The Watery Hill Boys: at home and overseas

Thanks to Jim MacArdle in Drogheda, Co. Louth, who writes:

This is to let you know that we have a new early bluegrass/ old-timey outfit in Drogheda called the Watery Hill Boys, composed of myself, Donal Black, and Neil Conlon. The emphasis is on lively music with old-time harmonies. I play guitar and autoharp, Donal plays banjo, mandolin and guitar, and Neil plays bass. Here is our profile:

The Watery Hill Boys come from the Watery Hill area of Drogheda, Ireland, a hilly area where cool clear water flows from the nearby mountains into the River Boyne. It has been said that you can feel the rhythm of the flowing water from the mountain streams in the music of the Watery Hill Boys. The music the boys play is old-time country and early bluegrass, based on the music of such legendary groups as the Carter Family, the Skillet Lickers, the Blue Sky Boys, and Bill Monroe, etc.

Although the boys have not been together very long, they have all received postgraduate credits in the University of Life & Music, where informal courses have been arranged for many years in Carberry’s Pub (Fridays) and Clarke's (every second Tuesday) and other watering-holes too numerous to mention in the Drogheda area.

We play every Friday in Carberry's, North Strand, and on every second Tuesday at Clarke's, Peter St., Drogheda [shown in the above photo]. On next Friday we travel to Spain to play on successive nights in the Catalonian villages of La Pera and Rupia. We are just putting the final touches to our (untitled) first album and samples of our music can be heard on our MySpace site.