A new old-time session in central Dublin

News from Bill Whelan, doyen of old-time music in Ireland and one of the best clawhammer banjo players anywhere, is always welcome, and especially this time. Bill's four-piece 2RN String Band is taking up a new residency every Wednesday evening in central Dublin: at J. McNeill's in Capel Street, Dublin 1 (see map here). The first session will be tomorrow night, 4 February.

A few years ago, McNeill's was one of the best shops in Dublin for acoustic string instruments and traditional music (your editor bought his Washburn B-21 5-string there in 1993). Now a bar, it still has banjos in the front window, and Bill tells us there are plans to have a music shop again on the premises - upstairs from the bar. While we're looking forward to that, there should be plenty of good music on Wednesdays from the 2RN String Band.*

*For younger and overseas readers: 2RN was the original call-sign of the Irish Free State national radio station when it opened on 1 January 1926.