Bending the Strings at the Greville Arms Bluegrass Sessions

The weekly Saturday night Bluegrass Sessions at the Greville Arms Hotel in Mullingar continue with great success.

Last Saturday (20 Feb.) saw Bluegrass and Western Swing trio Bending the Strings (above) take the stage to a very warm welcome from a large audience. Bluegrass is a very new and different music in the Mullingar venue, and the audience loved the high-energy set from the trio.

Martin Cooney's amazing chops on 5-string banjo thrilled the crowd, who made it clear that they loved every minute of Martin's brilliant delivery on tunes as well known as the Scruggs classic 'Foggy Mountain breakdown' to the Deliverance theme 'Duelling banjos' to his own composition of 'Hesitation', and left no one in any doubt as to why this man is so often hailed as one of the greatest exponents of the 5-string banjo.

On guitar, Vinny Baker played some great Doc Watson tunes like 'Black Mountain rag' and the Monroe classic 'Roanoke', which went down a storm; and then of course the band member who never fails to impress with her unique mastery of the music is Moyra Fraser on piano - which in itself is an unusual part of a bluegrass band, but very much the sound associated with Bending the Strings, and it's this difference which makes the trio stand out from other bluegrass outfits. Moyra, being no ordinary piano player, makes the music her own on her instrument and her high vocal harmonies add the very sound so necessary for this style.

All in all it was a great performance by the trio and their return in a couple of weeks will be looked forward to by the large crowd.

Next Saturday, 6 Mar., sees Athy band Woodbine at the Greville Bluegrass Sessions and this promises to be a great night - Woodbine made a big impression on the Mullingar audiences when they played The Stables recently with Bending the Strings. If you are looking for a great night out with great music, don't look any further than the Greville Arms Bluegrass Sessions every Saturday night.

As noted earlier this week, Tom Hanway & his Bluegrass Pals are playing the Greville Arms tonight (27 Feb.).