Woodbine: farewell performance

Woodbine - Tony O'Brien (rhythm guitar, vocals), Nicola O'Brien (upright bass, vocals), Liam Wright (lead guitar, vocals), and Patrick Chanders (mandolin) - played their official farewell show on Saturday 18 November at the Carlton Abbey Hotel, Athy, Co. Kildare (the venue for some afternoon shows and the Sunday gospel concert during last July's Athy festival). The room was filled though the night was very cold, and the music made up for that: Woodbine's singers were all in fine voice, and the solid rhythm section supported some blistering lead instrumental work from Liam and Paddy. In the second set Rob Chanders came up for several numbers on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, and your editor had the real treat of being able to sit in on banjo.

As Tony mentioned in his original release, Woodbine formed in 2002, and has since played all the Irish bluegrass festivals, some bluegrass-related events, and a string of gigs around the country, and released one CD, Shades o' grass. With Paddy now working in Dublin, travel problems made it hard for the band to sustain a viable schedule of bookings; but Tony looks forward to all its members still playing a big part in the Irish bluegrass scene.

For future Athy events, see the Athy Bluegrass Music Association website.