Editorial hiatus, 14-19 Sept. 2023

The BIB editor reports:

Please note that though my impending retirement as editor will take effect from 18 Sept., family matters will cause me to be away from the editorial chair from 14 to 19 Sept. inclusive. Any news of importance sent to me during that period will be dealt with on my return.

© Richard Hawkins

Yonder Boys (USA/AUS/CHL) back in Ireland, 8-24 Sept. 2023

The Yonder Boys (USA/AUS/CHL), who were part of the 2022 Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival and toured for a week in Ireland in January this year, will be back at the end of next week to play at the Séamus Ennis Arts Centre, Naul. Co. Dublin, on Friday 8 Sept. as the first show in a tour lasting to 24 Sept. The full schedule, as it appears on their website, is as follows:

• Fri. 8th Sept.: Séamus Ennis Arts Centre, Naul, Co. Dublin
• Sat. 9th: Monroe's, Galway city
• Sun. 10th: Mullarkey's, Clifden, Co. Galway
• Wed. 13th: The Sunflower, Belfast
• Fri. 15th: Bennigan's, Derry city
• Sat. 16th: Balor Arts Centre, Ballybofey, Co. Donegal
• Sun. 17th: The Red Room, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone
• Thurs. 21st-Sun. 24th: Clonakilty Guitar Festival, Clonakilty, Co. Cork

© Richard Hawkins

Dr Banjo on learning to hear chord changes

The Deering Banjo Company announces the second episode of their new 'Pete's Place' feature, in which Pete 'Dr Banjo' Wernick shows "how to hear the chords to a new tune when you are at a jam. This is an essential skill to learn so you can enter any jam and play along whether you know the tunes or not." This substantial body of advice, like last week's, originally appeared in Banjo News Letter.

Deering also include a link to the BandCamp page for Michael J. Miles's new album American Bach revisited, and another for buying copies of Pete Wernick's classis Bluegrass songbook, with words and melody lines for over 130 songs, together with much good advice from many of the creators of bluegrass singing.

© Richard Hawkins

Distinguished visitors AGAIN at Dublin's Bluegrass Tuesday

Many thanks to Patrick Simpson for news of another great night at one of the weekly Dublin bluegrass jam sessions. Patrick writes:

Just thought I would let you know we had some very special guests join the bluegrass jam session at The Oarsman, Ringsend, this past Tuesday. Caleb Klauder, Russ Blake, and the great Michael Bub surprised us with a visit to Bluegrass Tuesdays and joined us for a few tunes and a few pints. The energy was fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed the music.

Special thanks to Anto Griffan for delivering what was an epic night for Dublin Bluegrass Collective. Also thank you to The Oarsman and the Bluestack Mountain Boys for hosting such a fine night of classic 'Bluegrass & Beyond'! We hope they have a successful tour and we hope to catch the Caleb & Reeb Country Band later on next Wednesday (6 Sept.) at the Cobblestone. Thanks to all who support us, and we look forward to more great jams with more big names.

We welcome any touring musicians to join us at Mother Reilly's Bar & Restaurant for Bluegrass Sundays 7.00-11.00 p.m. or at The Oarsman, Ringsend, for Bluegrass Tuesdays 8.00-11.00 p.m.

The BIB congratulates Patrick and the Dublin Bluegrass Collective for building up a welcoming environment for visiting pickers from the Mother Country and the rest of the bluegrass world.

The view into The Oarsman from Bridge St.

L-r: T.J. Screene, Mike Bub, Patrick Simpson

© Richard Hawkins

'Take me high' - new single coming from JigJam

JigJam announce that their new single, 'Take me high', will be released on Friday 8 Sept.:

We are so excited to share the first of many new original songs with you all. This one is called 'Take me high' and was written by our banjo maestro Daithi Melia [below]. We've been enjoying playing this one live all summer and cannot wait to have it out into the world.

A brief promotional video for 'Take me high' is on YouTube; if you like it, you can help JigJam by pre-saving the single at this link.

© Richard Hawkins

Alison Brown plays 'Time after time' on a Goodtime Two Deco

The Deering Bajo Company present a video (also on YouTube) of Alison Brown playing the Cyndi Lauper hit 'Time after time' on a Deering Goodtime Two Deco 5-string from their new special-edition Deco range. The banjo, and the song, naturally sound beautiful. As Conor Daly has already shown on the scene here, a Deering Goodtime should not be underrated.

© Richard Hawkins

Shane Hennessy - touring in the USA, and more

Carlow guitar maestro Shane Hennessy sends his Aug.-Sept. 2023 newsletter from Peoria, IL, where he has just played the Peoria Irish Fest. On Wednesday this week he will play his first show in California; of his following five dates (up to mid September) three are in the MidWest, one at the Station Inn in Nashville, TN, and one in Syracuse, NY. Two further North America dates are confirmed for March 2024, following his work at Guitar Workshop Spain in February.

New items are in Shane's merchandise store, and the physical CD of his 2017 album Marrakesh is back in stock. All this and more is in the newsletter, together with Shane's thanks to Culture Ireland for the agency's support; he writes: 'I don't know how many of us would be able to tour without the help of Culture Ireland.'

© Richard Hawkins

Edd Mayfield remembered

The 146th Bluegrass Unlimited weekly newsletter includes a link to the BU archives for a forty-year-old article by Doug Hutchens, bluegrass historian and former Blue Grass Boy. Published originally in the August 1983 issue of BU, it chronicles the tragically brief career of Edd Mayfield from Texas, who played three stretches as a Blue Grass Boy before his death from leukemia in 1958, aged 32. Bill Monroe considered him 'a wonderful guitar player and a wonderful singer' and had a high personal regard for him, which can be heard in his voice in 'Bill Monroe speaks about Edd Mayfield - 1965 Ralph Rinzler interview'. So anyone who might say that Monroe thought only Kentuckians could play bluegrass, can be answered with two words: 'Edd Mayfield'.

© Richard Hawkins

Sounding the Well of Souls (2)

The BIB editor writes:

Kristina R. Gaddy's book Well of souls: uncovering the banjo's hidden history can be seen as a companion to the collaborative volume Banjo roots and branches, ed. Robert B. Winans (2018), in which ten scholars meticulously examined the source material by which the stages in the early development of the banjo, from the seventeenth century, can be plotted. Gaddy presents much of the same material in the form of reconstructions of the lived experience of the people involved in each of those stages.

This understandably involves frequent use of phrases such as 'perhaps', 'surely', 'may have been', 'may have used', 'may have come from', and (200) 'How they actually felt is impossible to know'. The book is meant to be a work of reparation, so where different interpretations of an event are possible, Gaddy takes care to put forward one that white readers may find less comfortable. She acknowledges (p. 177):

These experiences I've told you about, reader, may not be as connected as I think they are. I might be seeing deep references to Black history and culture where there are none. [...] But what I realized [...] was that I had to open my eyes to the reality that Black history and culture have been so suppressed and misunderstood by white culture that I wouldn't see connections unless I looked hard. But why had they been suppressed? How had we lost all this information? Why was it that an instrument constantly described as 'Black' and 'African' came to be thought of as a white instrument? The story can't stop here.

*

One answer to the last question may occur to anyone who was in the UK in the mid twentieth century. At that time the minstrel show - decadent, fading, but not completely dead - preserved an idea of a link between banjos and African-Americans; the revival of 'traditional' jazz, in which the plectrum banjo was a distinguishing feature, brought black New Orleans jazz veterans back into prominence; and the 'Banjo' chocolate wafer bar, on the market till 1954 and briefly reintroduced in the 1970s, carried on its wrapper a stylised logo of a chocolate-brown singing face. Moreover, Pete Seeger's How to play the 5-string banjo clearly informed the many thousands of 'folk' enthusiasts who learned from it that the banjo had African and African-American roots (a point also made in one of the comments on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiP8Tfa8bB8)

In the sixty years since then, however, all the people and all the cultural events prominently associated with the banjo have been white - the Seegers, the Kingston Trio, Earl Scruggs, Bill Keith, Bela Fleck, 'The Beverly Hillbillies', 'Bonnie & Clyde', 'Deliverance', 'O brother' - and in that context a musician of the stature of Taj Mahal could be seen as one more offshoot of the folk revival.

© Richard Hawkins

Jubilee from Old Crow Medicine Show

On No Depression Noah Berlatsky reviews Jubilee, the latest album from Old Crow Medicine Show, who were 'discovered' by Doc Watson in 2000, gave the world 'Wagon wheel', were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2013, and won a Grammy Folk Album award in 2014. Three official videos of tracks from the new album are on their website, and two of them are imbedded in the review. Ketch Secor, founder member of the Medicine Show, together with Molly Tuttle, will host this year's IBMA Awards Show.

© Richard Hawkins

Promised land from Danny Burns

Danny Burns, born and raised in the north-west of this island, released yesterday (Fri. 25 Aug.) his new album Promised land, with guest artists Sam Bush, Tim O’Brien, Bryan Simpson, and Aine Burns. The Bonfire Music Group press release gives more details, including a list of all ten tracks with the songwriters' names. The official video for his 'Come to Jesus', featuring Sam Bush, can be seen on YouTube.

Danny Burns has been opening shows for Steve Earle in the last month, and will be playing several shows to mark the release of the new album.

© Richard Hawkins

Kody Norris Show (USA) on the air this weekend

Thanks to Jeremy Westby of 2911 Media for the news that the Kody Norris Show (whose headlining the bluegrass section of this year's Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival is just one part of the roll they're on) can be heard for four successive days this weekend, beginning today (Fri. 25 Aug.) on SiriusXM Bluegrass Junction Channel 77 radio, with emphasis on their latest album Rhinestone revival.

For many more details, including the band's tour schedule till the beginning of December, photos, and a video, conxult the 2911 Media press release, In early November the Kody Norris Show is scheduled to play on three days at the Mountaingrass festival in Australia.

© Richard Hawkins

Sounding the Well of Souls (1)

The BIB editor writes:

There is one week left for BIB readers to take advantage of the discount offered to them (see the BIB's sidebar) on purchase of Kristina R. Gaddy's book Well of souls: uncovering the banjo's hidden history, published by W.W. Norton & Company. The book sets out to be thought-provoking and succeeds. Some of my own thoughts will appear on the BIB in the next few days; but in short, anyone interested in how the banjo evolved and its history up to the mid nineteenth century should read it.

Note: the tenor banjo, as used in Irish music, does not appear in this story, and does not belong there. The tenor has no historic connection with the banjo's African ancestors. It dates from about 1900 (give or take a few years) and in tuning and playing style it is essentially a member of the mandolin family which has been given - for the sake of volume and tone - a sound chamber that was developed for the banjo over fifty years earlier by European-American instrument-makers, making use of European drum-tightening methods.

© Richard Hawkins

Playing and improvising the blues on clawhammer banjo

The Deering Banjo Company announce episode 3 of Michael J. Miles's online clawhammer banjo workshop. In this 37-minute episode Michael, together with Deering's David Bandrowski, deals with playing blues and improvising in the blues style using clawhammer technique. The episode was transmitted live last night (23 Aug.) but can now be seen on YouTube.

Deering also draw attention to two instruction books by Michael (Bob Dylan for clawhammer banjo and Country classics for banjo) and to the Goodtime Americana Deco banjo, one of their new range of four Goodtime Deco 5-strings.

© Richard Hawkins

Caleb & Reeb Country Band at TSEAC, 2 Sept. 2023

Following the BIB posts of 7 and 8 August, thanks to Colette Lawless for this reminder that the Caleb & Reeb Country Band will be playing for the Séamus Ennis Arts Centre (TSEAC) at Naul, Co. Dublin, on Saturday 2 September in a special Barn Dance Extravaganza:

Date: Saturday 2nd September.
Venue: The Séamus Ennis Arts Centre, Naul, Co. Dublin. www.tseac.ie (01) 8020898.
Event: Caleb Klauder & Reeb Willms Country Band

An all-star cast of master musicians, Joel Savoy, Russ Blake, Mike Bub, and Michael Carroll, backs these two soul singers of American country music. Charismatic performers, they bring their unique set of talents to the stage with an eye towards good times and an ear towards the deepest songs and tunes.

Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms are known to roots music fans across the globe for their soulful harmonies, driving dance tunes, classic original songs, and commitment to the raw truth of rural American music. They live in the San Juan Islands of Washington State, recently, home was Portland. They are foundational to the exceptional old-time and country music scene in the Pacific NW with the Caleb Klauder Reeb Willms Country Band and their membership in the Foghorn Stringband, of which Caleb was a founding member. For more information/to book tickets visit www.tseac.ie or phone us on (01) 8020898.

Doors Open: 8.00 p.m. Performance commences: 8.30 p.m.
Adm: €20.00

Tickets can also be booked through a link on the Caleb & Reeb online tour schedule, which includes a location map.

© Richard Hawkins

More detached notes (updated)

Dark Shadow Recording announce that Chicago's Henhouse Prowlers released on Friday last (18 Aug.) 'My last run', the fourth single from their new album Lead and iron, which is scheduled for release on 15 Sept. The song can now be heard on Bluegrass Today.

*

New Zealand-born fiddle maestro George Jackson, now resident in Nashville, TN, has just released an album of orginal compositions for fiddle, George Jackson's Local Trio. In an article on No Depression he asks the question Why make a fiddle album? and gives his own reasons for doing so, concluding: 'at its core it’s art for the artist, music for the musician, deep cuts for the appreciator. And that’s music at its most thrilling and risky and rewarding.'

*

Alan Munde, one of the finest performers and most prolific composers for banjo in the history of bluegrass music, has a new album out, Excelsior, on Tom Mindte's Patuxent Records label. The album is reviewed by Braeden Paul on Bluegrass Today, with a playlist sampling all the tracks.

*

Recent Bluegrass Unlimited podcasts include interviews with past visitors such as Molly Tuttle, Raymond McLain, and Jeff White. The 144th Bluegrass Unlimited weekly newsletter also includes a Spotify playlist of the recordings of Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, and (from the BU archives) a July 2010 article by Nancy Cardwell on Jesse McReynolds at eighty years of age.

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On 4 August Steve Hochman published on the Bluegrass Situation (BGS) a history of the Kentucky Colonels, one of the most enduringly influential West Coast bands. The figures in the cartoon at the head of the article look nothing like any of the members of the band, but don't let that worry you. The article includes seven videos illustrating stages in the career of the Colonels and of Clarence White, their epoch-making lead guitar player.

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Pete 'Dr Banjo' Wernick, founder of the Wernick System and apostle of the art of jamming, has contributed to the Deering Banjo Company blog a valuable article on how to recognise chord changes, and why they matter. This article was originally published in the late lamented Banjo News Letter.

*

Taylor Hagood, author of Stringbean: the life and murder of a country music legend (published earlier this year), will give a talk at the American Banjo Museum on 9 Sept. 2023. More details are in John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Topical new single from the Lonesome Ace Stringband

Canada's Lonesome Ace Stringband (above, l-r: John Showman, Max Heineman, Chris Coole) have released a video of a new single, 'Praying for rain'. The song - written by Heineman, directly inspired by experience of the wildfires in Canada - can be heard on Bluegrass Today and on YouTube.

© Richard Hawkins

Jan Jerrold, pioneer of bluegrass in Britain: the Dublin connection

On Friday 18 Aug. a major feature by Richard Thompson marked the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Jan Jerrold (1941-93), of whom Richard says: 'His importance in the popularity of bluegrass music in the UK could scarcely be overstated.' The British Bluegrass Music Association (BBMA) commemorates him in its Jan Jerrold Award to distinguished members of the bluegrass community in Britain. Of special interest to BIB readers are these words in the article, quoted from Jan's brother Alan:

'The family moved [from the USA] to Dublin in 1950 after my father’s death. We spent a while in France on the way. Jan moved to London after he got married in 1963.'

Niall Toner has commented to the BIB: 'I had many great discussions with Jan. He was a " one-off"!''

As well as the article's great historical value, readers should also enjoy the ten videos and two audio tracks of bands with which Jan Jerrold was associated, and half-a dozen photos of him with US and British musicians.

© Richard Hawkins

The Local Honeys back in Ireland in October

The Local Honeys (Linda Jean Stokley and Montana Hobbs) from east Kentucky, who made a big impact at the 13th Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival (2019) and other appearances in Ireland, will be back in Ireland this autumn. At present their online tour schedule lists only a show in the Sound House, Dublin, at 7.30 p.m. on Thurs. 26 Oct., but the website of the Hawk's Well Theatre, Sligo town, shows them appearing there the following night (27 Oct.) with Niall McCabe. We await details of any other shows they may be playing in Ireland around those dates.

© Richard Hawkins

Programme for next week's 28th Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival (25-27 Aug. 2023)

Thanks to Mick Daly, director of the Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival at Dunmore East, Co. Waterford, for these images from the Festival flyer for next week's event (25-27 Aug.), the 28th in the series since its foundation in 1995 when (thanks to the recommendation of Gerry Madden) Colorado's splendid Bluegrass Patriots were topping the bill - a great way to launch a festival.

Above is the schedule for the three days, showing that the Boxcar Preachers, the US headline act, will be on stage for a substantial part of the weekend. Below is a display of the Festival's sponsors from Dunmore East itself and from Waterford city, whose support has made the Festival possible.

© Richard Hawkins

Change and addition to Level Best (USA) tour schedule, 27 Oct. 2023

Level Best (l-r): Ed Lick, Lisa Kay Howard-Hughes, Wally Hughes,

Joe Hannabach, James Field

Following upon the BIB post of 12 July, thanks to Lisa Kay Howard-Hughes of the Virginia-based band Level Best for news of a change, and an addition, to the schedule of their tour in Ireland this coming October.

On the seventh day of the tour, Friday 27 Oct., they will play a new show at 15:00 (3.00 p.m.) at Sligo Bus Station, as part of the first day of the Sligo Live International Music Festival, and on the same day their evening show will be at Knocknashee Community Hub, Lavagh, Tobercurry, Co. Sligo, F56 W744. The corresponding changes have been made on the 12 July post and on the BIB calendar.

© Richard Hawkins

US bluegrasser in Ireland, 25 Oct.- 7 Nov.2023

Thanks to Eric Swaney (right) of the Pennsylvania band Middleground, for this news:

My wife and I will be visiting Ireland around the Puca Festival time. I am a 5-string banjo player and although I am not bringing my banjo, I plan on bringing my picks, and I would like to visit a few bluegrass jams (sessions) if such exists across the pond.

We will arrive in Dublin [Wed.] 25 Oct. and spend a few days in Dublin and then head to Trim on Friday for the festival. After that we just plan on making it to the western and southern coasts exploring. We then will be back in Dublin no later than [Tues.] Nov. 7th to return to the US (south-western Pennsylvania), where I grew up learning 3-finger Scruggs-style bluegrass banjo.

Any info you may have or resources that I may use to locate local bluegrass events during that timeframe would be greatly appreciated.

The Puca Festival will be held in Trim and Athboy, Co. Meath, from 27 to 31 October. Eric can be contacted by e-mail.

© Richard Hawkins

Dan's Travel Bass in action

On 23 Nov. 2021 the BIB posted news about Dan Eubanks, bass player of the Special Consensus, and his review on Bluegrass Today of the Travel Bass (right), made in Italy. (Italy is a rising power in the bluegrass world these days, what with the Truffle Valley Boys, the recent IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award to Red Wine, the universal respect for banjo bridges made by Silvio Ferretti, and the emergence of TechPicks.)

Dan can now be seen with his Travel Bass on stage in the eighteenth of a fine collection of photos by Kevin Slick, taken at the Snowy Grass Music Festival in Colorado a month ago.

© Richard Hawkins

How to support a song with the 5-string banjo

The Deering Banjo Company announce: 'Be sure to tune in today as we host Graham Sharp from the Steep Canyon Rangers on Deering Live. Today we will be diving into ways to use the 5-string banjo to enhance/support a song. Be sure to watch and pick up some great ideas!'

The feature begins tonight (Mon. 14 Aug.) at 11.00 p.m. Irish time and can be seen now and hereafter on YouTube.

© Richard Hawkins

A major anniversary belatedly celebrated

Last Friday (11 August) was the forty-fifth anniversary of a milestone in the history of live bluegrass and related music in Dublin. A 'milestone' for two reasons: it was the first public performance by what can be considered the Sackville String Band Mk III (Niall Toner, mandolin; Colin Beggan, guitar; Bill Whelan, bass; Richard Hawkins, banjo), re-formed with a more bluegrassy orientation (as compared to Mk I and Mk II); and secondly it was, as far as the present writer is aware, the first grassroots attempt to present a prominent American bluegrass musician on a Dublin stage. A surviving ticket from the occasion reads:

DUBLIN FRIENDS OF BLUEGRASS AND OLD

TIME COUNTRY MUSIC

Present

BLUEGRASS CONCERT

Featuring Ace American Guitarist

DAN CRARY

Supported by SACKVILLE STRING BAND

TAILORS HALL, CHRISTCHURCH PLACE, DUBLIN.

Friday 11th August 1978.                                                   8.30 p.m.

Tickets £1.

The concert was made possible by the late Frank Robinson of Derry, who was a good friend of Dan Crary. Unfortunately we have no photos of the occasion, but the photo above right shows Dan in the 1970s.

© Richard Hawkins

Two Time Polka August gigs

Ray Barron of Two Time Polka sends news of the band's forthcoming gigs:

Skibbereen Blues, Soul & Roots Fest
Fri. 18th: Tanyard Bar, 10.00 p.m., adm. free
Sun. 20th: Eldon Hotel, 7.00-9.00 p.m., adm. free

Crane LaneTheatre, Cork city
Sun. 27th: Midnight to 2.00 a.m., adm. free

Our next mail will give details of our gigs at the Cork Folk Festival, Culture night, The Blue Haven, and an event we’re playing at in the Netherlands. Check our website for all gig details.

Regards & thanks,

Ray & TTP

© Richard Hawkins

Report and photos from Bluegrass in La Roche 2023

Last week (Wed. 2nd-Sun. 6th) the Bluegrass in La Roche festival - the largest bluegrass festival in Europe - took place at La Roche-sur-Foron, Haute Savoie, France, on the edge of the French Alps. A comprehensive report on all five days of the festival has been contributed to Bluegrass Today by Michael Luchtan, an American resident in Barcelona, who last year contributed to BT a warmly approving report on the 2022 Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival. The La Roche report is accompanied by twenty-three excellent photos by Elliot Siff, including shots of (among other familiar names) the Special Consensus, the Henhouse Prowlers, and the Truffle Valley Boys.

© Richard Hawkins

News of past visitors (updates)

The Kody Norris Show, headliners in the bluegrass section of this year's Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival, won the Entertainer and Instrumental Group awards at this year's SPBGMA awards; released a new album, Rhinestone revival, in June; and have since played the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN, where the Queen of Bluegrass, Rhonda Vincent, gave them a formal invitation to make their debut appearance at the Grand Ole Opry. Their Opry debut was on Wednesday 9 Aug.; the photo above, taken by Jeremy Westby for 2911 Media, shows the band with Rhonda (extreme left), brother Darrin (extreme right), and Dan Rogers of the Opry (centre). A special orange vinyl issue of Rhinestone revival will come out today (Fri. 11 Aug.). Much more details and several fine photos are on the 2911 Media press release. See also John Lawless's Bluegrass Today article, which includes photos and two videos.

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Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, last here four years ago, are releasing today a new single, 'Pages in your hand'. Chris co-wrote the song with Thomm Jutz; he explains something of what went into the writing of it on Bluegrass Today, where the single can slso be heard. See also the Mountain Home Music Company press release.

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Patrick McAvinue, who toured Ireland years ago as a teenage fiddler in Tom Mindte\s Patuxent Partners, has issued a new six-track EP, Fortis, It's an intense project, with high-powered playing and singing from top-level musicians. Braeden Paul reviews it on Bluegrass Today, with a playlist giving ninety-second samples of all six tracks.

© Richard Hawkins

I Draw Slow at Whelan's, Dublin, Sat. 12 Aug. 2023

Whelan's of Wexford St., Dublin 2, announce the start of their Trad & Folk Festival Free Weekender, covering tonight (Thurs. 10 Aug.) and the two following nights. Of special interest to BIB readers is the fact that the headliners on Saturday night (12 Aug.) will be Dublin's own I Draw Slow, who have taken their spirited brand of neo-old-time-string-band music to the USA with great success in repeated tours. Whelan's announce: 'FREE ENTRY before 10.30 p.m. on Friday & Saturday – No need for a ticket – Walk-ins welcome. Strictly over 18s; I.D. may be required.'

© Richard Hawkins

From the bluegrass print media

The August 2023 issue (vol. 58, no. 2) of Bluegrass Unlimited has a seven-page cover story by Sandy Hatley on Lorraine Jordan, with much more about the Lady of Tradition elsewhere in the issue; features on fiddlers Warren Blair and Wayne Jerrolds; and a review section including the latest albums by Rick Faris and Molly Tuttle (among others) and BU editor Dan Miller's review of Michael Streissguth's new book Highways and heartaches: how Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, and children of the New South saved the soul of country music, which he highly recommends.

The current issue ('no. 102', summer 2023) of British Bluegrass News, journal of the British Bluegrass Music Association (BBMA), has a four-page cover story on Paul Armer, young guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Cornwall, who came to bluegrass through rock, country, and Sturgill Simpson and developed a strong sense of time through the metronome (he now recommends Strum Machine). He talks to BBN editor Chris Lord about his guitars, recording projects, and more. Other features include a report by Glasgow-based mandolinist Callum Morton; Eric Kwiatkowski's memories of his journey as a flatpicker; and highly positive reviews by Brian Dowdall of the CD The Truffle Valley Boys sing and play authentic Blue Grass music, and by Jack Baker of another Italian product, Techpicks. Baker's regular 'Tab corner' features the Sonny Osborne classic 'Sledd ridin'', with tabs for banjo, mandolin, and guitar, and notation for fiddle.

© Richard Hawkins

Tim O'Brien interviewed on Bluegrass Today

The many-talented Tim O'Brien, who has been visiting Ireland as a performing musician since the late 1970s (most recently earlier this year with his wife Jan Fabricius), has been interviewed on Bluegrass Today by Lee Zimmerman, who caught him before the start of a European tour. It's a long, wide-ranging interview, appropriate for Tim O'Brien's long and multi-faceted career; topics include his latest album, Cup of sugar, tours and travelling, reacting to change, where songs come from, changing perspectives, marriage and music, Hot Rize reunion, and staying positive.

© Richard Hawkins

News and instruction from Deering

The Deering Banjo Company announce the second episode of their pre-recorded clawhammer banjo instruction series presented by Michael J. Miles with co-host David Bandrowski. The 34-minute episode, which develops the theme of song accompaniment with a focus on filler licks, can be seen on YouTube. Michael plays a Goodtime in the episode. Deering also draw attention to their Vega Vintage Star, about which Deering write:

At the heart of the Vintage Star lies a stunning Dobson tone ring. Originally patented by Henry Dobson in 1881, the Dobson balances the low ends with clear highs and adds just the right amount of sustain to the banjo. The brass Dobson glows from behind the renaissance head, which itself sits on a thinner walled, 12” violin grade maple rim. A knotless tailpiece tops off the set up to produce a classic old-time tone.

© Richard Hawkins

TSEAC becomes honky-tonk and barn dance venue, 2 Sept. 2023

Yesterday's BIB post announced forthcoming tours arranged by Electric Cave Production and Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival for Water Tower and the Caleb & Reeb Country Band. Today the Séamus Ennis Arts Centre (TSEAC) announces that it is presenting the show by Caleb & Reeb & Co. on 2 Sept. as 'a modern-day honky tonk & barn dance', and as 'an outdoor seated event under our iconic TSEAC canopy. Full bar, food and snacks available'.

The band includes Joel Savoy, Russ Blake, Mike Bub, and Micheal Carroll. Tickets (€20.00) can be booked here.

© Richard Hawkins

US picker visiting Scotland and Ireland, 12-26 Sept. 2023

A few days ago, the British Bluegrass Music Association's Facebook carried a post from Matt Bruno (right), currently based in Seattle, WA, announcing that he will be

traveling from the US to travel around Scotland and Ireland for a bit in September and looking for some bluegrass jams or sessions to sit in on. I'm looking for any suggestions on where I should visit! I haven't finalized my schedule, but I'm in the area from 9/12 to 9/26. I play mostly mandolin these days - lots of bluegrass, some trad Irish, gypsy jazz, and a few other genres. Mostly just looking to have some fun at a bar or perhaps sit in with a band for a few tunes.

Matt has already received many responses, including some from centres of activity in Ireland of which the BIB had no previous (or no recent) knowledge. His website has (among many other things) samples of his music and a contact page.

© Richard Hawkins

For the soul

Two recent additions to Bluegrass Today by John Lawless: one on 'Remember us', the latest single released by Alice Gerrard (also on YouTube); and the second on 'Twin sisters', recorded recently by Nora Brown (banjo) and Stephanie Coleman (fiddle), from the playing of Sidna and Fulton Myers. The Brown/ Coleman version can also be heard on YouTube.

© Richard Hawkins

Water Tower (USA) and the Caleb & Reeb Country Band (USA) in Ireland, Aug.-Sept. 2023

Thanks to Electric Cave Production and Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival for this special press release:

From America to Ireland - music to brighten up your summer

Greetings!

As the Irish summer brought us nothing but rain, we are looking forward to bring a bit of sunshine to our Irish fans and followers.

The Electric Cave Production and Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival are delighted to announce two tours of superb American bands this August and September.

Water Tower are no stranger for Irish music fans, but this will be their first ever Irish tour in this current lineup. The band will come to our shores to play the great Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival before embarking on a tour all over the island (24 August–2 September).

Around the same time, Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms will bring their superb six-piece country band to Ireland for the very first time. Caleb and Reeb are better known as 2/4 of the Foghorn Stringband and from their duo performances, but this country band is as good as acoustic country music gets (30 August-6 September).

Get tickets for their gigs well in advance directly from the venues.

BIB editor's note: the online tour schedule of Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms includes links for booking tickets and location maps. All shows in these tours are now shown on the BIB calendar.

© Richard Hawkins

Mandolin, banjo, and guitar news

The Gold Tone Music Group announce a new model: the lightweight GM-10 'Frypan' mandolin, with mahogany neck, spruce top, maple back and sides, and rosewood fingerboard, and selling with case at $499.99. More details, including a demo video, are on the Gold Tone e-newsletter.

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Gold Tone announced six months ago the introduction of their new High Moon banjos, optimised for clawhammer playing. They now announce that after a period in which the standard High Moon HM-100 had sold out, it is back in stock and the A-scale HM-100A is now available.

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George Gruhn, founder and owner of Gruhn Guitars in Nashville, TN, has been interviewed for Bluegrass Today by Alan Goforth. Gruhn gives first the elements of his personal definition of 'bluegrass', which is closely linked to the sound of Bill Monroe's 1945-8 band. Secondly, from his immense knowledge of vintage instruments, he points out that most top-class guitars, by any maker, are modelled on a few classic brands, which is reflected in the sound they produce. He has therefore designed, for production under the Gruhn name, guitars capable of filling any role with a strong and distinctive sound of their own, starting at a price around $2,500. Learn more in the Goforth article.

© Richard Hawkins

2nd Trafaria Bluegrass Festival in Portugal, 8-10 Sept. 2023

Thanks to Andre Lentilhas, organiser of the successful Trafaria Bluegrass festival in 2022, for news of this year's event:

After last year's success, we returned to the 2nd edition of the TRAFARIA BLUEGRASS - Festival by the River, in Trafaria, Portugal. This festival, the only one of its kind to be held in Portugal, aims to develop bluegrass music.

It will take place between September 8 and 10, 2023, in the streets of Trafaria, Almada, and is completely FREE. Throughout these three days, in addition to the concerts on various stages, there will be a set of activities in parallel such as masterclasses, music workshops given by the invited artists (open to all interested parties with the aim of exchanging knowledge, in a more private environment with the possibility of meeting and playing with them), spontaneous musical jam sessions between with local musicians and guest artists, workshops, tours, guided tours of Trafaria, street animations, and local gastronomy.

As the schedule (above right) shows, the lineup includes Chris Luquette's East Coast Bluegrass Band (USA), the Milkeaters (CZ), the Long John Brothers (CH), Mad Meadows (D), Long Way Home (USA/NL), and Portugal's own Stonebones & Bad Spaghetti + Chris Smith. Long Way Home will be familiar to Irish fans from the active part they played on the scene here during the pandemic years, when they were based in Cork.

Andre points out that support is still needed to cover the festival budget, and a GoFundMe campaign has been set up for those who wish to donate.

© Richard Hawkins

The Purple Hulls (USA) in Newry, 15 Aug. 2023

Thanks to Nigel Agnew for the news that The Purple Hulls (Penny Lea Clark Gimble, guitar/ mandolin, and Katy Lou Clark, banjo/ guitar), raised on a family farm in east Texas, will be performing in Newry on Tuesday 15 August at 8.00 p.m., at a free concert in Riverside Church, Basin Walk, Newry. Nigel adds that they hope to have their brother, Banjo Ben, with them on this date - both, however, are very capable instrumentalists and their close, warm vocal harmony is all one would expect from twin sisters. Examples of their music are on their website and Facebook. Their Newry appearance follows two shows in Finland.

© Richard Hawkins

Noriana Kennedy in top traditional quartet, London, 28 Sept. 2023

On 19 Jan. the BIB post included the announcement by Music Network, Ireland's national music development organisation, that Noriana Kennedy of The Whileaways would be touring Ireland in February as a member of a select traditional music quartet: Noriana (vocals/banjo), Oisín MacDiarmada (fiddle), Mirella Murray (accordion), and Donogh Hennessy (guitar). Following the success of that tour, Music Network now announce that the quartet (above) will reunite on 28 Sept. for a special concert at the Irish Cultural Centre in London. Tickets (£6-£15) can be booked on the Music Network website.

© Richard Hawkins