On the Irish road: 2

Left: Gary Ferguson, Monika Bermingham, John Bermingham, and mountains

Thanks to Colin Henry for a new instalment on the current tour by Ferguson, Holmes, & Henry:

Well, after a welcome rest in Belfast, Gary and I headed south to Clonakilty in Cork to perform on Wednesday night as a duo at the famous De Barras Folk Club. Clonakilty is a lovely town to visit with plenty to see and do. I also discovered a wonderful music shop, Allegro Music, owned by a committed Mary Ballard. It has all manner of good instruments and I even managed to get a stand for my 'new' mandolin.

De Barras Folk Club is rightly famous. Its walls are lined with photographs of all the big names that have played there from Noel Redding, the bass player for Jimi Hendrix, to Christy Moore. We played the Sitting Room Sessions, organised by Gavin Moore, Christy's nephew. Gavin is a fine singer and songwriter in his own right. We had a good gig with great sound and we made some new friends by way of Lydia Phillips and her partner Sean, musicians and songwriters from Australia.

From Clonakilty we moved east to Mullinahone in Co. Tipperary. We were playing at a new venue, Croc An Oir, which has been established by John and Monika Bermingham. We were only the third act to play there; Mick Hanly and Charlie McGettigan were the first two. It is a magical place at the foot of the mountain - an Irish mountain of course. You can see John, Monika and Gary in the picture [top] with the mountain behind them. It is John's ancestral home and was in a pretty run-down state until John, with a vision that only some are blessed with, decided to completely refurbish (indeed rebuild) the place as a music venue with accommodation. It is the only place I have ever played where my bedroom was ten feet from the concert venue. John is a musician's musician and a fine guitarist. We had a mighty session [photo above] after the gig. The hospitality was immense and I reckon this will become a premier place to play.

After Tipperary we travelled north to the Ardara Bluegrass Festival. We were the opening act of the festival and we were proud to be so. Pat Magill, who organises the festival, is another fine host and a real enthusiast. The festival is going from strength to strength and I hope that it continues to do so. The great band Woodbine, with our esteemed editor on banjo, played on Saturday night and only that we were recording in Belfast, I would have stayed to enjoy the music.

So after recording here in Belfast we return to Co. Cork and Kilworth and the legend that is John Nyhan. It is a double header with the Tennessee Hennessees and it will be fun, or 'mighty' as John would say.