Badbelly delights at the Crane, 21 July

Tom Hanway, Sharon Shannon, Winnie Horan, and Johnny O'Halloran at the Crane

The Badbelly Project (Tom Hanway, guitar/banjo; Michael O'Connor, harmonica) played two shows upstairs to a packed house at the Crane, Galway (Project '06). Earlier that evening, Badbelly (on banjo) joined friends Sharon Shannon, Winnie Horan (Solas), and Johnny O'Halloran for a no-holds-barred-anything-goes session on the ground floor. The buzz was incredible at the Crane that night. On Saturday night Tom returned for a gospel and bluegrass jam with fiddler Ivor Ottley and singer/guitarist Ruth Dillon, who will be guesting with the Tennessee Hob in Dunmore East at the end of August.

In May 2005 Tom Hanway released The Badbelly project: Hesitation Blues, his tour de force country blues and gospel recording incorporating Delta, Texas, West Coast and East Coast (Piedmont) guitar styles. The Badbelly project was the title coined by Tom’s first wife, Kathleen Low, who died of cancer in 2002. 'Your long journey’, a duet with Lucy Kaplansky, is lovingly dedicated to Kathleen. Supporting musicians include the late Vassar Clements on fiddle, Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan Band) on mandolin, Trip Henderson on harmonica, Denny McDermott on barnyard percussion, Lucy Kaplansky, and Lincoln Schleifer (New York Rock & Soul Revue), who co-produced and played double bass.