The House Devils in Ireland, 12-15 June 2015

The BIB editor reports:

Thanks to Paul Lee of Musiclee.ie for the news that the House Devils will be playing on Friday 12 June at the DC Music Club, 20 Camden Row, Dublin 2, starting at 9.00 p.m. Tickets are €15 (€13 reserved); 'phone 087-6825306 on day of concert to check availability.

The House Devils, based in Manchester, are Matt Fahey (guitar, vocals), Mat Walklate (harmonica, flute, vocals, uilleann pipes), Jonny Hulme (5-string banjo, vocals), and Laszlo Palko (percussion). Their Facebook succinctly describes what they play as 'Irish traditional, Bluegrass and Old-Time music. Lots of harmonica!'

The result is probably the most original and convincing blend of the genres that I've heard. Judge for yourself: Paul gives YouTube links for their versions of the Monroe composition 'Old Ebenezer Scrooge' and Jimmy Murphy's 'We live a long, long time to get old'; you might also like to hear their combination of 'Over the waterfall' (from Henry Reed's repertoire) and the Don Reno original 'Follow the leader', and there's more on YouTube.

The following day (Sat. 13th) they'll be at the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival, where Mat Walklate will be giving a harmonica masterclass at 3.30 p.m. and the band is playing in the Jester at 10.30 p.m.; on Sunday they're in the Roisin Dubh, Galway city, and on Monday they take part in 'Welcome Home To Enniscrone' at Enniscrone, Co. Sligo.