Westport atmosphere

Four Wheel Drive headlining the Saturday concert at the Westport Inn: Jurgen Biller (banjo), Joost van Es (fiddle), Alfred Bonk (bass), Ulli Sieker (mandolin), Jan Michielsen (guitar)

Thanks to Carl Mark O'Neill for these photos from last weekend's 2nd Westport Folk & Bluegrass Festival at Westport, Co. Mayo. Carl adds: 'Thanks again to all for a fantastic weekend.'


Session in McGing's bar, High Street, a cool place on a hot afternoon: Tony O'Brien (guitar), Alfred Bonk (bass), your editor (banjo), Hubie McEvilly (guitar), Liam Wright (guitar)


The Sullivan Brothers with Paddy Chanders, Tom Hanway, Aran Sheehan, and other musicians in the front bar of the Westport Inn hotel; among those also visible are Denise Hanway (foreground) and Richard O'Connell


Paddy Chanders (rear), Tom Hanway


Sheila Sullivan of the Sick & Indigent Song Club


Musicians include Tom Hanway (banjo), Aran Sheehan (mandolin), Martin McWhorter (mandolin), and Sheila Sullivan (fiddle). Joost van Es and his fiddle are visible at the bar. Further identifications are welcome!

Hunger Mountain Boys in Ireland, 5-11 July

Thanks to Ailis Corey for the news that Moving On Music will present the Hunger Mountain Boys on Sunday 6 July at the Black Box, Hill Street, Belfast. Doors 8.00 p.m. Tickets £10/£7 from Belfast Welcome Centre (028 9024 6609) and online.

Featuring Kip Beacco (guitar, mandolin, fiddle, vocals), Matt Downing (string bass, vocals), and Teddy Weber (guitar, steel guitar, vocals), the Hunger Mountain Boys have released four full-length albums in five years, toured extensively, and opened shows for such Americana icons as Taj Mahal, Doc Watson, Iris DeMent, and Ralph Stanley. They recreate the vitality of the 'Golden Age of Country Music', when old-time music was merging with vaudeville, ragtime, and jazz, and evolving into western swing and early bluegrass. Their original material comes from the same roots. Highly recommended. For more about the Hunger Mountain Boys, log on to their website or MySpace site. Read the full text of the Moving On Music release on the band and this show here.

Moving On Music is a non-profit company and registered charity, which has promoted jazz, blues, traditional, world, and electronic music in Northern Ireland since its establishment in 1995. In early September Moving On Music will be bringing the Hot Club of Cowtown across the Atlantic to play in the Black Box and in Letterkenny's Regional Cultural Centre. MOM is also handling the Crooked Jades tour mentioned in the BIB post of 6 June. For further information, contact Ailis Corey at Moving on Music, by sending an e-mail, or by telephoning 028 9024 8818.

The Black Box show forms part of a Hunger Mountain Boys tour in Ireland and Scotland. As shown on the band's tour schedule, the Ireland dates are:

Sat. 5th July: Cork Midsummer Festival, the Pavilion, Carey's Lane, 8.00 p.m.
Sun. 6th: The Black Box, Hill Street, Belfast
Wed. 9th: The Glens Centre, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim
Thurs. 10th: Earagail Arts Festival, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
Fri. 11th: Earagail Arts Festival, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal

These will be followed by seven dates in Scotland.

NTB in Bluegrass Europe

The cheerful - and why wouldn't he be? - face of Niall Toner, with his Vanden mandolin (before restoration by Matt Cooper), is on the cover of the latest Bluegrass Europe #62 (June-July 2008). And there's a major article inside, 'As real as it gets - the Niall Toner Band', written by Jan Michielsen of 4 Wheel Drive. Jan and the rest of 4WD can be seen at Westport, Co. Mayo, this weekend as the headliners for the 2nd Westport Folk & Bluegrass Festival.

For more details on the current issue of BE, use the link on the right to the European Bluegrass Blog.

Songwriter's fourth tour of Ireland

Gary Ferguson (guitar, vocals) will make his fourth consecutive tour of Ireland in July 2008, together with Colin Henry (dobro, guitar). Janet Holmes will join Gary and Colin on 18, 19, and 20 July. The tour will begin on 18 July and end on 29 July. It will include concerts, radio interviews, and a songwriter workshop with Mick Hanly at the Seamus Ennis Centre, Naul, on July 18.

Gary will have a new CD available for the tour; Gary Ferguson and friends: Live at Podunk, recorded at the Podunk Bluegrass Music Festival in East Hartford, CT, with Mike Auldridge, Ron Stewart, Emory Lester, Gail Wade, Kene Hyatt, and Marc Roy. The Bluegrass Unlimited review of Live at Podunk can be read here.

Janet will also have her new CD Wonder why available at the venues when she appears. This is her second CD, but this time Janet has written nine of the thirteen tracks herself. Co-produced by Cormac O’Kane, the album has some of Ireland’s finest acoustic musicians. As Damien Murray of the Belfast Telegraph wrote, 'Holmes is a world-class artist and one of our most underrated talents.'

July 18: Seamus Ennis Centre, Naul, Co. Dublin (w/Mick Hanly). 3.00 p.m. songwriter workshop. Evening concert
July 19: 'Saturday Connection' with Charlie McGettigan on Shannonside Radio; evening concert at Bog Lane Theatre (w/Charlie McGettigan)
July 20: Ardara Bluegrass Festival, Ardara, Co. Donegal
July 21: McGrory’s, Culdaff, Co. Donegal
July 22: Rodden’s Bar, Buncrana, Co. Donegal
July 23: The Cobblestone, Smithfield, Dublin (with Gerry Fitzpatrick and Con Butler)
July 25, 26: Phil Murphy Weekend, Carrig on Bannow, Co. Wexford
July 28: Mccarthy's Bar, Buttevant, Co. Cork

NB: 24, 27, and 29 July are still free, so if you want to put Gary & Colin on in your venue, contact Gary by e-mail.

Colin Henry & Janet Holmes on the air, 28 June

Colin Henry reports:

Janet [Holmes] and I are appearing this Saturday (28 June) on Charlie McGettigan's Saturday morning radio show 'Saturday Connection' on Shannonside Radio at about 11.00 a.m. We will be talking about the forthcoming tour with Gary Ferguson and about Janet's new CD. We will be doing four or five live tunes as well.

Stringdusters at #1

The multi-award-winning Infamous Stringdusters (USA) toured Europe for the whole of May and into the beginning of this month. For everyone who missed a chance to see them and/or wants to go on listening, their thirteen-track CD The Infamous Stringdusters (SUG-CD-4043) was released by Sugar Hill Records on 10 June, is already #1 on the bluegrass charts, and is generating a lot of buzz within the bluegrass, folk, and Americana community.

More and more bluegrass at Derry, 2-4 August

Frank Galligan reports:

Good news! As well as the bluegrass part of the Foyle Ulster-Scots Festival on Monday 4 August in Derry, the Maiden City Festival which takes place that same weekend will feature the Niall Toner Band, Bill Whelan's Oxo Boys, Woodbine, and Acoustic Grass on Saturday 2 August, playing on the Walls and outside the Richmond and Foyleside Shopping Centres.


Acoustic Grass and friends at Omagh, September 2006

Dunmore East Festival, 21-24 August

The Jack Grace Band

The 14th Guinness International Bluegrass Festival takes place at idyllic Dunmore East, Co. Waterford, on 21-24 August, with a powerful lineup combining established favourites and new visitors:

Hungry Hill (Canada); with Ross Nickerson (USA) on banjo
Jeff & Vida (USA)
Jack Grace Band (USA)
Sunnyside (CZ)
Blueflint (UK)
Kate Lissauer & the Buffalo Gals (UK)

and from Ireland the Knotty Pine String Band, Southern Bluegrass Union, Tin Box Company, Sullivan Bros & Brand New Companions, and The Huzzar.

Tim Carter at Nashville trade fair

Ned Luberecki and Tim Carter at NAMM

Tim Carter (USA) is well known here through his spectacular banjo-playing with the Carter Brothers at successive Johnny Keenan Banjo Festivals at Longford. Here's a photo of Tim and Ned Luberecki (another highly respected, vividly original, and very funny banjo-player, who was in Sally Jones's band at the recent EWOB Festival). They're jamming at the Nechville booth in the NAMM trade fair in Nashville. The photo comes to us from the original Bluegrass Blog, where you can read more.

Westport Festival preview on the air: UPDATE

Uri Kohen of the Westport Folk & Bluegrass Festival reports:

Hello to you all,

This Sunday 22 June at 18:00 Irish time, I will be the guest in a radio show to promote this year's bluegrass festival. I, Billy Clark, and the host Werner Levon will play the music of this year's festival artists, and classic folk and bluegrass festival music.

This program can be heard on the net via this link. It is a new way to get this small station, so I hope it will be going smooth and clear. If for whatever reason there will be no signal, I would like to apologise in advance. Thanks a lot and hope to meet you all in Westport on Friday 27 June!

*UPDATE, 20 JUNE: Uri adds that Gavin Glass's full band, the Holy Shakers, are going to join him at his Friday night concert, to give the full Americana sound.*

Prison Love's Independence Day Breakout!

Mark of Prison Love reports:

To mark American Independence Day in the finest style possible, Prison Love are having a blowout gig in the luxurious setting of the Button Factory (formerly the Temple Bar Music Center). See the above flier... We'll have the Holiest Shaker of them all, Gavin Glass, and Grafton Street's sweetest slide guitarist, Niall C. Lawlor, turning up the heat from 8:30. So bring your cap guns and your General Lees and we'll party like it's 1779!

4 July
Button Factory
Doors 8.00 p.m.
Dosh €12 (on the door or online)

In other news, we're packing our bags for Glastonbury next week, so keep an eye out for us on BBC's coverage of the festival. For those of you going to it, you can see us at the following venues:
Sat. 5.00 p.m.: Greenpeace Stage
Sat. Midnight: Avalon Field Cafe
Sun. 11.30 a.m.: Avalon Main Stage
Sun./Mon. 1.00 a.m.: JazzWorld Backstage (We'll be giving away passes for this so tell us if you want one...)

See you on down the trail...

MySpace site
Website

Matt Cooper, luthier

The restored headstock of the Vanden F-5

Niall Toner reports:

My Vanden F-5 style mandolin has been totally restored by Matt Cooper of Dublin, and is now sounding better than ever! Monroe aficionados have often jibed me about the fact that the headstock scroll had been broken off, as on Bill's instrument, but in fact it had happened when my mandolin was knocked off its stand at a gig in Howth in the mid '90s, and never recovered. I had recently asked Mike Vanden about replacing the part, and he had quoted a six-month wait. While I was in Portugal for a week's well-earned rest, Matt Cooper not only did a perfect (in fact flawless!) job, but also set up the instrument to sound and look better than ever before.

Matt has also worked on both of my vintage Gibson guitars, and the results are the same. Hats off to Matt Cooper!


The Vanden's headstock before restoration can be seen on the BIB post of 14 June.

Chatham County Line return in November

Thanks to Sharon Loughrin for the news that Chatham County Line, from North Carolina, will be returning to Ireland this coming November for two dates as part of a tour of these islands.

CCL - Dave Wilson (guitar, vocal, harmonica), John Teer (mandolin, fiddle, vocal), Chandler Holt (banjo, vocal), and Greg Readling (3/4 bass, pedal steel, piano, vocal) - made a big impression here in May at the Kilkenny Rhythm & Roots Festival and other gigs. Shows in the coming tour will be at:

Nov. 18th: The Luminaire, London, 20:00
19th: Fiddler’s Club, Bristol, 20:00
20th: The Arches, Glasgow, 20:00
21st: Little Theatre, Gateshead, Newcastle, 20:00
22nd: Errigle Inn, Belfast, 20:00
23rd: Crawdaddy, Dublin, 20:00
24th: Matt and Phred’s, Manchester, 20:00

Their schedule in the USA includes combined shows with the award-winning Infamous Stringdusters (who toured the Continent throughout May and into early June) and Crooked Still (who have just ended a tour in Ireland and Denmark). For more details, see their website and MySpace site.

NTB 3: out today!

The Niall Toner Band report:

The new Niall Toner Band CD, NTB3, was finally, after many delays, unleashed today, 14 June. One of the main reasons for the delay was a mere technical hitch involved in the last-minute inclusion of a video, shot at Athy Bluegrass 2007 by Kate Bradbury, and a bonus track, 'Nun's Island Reel', aka 'The Real Reel', an Irish-style instrumental tune composed by Niall in the early '90s. By an incredible series of twists and turns, a co-publishing deal with an LA-based publisher, announced by Niall at Athy Bluegrass 2007, has resulted in the inclusion of some of his music in Grand Theft Auto IV, the biggest selling video game in history. Niall's tune will also be available worldwide as a ringtone - it already is in the USA.

'Nun's Island Reel' is not at all typical of the music on NTB3, which has more in common with 'Mood swing' and 'There's a better way', and is once again, an all-original project, available in all good record shops from today.

NTB 3 and our two previous CDs are also available on i-Tunes, via Amazon, from Bardis Music, and by old-fashioned mail from the Niall Toner Band website.

The Niall Toner Band will be announcing further details of NTB3 promo dates, and all other confirmed appearances can be checked on our website and MySpace site.


Niall and his new associate

David Miner

David Miner at Athy 2007; photo by Breda Bowes

Gary Ferguson reports:

David Miner's sister, Patty, has logged into Dave's myspace page and posted comments etc. that were made since David's death on 14 February. I know Dave had a lot of friends on your blog. You might want to check it out and listen to some of Dave's music and read some of the comments. The tune 'Browntown' is a tune that Dave helped me write. Chris Sexton plays keyboards and violin.

Open House Festival (24-8 Sept.): lineup

The D.Rangers (Canada)

The Tenth Coors Open House Festival, to be held in the Cathedral Quarter, Belfast, on 24-8 September, held its launch party on 29 May. The programme for this year is now out - on the Festival website or in the handsome 48-page brochure - and it's not often one sees so many 5-string banjos and upright basses outside a dedicated bluegrass/old-time publication.

In addition to strong elements from Irish traditional and other genres, the bands appearing in the bluegrass/old-time/cajun/mountain folk spectrum include (in order of appearance):

The Southern Tenant Folk Union (UK)
The Rockridge Brothers (Sweden)
Trampled by Turtles (USA)
The Wilders (USA)
Prison Love (Dublin)
The Pine Leaf Boys (USA)
The D.Rangers (Canada)
Casa de Chihuahua + Philip Roebuck (Banjo Ninja) (USA)
O'Death (USA)
The Samsonites (USA/NL)
Outlaw Social (Canada)
Kendel Carson Trio (Canada)
Dyad (Canada)

More details and sound clips are on the Festival website. The Big Bluegrass Session on Friday 26 September will be hosted by the Tennessee Hennessees (Lurgan) in McHugh's; old-time sessions will be hosted in the John Hewitt on Saturday and McHugh's on Sunday by Ian Carmichael (banjo), Geordie McAdam (fiddle), Bernie Stocks (fiddle), Eugene Kelly (guitar), and Wilson Davies (bass); and a master class in American fiddle will be given on Sunday.

The D.Rangers from Canada (see above) are available for other gigs in Ireland each side of the Festival, so if you'd like to see them in your venue or your locality, contact Shawna Cooper by e-mail.



The Rockridge Brothers (Sweden)

Tin Box Company return to Leitrim, June/July

The Tin Box Company (Dublin): Paul McEvoy (guitar), Martin Kavanagh (mandolin), Barney Bowes (fiddle), John Heaney (bass), Martin Gilligan (banjo)

Whether you prefer car or boat, a Tin Box Company show can be waiting for you at the end of the journey. Following a very successful weekend session on 31 May-1 June, the Tin Box Company will be playing at the Leitrim Marina Hotel on the following dates:

June
Sat. 14th, 10.00 p.m.
Sun. 15th: Afternoon session on the Terrace

July
Sat. 26th, 10.00 p.m.
Sun. 27th: Afternoon session on the Terrace

The Hotel is right on the Marina at Leitrim Village, and boats and cars are welcome! For further info contact Antoinette Kennedy, Leitrim Marina Hotel, Leitrim Village; 'phone +353 (0)71 9623628.

Airplay on Radio Bluegrass International!!!

Tom Hanway and Bill Monroe backstage in Zanesville, Ohio, 1988 (photo: George Quinn)
Tom Hanway reports:
I am very pleased to announce that Bob Mitchell and Radio Bluegrass International are giving rotation to tracks from my Bucket of bees recording (Joyous Gard Records). This week it's 'Nashville blues', which I recorded with Vassar Clements and Bob Harris in New York City. For Bucket of bees I also recorded tracks in Nashville with my old pal Bil VornDick ('Elephant hop', 'Bucket of bees'). Mr Mitchell informs me that he will be playing two songs that I composed: 'Elephant hop' and 'Morgaine's hornpipe'. He also has selected 'You can't stop me from dreaming' for airplay, a song that Vassar learned from his mother when he was a boy, and he sings it and plays it on fiddle on Bucket of bees. Thank you Bob Mitchell, and thank you Richard Hawkins and the Bluegrass Ireland Blog for making all this possible. I'm back on the air in America, and I look forward to doing some touring back home in the not too distant future! Here is the full play list for 8 June 2008:
Radio Bluegrass International Program: 'Best of Bluegrass' Host: Bob Mitchell Play List 014 Recorded at WFPK-FM 91.9, Louisville KY, 12 April 2008 Broadcast Date: 8 June 2008
1) Red White & the Dixie Bluegrass Band: 'I want to be loved but only by you' / Track #22 / Rural Rhythm / Grassroots bluegrass 2) Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver: 'Just loving you' / Track #8 / Rounder / More behind the picture than the wall 3) J. D. Crowe: 'Mississippi River raft' / Track #1 / Rounder / Lefty’s old guitar 4) Claire Lynch: 'Train long gone' / Track #1 / Rounder / Crowd favorites 5) Charlie Sizemore: 'Hard rock bottom of your heart' / Track #3 / Rounder / Good news 6) Marty Raybon: 'The fuss' / Track #11 / Independent Release / The grass I grew up on 7) Dailey and Vincent: 'Cumberland River' / Track #3 / Rounder / Dailey and Vincent 8) The Daughters of Bluegrass: 'Pocket knives and fiddle tunes' / Track #11 / Blue Circle Records / Back to the well 9) Ricky Wassen; 'Paul and Silas' / Track #22 / Copper Creek Records / Goin’ up Copper Creek 10) Laurie Lewis: 'Tall pines' / Track #1 / Rounder / Laurie Lewis and her Bluegrass Pals 11) Benny Martin and Josh Graves: 'Salty Dog blues' / Track #6 / CMH Records / 50 years of bluegrass hits 12) Blue Highway: 'Through the window Of a train' / Track #2 / Rounder / Through the window of a train 13) Tom Hanway: 'Nashville blues' / Track #9 / Joyous Gard / Bucket of bees (Ireland) 14) Larry Sparks: 'For your love' / Track #3 / McCoury Music, Inc / The last suit you will wear 15) Wayne Taylor: 'Grandpa was a carpenter' / Track #10 / Independent Release / Dear Mom 16) The Dixie Bee Liners: 'Yellow haired girl' / Track #3 / Pinecastle / Ripe 17) Tommy Webb: 'Eastern Kentucky' / Track #2 / Kindred Records / Eastern Kentucky 18) Big Country Bluegrass: 'Quarry Road' / Track #6 / Hay Holler Records / 20 years of grass [end of hour 1] 19) IIIrd Tyme Out: 'A light at the river' / Track #6 / Chateau Music Group / Singing on streets of gold 20) Osborne Brothers: 'Driftwood on the river' / Track #2 / Pinecastle / Ernest Tubb song folio vol. 1 21) Allison Krauss: 'Gentle river' / Track #8 / Rounder / Too late to cry 22) Bill Monroe with Jimmy Martin: 'I’m on my way back to the old home' / Track #5 / Universal Music / The Father and the King 23) Rhonda Vincent: 'Is the grass any bluer' / Track #2 / Rounder / The storm still rages 24) Mike Bentley: 'Oh, Kentucky (Give me rest)' / Track #4 / Independent / [not yet released] 25) Audie Blaylock and Redline: 'Lonesome weary heart' / Track #3 / KBC Music / Prime cuts of bluegrass vol. 92> 26) James Reams & Walter Hensley: 'We’re the kind of people that make the jukebox play' / Track #6 / Mountain Redbird Music / Wild card 27) Clay Jones: 'The road to Columbus' / Track #4 / Rural Rhythm / Mountain traditional 28) Lighthouse: 'Those old memories' / Track #12 / Independent Release / Lighthouse: a California bluegrass band 29) Red Smiley & the Bluegrass Cut-ups: 'Big Sandy' / Track #10 / Rural Rhythm / Appalachian mountain bluegrass 30) Nashville Bluegrass Band: 'You’re driftin’ away'/ Track #4 / Rounder / To be His child 31) Riverbottom Bluegrass: 'Fifty cents worth of regular' / Track #3 / Independent Copy / [not released] 32) Pete Goble: 'Lovin’ ain’t been easy on my mind' / Track #9 / Independent Release / When I’m knee deep in bluegrass 33) The New Coon Creek Girls: 'The L&N don’t stop here anymore' / Track #3 / Pinecastle / The L&N don’t stop here anymore 34) Merle Haggard: 'Jimmie Rodgers blues' / Track #4 / McCoury Music, Inc. / The bluegrass sessions 35) Jimmy Bowen & Santa Fe: 'Her memories bound to ride' / Track #1 / Copper Creek Records / The chain gang
BIB editor's note: As mentioned in our original post, Bob will be glad to receive CDs for possible airplay on 'Best of bluegrass'; send them to Bob Mitchell 5800 Coach Gate Wynde (309D) Louisville KY 40207 +1-502-897-0256

Crooked Jades in Ireland, Oct.-Nov. 2008

The Crooked Jades: Sophie Vittels (fiddle), Charlie Rose (bass), Leah Abramson (ukulele), Jeff Kazor (guitar)

After several shows in Germany and Switzerland, the Crooked Jades (USA), a fine neo-old-time band, will be playing in Ireland as follows:

28 October: Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart, Co. Londonderry [NB: this show was first announced for the Town Hall, Ballymoney, Co. Antrim; since changed to Portstewart]
29 October: Festival at Queen's University, Belfast
30 October: North Down Museum, The Castle, Bangor, Co. Down
31 October: Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
1 November: Island Arts Centre, Lisburn, Co. Antrim

See also the band's MySpace site.

2nd Foyle Ulster-Scots 'Bluegrass on the Walls' Festival, Derry, 4 August

Frank Galligan (see post of 22 May on the Ardara Festival) reports:

Woodbine will be headlining the 2nd Foyle Ulster-Scots 'Bluegrass on the Walls' Festival in Derry city on Monday 4 August. Also playing will be Acoustic Grass (Derry) and some special guests specialising in Scottish traditional music. As ever, during the day there will be music in the vicinity of the historic walls and a concert that evening.

For further info, e-mail Frank.