Ending the year on a high

Uri Kohen, organiser of the annual Westport Folk & Bluegrass Festival, reports from Westport, Co. Mayo:

2010 was the most fruitful year (in terms of gigs produced) for the Electric Cave Production. The weekend saw the last two gigs of the year, and the artists and fans alike beat the snow and made it to Geraghty's pub for a few hours of musical heaven. The Oilskins from Portland, OR, travelled seven-and-a-half hours from Cork to Westport in a snow blizzard and warmed the atmosphere in the pub with an Americana acoustic session - or, in their own words, 'four lads busking in the pub's corner'. We are looking forward to see them again in a full amplified gig.

On Saturday it was the turn of Seamie O'Dowd (above) from Sligo to fight the snow and travel to Westport. Seamie is considered by some to be one of Ireland's finest musicians, with amazing control of guitar, fiddle, and harmonica. One of the highlights of the night was when a local folk singer, Tony Reidy, joined Seamie on stage (below).

Seamie produced the last two albums by Tony, one of which was voted Mojo's Folk Album of the Month in April 2007 (see review here).

Uri and his team would like to take this opportunity to thank all the artists that made the journey to Westport over the last year, and we hope to see you all in Westport in 2011 as well. 2011 will start with a bang with a Johnny Cash tribute show on 8.1.2011 - more details next week. Merry Xmas and a happy new year!

BIB editor's note: When this post was first published, '2010' appeared as '2011', and '2011' as '2012'. This error is greatly regretted.