British Bluegrass News, June 2015

Yes, the BIB does seem to keep mentioning British Bluegrass News, the magazine of the British Bluegrass Music Association, but it's really just four times a year. Each issue deserves mention, because (a) BBN's a consistently excellent quarterly, and (b) there are frequent items of interest to readers in Ireland. For example, in this issue:

There's a two-page feature by Hubert Murray of Lands End (whose members include Paddy Kiernan and Richie Foley, both of the Niall Toner Band) on the making of their CD Border sessions. There's a feature on bluegrass festivals in Ireland, focussing on the Westport festival but also mentioning those at Athy and Omagh (and the BIB). The cover story is about the Jaywalkers, who played at Omagh in 2013. And in the feature on London's all-girl band The Jolenes, bassist and lead singer Sarah Freeman says: 'I'm always listening to the Watery Hill Boys'.

Not to mention the interview with guitar maestro Russ Barenberg (USA), the 1990s instalment of Tom Travis's ongoing chronicle of bluegrass in Britain, and much more, including ads for top-quality instruments by luthiers in England. Oh yes - and there's a column on bluegrass affairs in Europe by Dublin-born Eugene O'Brien, the present chairman of the EBMA.