Niall Toner Band #1 on AirPlay Direct bluegrass charts - and more

You may already have seen this news on the original Bluegrass Blog, but it's unprecedented enough to warrant special mention here: this week the Niall Toner Band is at the top of the AirPlay Direct bluegrass/folk charts - #1 among 50 top bluegrass/folk albums, based on radio station downloads.

A great part of this latest success is due to 'William Smith Monroe', Niall's new single commemorating the Father of Bluegrass; but any way you look at it, it's an astounding achievement for a band based outside the USA, and the whole Irish bluegrass scene can take pride in it.

The news was also announced yesterday in a special release by the Mountain Music Entertainment agency, which handles Niall's bookings in the USA. Niall adds, in an e-mail to the BIB:

I am just getting set to travel to Omagh, where we [NTB] are opening the proceedings on the Friday evening concert. It looks like being a busy weekend, as Sandy Harsch and myself are also hosting a live 2-hour show from there on Saturday night, 10.00-12.00, on RTE Radio One, with as many guests as we can squeeze into two hours.

On the news front, as you know, I am showcasing at IBMA in the Mountain Music Entertainment Suite 1814, and I am then touring in TN and NC, but the great news is that I have been invited to make a presentation on my bluegrass songwriting on Thursday 6 October to the students who attend the Lee Bidgood Survey of Contemporary Bluegrass class at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. 'Sand to the Arabs', etc.... but quite an honour!