Bluegrass at Ballyhooly Arts Festival, 22-5 May 2014

Thanks to John Denby, mandolinist with the Down & Out Bluegrass Band (above), for news of this year's Ballyhooly Arts Festival in Co. Cork, which will be held at the end of next week - from Thursday 22 May to Sunday 25 May, with a winding-up music session on Monday night.

Ballyhooly is a delightful village with its own castle, looking down over the valley of the Blackwater river, which runs through Fermoy a few miles to the east on the N72. The festival comprises many varied attractions, and there's a strong music programme in which the Down & Outs are playing a major role from Friday night to Sunday night, including hymns on Sunday morning at Christ Church, Ballyhooly. Other artists in the bluegrass-and-related-music field include Gordon & Rose with P.J. Power on dobro and other instruments, not to mention the invaluable John Nyhan.