An Irish band with Mount Vernon ties will once again be taking the stage at First Street Community Center’s Uptown Theater Saturday, March 23, at 4 p.m. Tickets for the show are $15 and available at the door.

Blame Not the Bard includes musicians Corey Baker on guitar, vocals and percussion, Andrew Philbrick on vocals, banjo and bass guitar, Mount Vernon alum Nikki Philbrick on violin, vocals and mandolin, and Dan Vaughn on flute, whistle and guitar. Vaughn and Baker also share song writing credits.

The band was originally formed in 2015, playing open mics around Iowa City.

In an interview from March 2023, members of the band said that ““People can expect a really, really fun show,” Vaughn said. “I like to think we cover a wide variety of different things whether it be instrumentals, originals, covers. We all come from different musical backgrounds and that’s been a real strength of ours when approaching our live show.”

The band encourages people to come to Uptown Theatre for a toe-tapping, hand-clapping good time.

“We are not typical of any band type entertainment that you can find in the area,” Baker said. “Crowd participation is pretty much unavoidable. It is not something you will soon forget.”