Online concerts - starting TONIGHT

GOOD to hear from our Czech friends Pe & Pe - Petra Fabianová (fiddle, vocals) and Petr Ježek (banjo) - who have toured Ireland several times, presenting their combination of bluegrass, traditional, folk, original compositions, and other acoustic music, and regularly appearing at the Ardara Bluegrass Festival in Co. Donegal.

Pe & Pe (also on Facebook) send their greetings, and announce that they will be playing online tonight (Wed. 6 May) from 7.00 p.m. (6.00 p.m. for Ireland). The concert will be live on their Facebook, and subsequently can be seen at any time on YouTube.

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BEFORE the COVID-19 crisis struck, today was to have been the start of a tour of Ireland by another duo, 10 String Symphony (USA). The tour is now postponed till May 2021, but Music Network, who organised it, now announce that Christian Sedelmyer and Rachel Baiman of 10 String Symphony have recorded an online concert especially for Music Network's audiences, filmed on the banks of the Cumberland River in Madison, near Nashville, TN.

Update: this half-hour concert can now be seen and heard here.

This concert forms part of the Butterfly Sessions (online performances by musicians whose tours for Music Network were prevented by the crisis), and will be available to watch at 7.30 p.m. tomorrow (Thurs. 7 May) on Music Network's digital channels: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Full details are on Music Network's e-newsletter, which includes a link for donations. Music Network announce:

All of the musicians involved in the Butterfly Sessions have received a fee for their new commission. However, if you would like to donate the price of a virtual ticket, you can do so via PayPal now. Music Network will ensure that all income generated is divided equally amongst the 24 musicians participating in the Butterfly Sessions.

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SIMILARLY, the Crossover Festival in England was to begin tomorrow. On their latest newsletter, the organisers announce:

Crossover Festival was going to try to do some kind of 'virtual festival'. We had a list of bands lined up that would do online concerts over the festival weekend. However, since lock-down, this has proved increasingly difficult with bands not being able to meet up. BUT YOU CAN STILL HELP... Musicians are amongst a lot of workers who are going to be struggling financially right now, so if you're in a position to help, you can do so by buying some of their merchandise. Links are provided below to where you can buy CDs/merch/ donate to online gigs etc.

They append a list of the bands who were to have appeared at Crossroads 2020, with links to websites; a further list of bands doing frequent live-streamed music; and several YouTube videos 'that have kept us a little happier over the lockdown period', including a couple by Midnight Skyracer.

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Bill and the Belles (USA; left) were at last year's Omagh festival; and as the house band on Radio Bristol, broadcasting from the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, they will be hosting online a special home edition of 'Farm and Fun Time', which will be shown online next Thursday (14 May) at 7.00 p.m. EST on Facebook and YouTube. The show is announced as featuring The show will feature music by the band, an 'Heirloom recipe', special guests, and 'a few other surprises'.