Thanks to Declan Fox for his review of this year's Omagh bluegrass festival (26-29 May) at the Ulster American Folk Park. Declan writes:
The best news I got this year was the e-mail from a good source telling me that NMNI had persuaded
Richard Hurst to come out of retirement to organise the Omagh bluegrass festival one more time and
Frank Galligan was returning as MC. People power, folks. Looks like our protests about last year's 'events' were heard and taken seriously.
It was a glorious weekend weather-wise and Richard surpassed himself putting together a great program on a very limited budget. There were bands from Canada, USA, Ireland (both parts), England, Holland, and Italy; we saw once again Richard's gift for mixing traditional bluegrass with folk/roots acts and once again our musical horizons were expanded.
It was great to see the number of Irish performers this time round and finally proper respect was paid to the dearly departed
Geordie McAdam and
Mel Corry. The bluegrass world also lost
Aidan McGale and
Wilbur Tharpe; Aidan and I were classmates, and my earliest musical memory of him is him playing and singing Van Morrison's Gloria at an end of term show in school around 50 years ago.
The launch party in the Silver Birch on Friday May 26 was a fine show with great sound courtesy of
Billy Robinson and sundry McGurgans. First up was
Niall Toner, the father of Irish bluegrass, with his
excellent band. Then came the
Honey Dewdrops, two young Americans with guitar, clawhammar banjo, mandolin, great vocals. Trad with a modern twist. They were followed by
Zoe and Cloyd on fiddle and guitar with two PhD musicologists on bass and banjo. Where would you see the like of that? They mix bluegrass with klezmer (Jewish folk music) and a bit of jazz influence; the overall effect is — wait for it —
klezmerising. Final band was the
Truffle Valley Boys from Italy, doing fine old bluegrass with skill, panache, and humour.
Saturday started off with Frank Galligan and Niall Toner in conversation — two old friends having a yarn mixed with a few songs.
Then back to the music with two outside stages, the Ship, and the main stage, plus the
Geordie McAdam open mic sessions in the Wheelwright's, where Geordie used to play with anyone who turned up. A perfect tribute to a great musician and a lovely man.
The Irish bands all acquitted themselves very well: Niall Toner Band, the
Watery Hill Boys,
Woodbine,
Henry,
Broken String Band,
Eilidh Patterson,
Knotty Pine,
Ian Alexander, and
Cool Hand String Band. High points for me were Niall Toner's fine vocals on Saturday night and Ian Alexander with his mandolin and guitar playing. Ian steeped himself in traditional bluegrass as a young man in the USA, but his own compositions go way beyond anything from the pen of Monroe et al. Mesmerising mandolin playing and fine guitar picking, accompanied by
Phillip Steele on bass. You can find him — and you really should — on Spotify and Youtube.
Our old favourites the
Blue Grass Boogiemen from Holland mixed fine playing and singing with their traditional humour. It looked like they were very happy to be back in Omagh:
Arnold just could not stop grinning.
Bart did a two-harmonica thing with Johnny Cash's version of Orange Blossom Special. I'll have a video clip on Facebook soon. They also played lots of bluegrass standards and did them very well.
I saw two sets from
Viper Central, a most amazing outfit from British Columbia. They originally got together hoping to shake up the BC bluegrass scene and these days they have a mix of musical styles and influences which defy easy description. This time they came as a four-piece — guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bass — and they were joined by
Jack Garton, another incredible West Coast talent, on vocals, accordion, and trumpet. Yes, you read that correctly. Their Saturday night set was very good but their Sunday afternoon set was a knockout. I put a video clip on Facebook of them doing one of Jack Garton's numbers called 'Move the mess around' and it was simply extraordinary.
Old Baby Mackerel arrived from Bristol and get the prize for the hardest-working band at Omagh this year. They are a very skilled traditional bluegrass band with a fine line in self-deprecating humour. They played four sets at the park plus the Rugby Club on Saturday night plus Bogan's on Sunday night followed by a 4.00 a.m. departure. I'm guessing there wasn't much sleeping done.
And finally, a special mention for Frank Galligan's masterly MC-ing, very much an integral part of the festival with his personality, humour, knowledge of the music, his ability to be sympatico with just about every band that ever came to Omagh, his Tyrone-isms, and always that sense that he was talking to you and you alone. Sure where would you get the bate of it?? On Sunday he added a black flat-brim hat to his usual suit and waistcoat and the effect was stunning, invoking memories of the Wild West and movies like 'High Noon'.
Postscript: Richard Hurst has now joined
Paddy O'Kane in final retirement, leaving us with a massive hole to fill for future festivals. Given the amount of organisational talent in the Irish bluegrass world — you know who you are - surely we can pull together to keep this wonderful festival going? Do please post your ideas here and/or
e-mail to me.
© Declan Fox
Labels: Bands, Festivals, Reviews, Visiting bands
Ray Barron of Two Time Polka sends news of the band's forthcoming gigs:
