Arlington Country & Bluegrass Weekend in Dublin, 19-21 Nov. 2010

Thanks to Rob Kent of the Cotton Pickin Rodeo Clowns for forwarding news of a major new event, particularly strong in old-time-music appeal: the Arlington Hotel at O'Connell Bridge (bang in the centre of Dublin) presents a three-day Country & Bluegrass Weekend (Friday 19 November to Sunday 21 November) featuring six bands at the core of the current roots/Americana revival, with no cover charge.

Here's the programme, with band bios supplied by Stephen Tabb, the Arlington's show & entertainment manager:

Friday 19 November
Cotton Pickin Rodeo Clowns, 10.00-11.00 p.m.
Trading cotton for strings, these pie eatin’ outlaws share a fondness for homecooked suppers, open fires and old timey jibbah jabbah! Featuring an array of instruments including guitar, bass, banjo, fiddle, dobro, mandolin and cajon. The Clowns are eager to share with you their own brand of country/bluegrass and a few old favourites to boot.

Prison Love, 11.00 p.m.-1.00 a.m.
Expect the fast pace and dynamism of Dave Holden's mandolin, Paul Mulcahy's flat-picking guitar (both also make use of a banjo, when the wind is right), Adrian Hart's fiddle and Martin Gruet on the doghouse bass. Chipping in with vocal harmonies, Mark O’Mahony completes the lineup. This is a band that delivers great music and fun in equal doses.

Saturday 20 November
Prairie Dawgs, 6.00-8.00 p.m.
Prairie Dawgs are one of Dublin's most exciting up-&-coming roots bands. With their own infectious brand of rousing bluegrass ballads and clothes-line sagas, the Dawgs have gained a reputation for their highly energised live shows. This musical pack of rodents, who are house band for the Cobblestone’s now legendary Tumbleweed Love Sessions, play a range of instruments including fiddle, mandolin, banjo, guitar & harmonica around some sweet old-time harmonies!

The Cujo Family, 8.00-10.00 p.m.
The Cujo Family hail from Bray and Dublin. They have been regulars in the Dublin music scene now for the past two years and have gathered up a dedicated following. Their gigs are high-energy, stomping sessions with interludes of reflective balladry. They are both raucous and wistful, with a keen sense for the air of a tune.

Sunday 21 November

The Red Star String Band, 5.00-6.00 p.m.
Bill Whelan & Co., doyen of old-time banjo playing and godfather of string-band music in this island, a must-see!

I Draw Slow, 7.00-9.00 p.m.
I Draw Slow is a five-piece outfit comprising vocals, guitar, fiddle, banjo, and double bass. Holden siblings Dave (guitar) and Louise (vocals) have been writing together for two decades, starting on Dublin’s gigging circuit with funk operation Tabularasa. Since then the pair have teamed up with violinist Adrian Hart (Yurodni, Prison Love) clawhammer banjo-player Colin Derham (Tabularasa, Choral Sex, Global Funk Orchestra), and double-bassist Konrad Liddy (Tabularasa, Prison Love). The five have created a new sound, rooted in the old-time style of the Appalachian Mountains, drawing on Irish traditional music and modern Americana. However, this is a whole new songbook of stories and melodies. These are dark tales of debauchery and trouble, swinging from the kind of well-crafted melodies that survive.

For more information, please e-mail Stephen Tabb, Show & Entertainment Manager, Arlington Hotel, Bachelors Walk, Dublin 1; telephone 01-8049100.