The latest BBN

The winter 2019 issue (no. 88) of British Bluegrass News, the magazine of the British Bluegrass Music Association (BBMA), is now out; as always, it's designed and produced to high standards, profusely illustrated with excellent photos, and full of solid content; and as usual, there are items relevant to events on the scene here.

This issue's cover story is on Lunch Special, who toured here briefly during October and will be back for this year's Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival. The records reviewed include Space guitars, the debut album by Pet Yeti, who will also be at Westport. The festival is mentioned in passing in an article by Maria Wallace of True North Music, who took the IBMA's Leadership Bluegrass (LBG) course partly on the advice of LBG alumnus Uri Kohen. And a map of music teachers in these islands shows Hubert Murray (guitar) in Tullamore.

On a more sombre note, two separate articles lament the disappearance of long-established festivals (Britain has lost five in the last three years) and the consequent loss of opportunities for bands.