New artists for 5th Westport Folk & Bluegrass Festival

Uri Kohen reports from Westport, Co. Mayo:

In the last couple of weeks, I learned about the cancellation of the Irish tour of US bluegrass band County Line. I then set on the hard task of filling the gap in the programme of Westport's 5th Folk and Bluegrass Festival.

On Friday 24 June 2011 we will add the great Dublin band Little Ass Birds [top] to our folk & bluegrass bar crawl.

Saturday will now kick off with the great David Hope [left]; this time he will be joined on stage by one of Ireland's finest musicians - Tommy 'T-Bone' Lyons [right]. Tommy is a member of Westport bluegrass band The Macevillys, and one of the west's main bluegrass ambassadors. They promise it to be a fun gig with special guests and plenty of good music to suit all music lovers.

The festival's website has now been updated and our Facebook page will soon be giving regular updates on events leading to the festival. Uri and his team are working hard to ensure that the festival will showcase the best of folk and bluegrass music around on the beautiful background of Clew Bay. See you in Westport, 24-26 June!