19 August 2014

British Bluegrass News

The BIB editor reports:

The August 2014 issue of British Bluegrass News, the quarterly journal of the British Bluegrass Music Association, has just reached us, and as usual it's produced and edited to high standards and packed with good things - several of which have an Irish connection. The main features are interviews with Dolly Parton (with strong emphasis on the place of bluegrass in her life and work); British bluegrass pioneer Tom Travis (on the scene in England in the 1960s); and Bruce Molsky.

The Irish connections come in a feature on Dublin's Paddy Kiernan; a half-page letter from Christy Clements (also of Dublin) on the experience of Sore Fingers Week; and the latest article in an advisory series by master fiddler Ivor Ottley. This one is on playing in jams, with some essential tips on jam etiquette (e.g: 'above all, play less, look and listen more'). Ivor illustrates some points from his experiences in learning East Clare fiddle style some years ago.

Oh yes - and among the full-page colour ads for the Gower, Didmarton, and Moniaive festivals and the Shackleton banjo (a further Irish connection there), there's one for the Sons of Navarone, an award-winning Belgian band who've made a place for themselves on the circuit in Britain and would go down well over here too. And their banjo-player was born in Dublin...

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