Special C. tour schedule update

Thanks to Nigel Martyn and his Old Flattop agency for a reminder that the Special Consensus (USA) will be touring Ireland from the end of next week in support of their latest album, the IBMA-award-winning and Grammy-nominated Country boy: a bluegrass tribute to John Denver.

Nigel sends the following schedule, with links to venue websites:

Fri. 9th: Raheen House Hotel, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, 8.00 p.m. (Clonmel World Music)
Sat. 10th: Market Place Theatre, Armagh city, 8.00 p.m.
Sun. 11th: Campbell's Tavern, Headford, Co. Galway, 4.00 p.m.
Mon. 12th: The Anvil Inn, Portarlington, Co. Laois
Tues. 13th: JJ Smyth's, 12 Aungier St., Dublin 2
Wed. 14th: Barry's Public House, Grange, Co. Sligo, 9.00 p.m.
Thurs. 15th: [Black Box, Belfast (Out To Lunch Festival), 1.00 p.m.]*
Island Arts Centre, Lisburn, Co. Antrim, 8.00 p.m.
Fri. 16th: Errigle Inn, Belfast, 9.00 p.m. (Real Music Club)
Sat. 17th: Leap Castle, Co. Offaly (near Roscrea, Co. Tipperary), 9.00 p.m.
Sun. 18th: Winter Music Weekend, Bunratty/Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare, all day
[19-24 Jan.: tour in Britain]
Sun. 25th: Banteer Theatre, Banteer, Co. Cork, 8.00 p.m.
Mon. 26th: Village Arts Centre, Kilworth, Co. Cork, 8.00 p.m.
Tues. 27th: St John's Theatre, Listowel, Co. Kerry, 8.00 p.m.

*Though the Black Box lunchtime show on 15 Jan., announced earlier, is not on this latest list, it remains on the Special C.'s online schedule and the Out To Lunch Festival website, where tickets can be booked.

Country boy, the seventeenth Special C. album, won the 2014 IBMA Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year and Recorded Event of the Year awards, and is also on the first Grammy nominations ballot in four categories: Best Bluegrass Album, Americana Roots Performance, Album Notes, and Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist. The Special C. (Greg Cahill, Rick Faris, Dustin Benson, Dan Eubanks) were joined on the recordings by Dale Ann Bradley, Jason Carter, Michael Cleveland, John Cowan, Rob Ickes, Jim Lauderdale, Claire Lynch, Peter Rowan, Buddy Spicher, Rhonda Vincent, and Alison Brown.

The year 2015 will be a double milestone for the Special Consensus and Ireland: forty years of continuous full-time operation since Greg Cahill founded the band in 1975, and twenty years since the Special C.'s first tour here. Thanks to Nigel Martyn, who has kept them playing full schedules in Ireland since 1998!