St Patrick's day: the morning after

Here to make you feel better are a few hairs of the wolfhound that bit you - the one with the big teeth and a haircut like Red Allen had in 1958.

As promised, John Lawless has published Chris Stuart's 'Green Yodel #21', part 2 on Bluegrass Today - a lively and incisive interview with Dublin's Ronnie Norton, photographer, radio presenter, commentator, and graduate of the IBMA Leadership Bluegrass programme (of which Ronnie has many good things to say).

Also on Bluegrass Today, Niall Toner has written as a special contributor 'Bluegrass: an Irish perspective', combining an account of his own journey in music, a look at the scene here, and more. There's also a video clip of an interview with Niall, Clem O'Brien, and Dick Gladney from MUZU.TV.

Separately altogether, Hope River Entertainment in the US have issued a special announcement on their blog to mark the fact that Niall is now #1 on the AirPlay Direct Global Indicator Charts, hitting the all-time record of most radio downloads on the Bluegrass/Folk chart. There are also details for a free CD giveaway for Niall's latest album release, Onwards and upwards, which you can enter via Niall's website; the offer opened yesterday and will end on 13 April. Two radio shows by Niall are also available for download on AirPlay Direct. Read the full details here.

PS: The chairman of AirPlay Direct, Robert Weingartz, writes:

It has been truly amazing to watch how the global radio community has responded to Niall and his music. Niall has the fastest rising bluegrass album in the history of AirPlay Direct, and currently has the #1 bluegrass album of all time on AirPlay Direct.