Level Best (USA): full updated tour schedule, 18-28 Oct. 2019 (update)

Level Best: (l-r) Lisa Kay Howard, James Field, Joe Hannabach,

Terry Wittenberg, Wally Hughes

Earlier this year the good news came that Level Best from Virginia will be touring Ireland this coming October. Thanks again now to Level Best's mandolinist Lisa Kay Howard for a full updated schedule for the tour, with two additional confirmed shows.

Lisa Kay has toured Ireland twice in the past two years with her husband Wally Hughes (fiddle, resonator guitar): in April 2017, backing Americana singer/ songwriter Brooksie Wells; and again in April 2018 as members of the dynamic six-piece band East of Monroe. Level Best comprises three members of East of Monroe: Lisa Kay, Wally, and Terry Wittenberg (banjo), together with Joe Hannabach (bass) and James Field (guitar), one of the most widely experienced musicians in bluegrass. James took part as a Charles River Valley Boy in the historic Beatle country album (1966) and has played festivals in Ireland as a member of the fine French band Blue Railroad Train.

Keen readers of Bluegrass Today will have seen Wally and Lisa Kay recently in Frank Baker's photos from the Gettysburg and Delaware Valley bluegrass festivals, where they were playing in Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike or instructing at workshops.

The dates for next month's tour are:

Fri. 18th Oct.: Dorney Bridge house concert, Ballinamallard, Co. Fermanagh
Sat. 19th: Moy River Folk Club, Clonacool, Tobercurry, Co. Sligo
Sun. 20th: Upstairs On The Square, Groucho's, Richhill, Co. Armagh
Tues. 22nd: Dublin Bluegrass jam, Sin É, 14-15 Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin 1
Wed. 23rd: Gleeson's bar (concert room), Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare (a Sixmilebridge Folk Club event)
Thurs. 24th: St John's Theatre, The Square, Listowel, Co. Kerry
Fri. 25th: Clew Bay Hotel, James St., Westport, Co. Mayo
Sat. 26th: Crusoe's Coffee Shop, 29a Sea Rd, Castlerock, Co. Londonderry

Note that as part of the tour Level Best will be dropping in 'to jam and see our pals' (as Lisa Kay says) on the weekly Dublin Bluegrass jam at Sin E on Ormond Quay, which holds out the promise of a night as classic as East of Monroe's visit there last year. For more information, e-mail Lisa Kay.

The band's new album

Update 16 Sept.: Thanks to Lisa Kay Howard for the additional photo of the band (below); and to Wally Hughes for his comment on this post, the BIB editor says: 'You're welcome!'

Level Best: (l-r) James Field, Terry Wittenberg, Wally Hughes, 

Lisa Kay Howard, Joe Hannabach