Joachim Cooder (USA) at Whelan's, Dublin, 31 Aug. 2023

Thanks to Whelans of Wexford St., Dublin 2, for the news that Joachim Cooder will be playing there on Thursday 31 August, backed by Mark Fain (bass) and the splendid Rayna Gellert (fiddle). Tickets (€27.50) can be booked here.

Joachim Cooder, as son of Ry Cooder, has been immersed in roots and world music all his life. His 2020 album Over that road I'm bound was a 'repurposing' and 'reimagining' of the music of Uncle Dave Macon. A single from the album, 'Come along buddy', can be seen on Whelan's press release and on YouTube, with his father playing 5-string banjo. The title track, 'Over the road', is on YouTube in two versions: one showing the song being recorded, and a brief version with animation (and banjo).

A brief note to Whelan's - Uncle Dave was not exactly an 'Appalachian banjo picker'; he was raised in central Tennessee, and the time his family (of French Huguenot descent) had spent in the mountains was passing through on the journey from North Carolina.

© Richard Hawkins

A stocking filler from Bluegrass Today

John Lawless reports on Bluegrass Today on an intercultural cooperation between Dr Haiqiong Deng (right) and the Bottom Dollar Boys of Florida. Dr Deng is a master of the Chinese 21-string guzheng and 7-string guqin, has also studied Indian classical music, and engages with traditional forms of music from other cultures. In a video on Bluegrass Today and YouTube, she and the guzheng join the Bottom Dollar Boys in an impressive version of 'Duelling banjos'.

Some readers may remember the fine, high-powered, and very entertaining band Takeharu Kunimoto & The Last Frontier, in which the Japanese shamisen (samisen) joined a four-piece bluegrass group. A sample of their music can be heard here, and more is on YouTube.

© Richard Hawkins

Navá at the Hawk's Well, 7 July 2022

Not a bluegrass event by any means, but one that involves two of Ireland's most respected bluegrass musicians. Paddy Kiernan (banjo) and Niall Hughes (guitar, bass) combined in 2016 with Iranian brothers Shahab and Shayan Coohe to form the band Navá, 'weaving material from the Irish and Persian traditions into a beguiling tapestry of sound'. They will be playing at the Hawk's Well Theatre, Sligo, on Thurs. 7 July, in a concert shared with the singer/songwriter Síomha. Tickets can be bought here.

© Richard Hawkins

Jake Xerxes Fussell (USA) picks favourites from Smithsonian Folkways recordings

The BIB drew attention on 27 Jan. to Jake Xerxes Fussell of North Carolina, who is on the bill for this year's Kilkenny Roots Festival (29 Apr.-2 May).

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings announce that he has prepared a 25-track Spotify playlist of his favourites, drawn from the very wide range of Folkways recordings of world music (including bluegrass and old-time music) for their 'People's Picks' series. A description is on the Smithsonian Folkways Facebook.

© Richard Hawkins

Tradition Now Marathon 2020 from the National Concert Hall, 24-5 Oct.

The National Concert Hall (NCH) in Dublin announces that its live-stream events this month include the Tradition Now Marathon 2020, to be held in two parts, on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October, at 6.00 p.m. on both nights. Tickets (€10 for one concert, or €15 for a weekend ticket covering both) are exclusively available via Dice.fm.

The main attractions for BIB readers are that the lineup for Marathon #1 includes songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist in old-time style Cahalen Morrison (USA; toured here with Eli West some years back) and Nava, comprising Paddy Kiernan and Niall Hughes from the Dublin bluegrass scene, and Iranian-born brothers Shahab and Shayan Coohe.

The lineup for Marathon #2 includes Elizabeth LaPrelle (USA), magnificent hard-core Appalachian ballad singer (and one of the stars of The mountain minor). Tradition Now is a partnership between NCH and the Arts Council, supported by Davy as Innovation Partner and the Department of Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht.