Shannon and Heather Slaughter and County Clare

Sometimes it seems that everyone on the US bluegrass scene can claim a family connection of some kind to Ireland; so when we saw a post on the original Bluegrass Blog about a new CD from Shannon and Heather Slaughter and County Clare, we thought - well, what would you think? Even the name 'Shannon Slaughter' might suggest any number of medieval disagreements between the Ó Briain dynasty and their neighbours. But when we asked Shannon what the exact connection with Ireland was, he replied:

... none that I know of. I just always liked New Grass Revival's instrumental 'County Clare' and I've always wanted to play my guitar in an Irish pub... haha. So that's how the name came about...

Shannon had a distinguished career as a sideman in prominent bands before forming his own group, so his new CD is fittingly titled The sideman steps out. Check it out on his website. Maybe one day he'll be playing that guitar in an Irish pub - perhaps even in Clare?