NT in NC

Above: the Niall Toner Band (l-r, Dick Gladney, Niall, and Clem O'Brien) cutting up on stage at their third successive sell-out gig at Killoughternane schoolhouse, near Borris, Co. Carlow. Niall, who is now in Raleigh, NC, for IBMA's World of Bluegrass, at the beginning of his autumn US tour, will be reporting on IBMA week in due course.

Meanwhile, he is understandably pleased to find his Pinecastle album, Onwards and upwards, doing very well in the US charts; a song from the album, 'Judge and jury', was on the radio twice in Raleigh on Friday; and the original NTB recording of an earlier song of his, 'Lonely souls and broken hearts' (featured in the ABC-TV drama series 'Nashville'), has also been selected to feature in the US TV sci-fi drama 'Haven'. More details are on the European Bluegrass Blog.