Ross Nickerson: videos from live shows in Ireland

Master banjo-picker Ross Nickerson (USA) was in this country last autumn, as a member of the Canadian band Hungry Hill. During the tour, family bereavements obliged Jenny Lester (fiddle) and Mark Thibeault (guitar, dobro) to return to Canada. With the aid of musicians from over here, the tour was successfully completed, and this grouping - core members Bob Hamilton (mandolin), Ross Nickerson (banjo), and Nadine Landry (bass), and Ivor Ottley (fiddle) and Clem O'Brien (guitar), both recruited in Ireland - can now be seen on YouTube.

Several vocal and instrumental numbers were videoed while the band was at Colfer's, in Carrig on Bannow, Co. Wexford, and at the 2008 Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival in Longford. They include 'Katie Cline', 'Wheel hoss', 'Yukon drive', 'She's no angel', 'Highland Rim', 'It's mighty dark to travel', and 'Ain't got no sugar dad'. Clem and Ivor do magnificent jobs, and the whole band is in great form. Ross adds a necessary warning that these videos, made under informal conditions, bear no relation in quality to the many professionally recorded videos on his BanjoTeacher.com website. They're fine bluegrass, nonetheless.