Sore Fingers Week, 10-14 Apr. 2023

Sore Fingers Summer Schools (SFSS), Europe's leading organisation for bluegrass and old-time music instruction camps, announce that next year's main event will be held on 10-14 April 2023 at Kingham Hill School (right), Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire OX7 6TH, England - the traditional venue, now with even better facilities.

Following the pandemic, the organisers (John and Moira Wirtz) aim at a Sore Fingers Week attendance of 300 or more this year (which has been achieved in the past) to put SFSS back on a secure footing for the future. The full schedule of courses and instructors can be seen here and also on Bluegrass Today; readers in Ireland will recognise among the teaching faculty several names of artists who have performed here in the past.

At present the tour schedule of the Lonesome Ace Stringband doesn't go far enough to tell whether the listing of Chris Coole and John Showman as instructors (in old-time banjo and old-time fiddle, respectively) indicates a tour in spring by the band - which will be touring Britain in the second half of January.

The new four-minute SFSS promo video below can be seen on the Sore Fingers website and on Bluegrass Today. The BIB testifies that it presents an accurate picture. Fans of Irish music will recognise the tune played throughout as 'John Stenson's no. 2'.

© Richard Hawkins