Stripped-down news #2

The UK's Eagle Music Shop had a welcome presence at the last two Johnny Keenan Banjo Festivals. The Prescription Bluegrass Blog published yesterday the news that Eagle are now the #1 banjo dealership in the world. Congratulations to Steve Noon!

Ireland's own leading banjo dealer, Dangem Bluegrass, present banjo lessons for beginners at the Spectrum Centre, Belfast, on Friday 22 Feb.; and their monthly morning Bluegrass Get-Together at the Lagan Valley Island Civic Centre, Lisburn, Co. Antrim, on Sat. 23 Feb. Full details are here.

The updated schedule of events up to 3 Mar. 2013 at the Seamus Ennis Cultural Centre in Naul, Co. Dublin, can be seen here.

Anyone who was turned on to classic bluegrass by the Bluegrass Album Band should enjoy this well-illustrated article by John Goad on Bluegrass Today. Several members of the BAB have been to Ireland - including one new member who first arrived as a skinny teenage mandolinist with Special Consensus.