The sheer organic beauty and inherent mystery of well-played Celtic music is difficult to resist; even those still unfamiliar with the genre's charms should find easy access via the form's multiple interconnections to the roots of American folk, country and bluegrass.

The Beggarmen, an earnest, enchanting quintet, comprised of front-man/composer Brad Pouleson (vocals, whistlets, mandolin and uilleann pipes), Jose Manaligod (button and piano accordions, vocals), Keith Reins (guitar, vocals), Tara Dutcher (fiddle, vocals), and Joe Dutcher (bodhran), utilize admirable musicianship, keen interplay and democratic disperal of vocal leads (note Tara's magical reading of "The Sky Road") to explore a broad range of related styles.

With the recently completed "Newry Town," the group's beautifully recorded follow-up to 2005's "I Shall," The Beggarmen present a gossamer collection of jigs, reels, songs, ballads, airs and even a polka - mixing traditional, contemporary and original tunes (often interleaved in well-constructed medleys) to cover the auld sod.

The Gazette - Cedar Rapids, IA  January 24, 2008 by Eric Clark

Listen to any of the iridescent instruments on The Beggarmen's second album, "Newry Town," and you'd be hard-pressed to say the group wasn't straight out of the Irish countryside. In reality, the five-piece group is from Iowa City, and has been entertaining local audiences for years with its sprightly Celtic sound.

"Newry Town," the group's follow-up to 2005's "I Shall," is an enjoyable collection of traditional songs and Beggarmen originals. Most of the album's 14 tracks are combinations of one to four airs, jigs, reels, traditional songs and polkas, starting with "the Humours of the King of Ballyhooley/Doncha Lynch's," a traditional song about a man who proposes to a woman before asking her name, followed by a polka.

The Beggarmen are at their best when they're picking and plucking their way through exuberant instrumentals like "Spin/Price of a Pig/Crabbit Shona" and "Stike the Gay Harp/McDermott's/Master Crowley's/Moll and Tiarna."

If there's one thing the Beggarmen lack, it's a first rate vocalist, although Tara Dutcher's vocal on ballad "The Sky Road" comes close to being beautiful. Still, "Newry Town" is a quality effort from one of the area's best bands.