We Banjo 3 list songs that inspired them

Galway's We Banjo 3, kings of Celtgrass,who released their new album Open the road a month ago today, have compiled an hour-long Spotify playlist of songs that inspired them in the making of the album. Of the thirteen songs, the two most closely related to bluegrass music are 'Wayfaring stranger', recorded by Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi on their album there is no Other, and 'If I could talk to a younger me', recorded by Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn on Echo in the valley.

We Banjo 3 also supply a link to a YouTube video of them performing the instrumental 'Pressed for time' live at MerleFest earlier this year. As the BIB has previously remarked about another group, it's easy to imagine Jimmy Martin saying: 'What those boys are playing is not bluegrass - but they give it everything they've got and they make the folks in the audience glad they came, and that's what I always tried to do.'

© Richard Hawkins