Irish pickers in the USA in the coming months

Carlow guitar maestro Shane Hennessy will be touring the USA from the end of this month, playing nine venues there up to 19 August, and six more in early September - following this by a tour of twelve shows in Germany during three weeks in October. His only remaining 2022 performances in Ireland at present are at the Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival (26-28 Aug.) in Co. Waterford. More details are on Shane's latest e-newsletter, and online booking facilities are on his website.

Tullamore's JigJam will also begin a USA tour on 30 July, playing eight festivals including Winfield, KS, and IBMA World Of Bluegrass, where they are on the official showcase programme (in which Shane Hennessy took part by Zoom last year). Fill-in dates between their festival appearances will be announced soon. JigJam also announce their new line of merchandise - An Tulach Mhór T-shirts, which can be seen on their e-newsletter.

At the time of writing this post, Galway's We Banjo 3 are playing, or about to play, at the prestigious Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in New York state. Their US tour will last till 2 Sept., with the next date there on 21 Oct. Online booking links for all dates are on their website.

© Richard Hawkins