Category: MTW Music Reviews

I got a poster up on the wall at home that refers to the wisdom of a Statesman Marcus Cato, who was hanging out back in 234 – 192 BC:

 
“The best way to keep good acts in memory is to refresh them with new.”

 
With that in mind I responded to Pat Cannon’s gig texts and headed over to his Thursday night session in MB Slattery’s to hear a new funky blues, rock and latinesque soul band called Hot New Machine.

 
Hot New Machine is a busy three piece collaboration featuring a much travelled young New Yorker and two mint fresh Dubliners on Bass and Percussion.

 
In accordance with Marcus Cato’s philosophy, Hot New Machine do provide a refreshing blend of very approachable tight, funky, soulful music infused with total conviction and Bradley’s musical observations in South America for five years and Spain for three, singing many of his own original’s in melodic Portuguese.

 
All the favours were well represented in the jubilant and jovial version of Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing at the start of the set with its latinesque jive on Bradley’s Fender Stratocaster and vocals driven by melodic bass and percussive warmth.

 
This difference in style and approach and willingness to embrace the wider world is infectious and upbeat and full of enjoyment for the audience and capable of igniting the dancing G spot for several gyratory young ladies in post coital bliss around the front of the stage.

 
Bradley’s subtle and complex picking has developed from his original inspiration Eric Clapton into an R&B cool sounding groove full of Brazilian and Spanish journeyman dalliances giving the impression of someone having the time of his life finding his own groove driven along by an Irish rhythm section full of youthful, catchy, poppy, and glitterball funky vigour that could just as easily provide a backdrop for Alex Turner. Bassman the man with the plan shuffles about the stage, interlocking Bradley for some slash and burn adding plenty of visual excitement.

 
Hot New Machine have a spirited, bounciness to their performance, and the atmosphere is full of energy and multi lingual exchanges with the rapidly apparent multi national audience characteristic of the new Irish social scene engaging enthusiastically.

 
Hard working live music promoter Pat Cannon is moving his promotions to a new redesigned Lower Deck in September with gigs from the following lined up: from Full Circle, Bree with encouraging plans in the pipeline to bring in another International Blues Artist in collaboration with JJ Smyth’s Blues promoter Barry O Reilly.

 
The Lower Deck sounds even if my previous visit there is a very smudgy recollection of being in a reduced state of awareness at a Planxty style session in ’75 moving bipedally around a dark venue amongst a room full of my peers resembling in hindsight a tribe of white handed gibbons.

 

Mick Kenny aka MTW

Monday night is a jazz night in JJ Smyths which at the moment is featuring a series of gigs by The Phil Ware Trio with a different guest week and when I got an email saying that Honor Heffernan’s next Dublin performance was as this week’s featured guest in Dublin’s most intimate jazz venue, I jumped into the car and down to Aungier St to see this extraordinary, classy Irish entertainer live on familiar ground.

 
I picked up Honor’s new CD Fire and Ice a few months back and since then I have developed a slow burning infatuation with each song and felt that an opportunity to hear the material in the flesh would be the perfect way to spend a Monday night in October.For many years now I have held Honor Heffernan in exhilarating regard and her appearances on TV and Radio are a constant and eager delight demonstrating an artist on top of things and on top of her game, an inspiration and antidote for the dust and confusion of life.

 
To also put my affection for this wonderful Dublin born singer in context its about the fact that I grew on a mainstream musical diet of Rock, Blues, Country and Folk and considered Jazz as a void of nothingness, a stupendous mountain of technical proficiency that I was unable to secure my footing, having nothing to cling on to in the musically adventurous unknown, where nothing appeared recognisable invariably finding myself slipping back to the more familiar terrain of the blue rhythm highway until Honor opened the door for me, getting me all musically restimulated, revitalized and reorganised to her music and the artists she passionately interprets with such a sparkling and bright vocal presence.

 
I have had a similar experience in recent years with guitar music, it being my favourite key of choice for opening the door to a musical performance, turning left on blue into the engaging jazzy blue sound of Chicago Guitarist Dave Specter and our own superb Nigel Mooney and his recent All Your Love In Vain CD which is a passport to musically get with it, have fun and be alive jazz.

 
The Phil Ware Trio featuring Phil on Piano, Dave Redmond on Double Bass, and Kevin Brady on Drums were the perfect atmospheric backdrop for Honor, superbly embellishing her engaging live performance material and cool vocal repertoire of classics in the warm candle lit ambiance of JJ’s upstairs lounge.

 
Honor Heffernan’s calm confident friendly stage presence is captivating and her voice has what it takes to meet and handle anything and everything bridging gaps between all genres.

 
Song’s like Old Devil Moon, All Or Nothing At All and Mel Torme’s Born To Be Blue flow lyrically; clear and distinct like a glacial singing stream flowing down from a Swiss mountaintop beneath a cobalt blue expanse of sky revealing not a cloud in sight.

 
How Insensitive the last track on Fire & Ice was a rich and luxuriant gem on the night with some dazzling subtleness and delicacy from Phil, Dave and Kevin parking it in the same garage for me as The Girl From Ipanema at the risk of sounding like a complete Philistine.
From West Side Story Honor gave a perfect and flawless version of Cool.

 
“Take it slow and Daddy O
You can live it up and die in bed”

 
Again and Again Honor Heffernan zaps the audience with her wonderful pretty anachronistically demure and comforting stage presence, her beautifully ethereal long wavy blonde hair which was captured in a radiantly glorious photograph on the flip side cover of her Stormy Waters LP cover which is strategically positioned at the front of my treasured vinyl collection because of its ability to generate a tremendous upsurge of spirit every time it catch’s my eye.

 
Be Cool and Shadow Of Your Smile were hypnotically spellbinding with Phil Ware’s rippling pianistic sweeping melodies complementing Honor’s visionary vocals so beautifully in front of Dave Redmonds cinematic bass lines and Kevin Brady’s gentle timekeeping percussion brushing those incredibly potent Joni Mitchell poetic confessional lyric’s off the stage and into an indelible space in our precious memory bank.

 
Its a terrific band with an honest soulful vocal delivery, a romantic and silky smooth groove that’s effortlessly appealing, never overshadowing Honor’s vocals and takes the listener away to the musical equivalent of yoga, leaving mind, body and soul refreshed in a musigasm and wishing that songs like I Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry and Temperance Street could last all night long.
Honor Heffernan’s self assured vocals are a national treasure and her stature owes much to the earnest, poised, quality material she chooses to perform with such a characteristically emotionally moving graceful style.

 
It was a heavenly live set of songs that has me listening to her Fire And Ice CD with such a renewed sense of appreciation that I feel like I am practically related to the songs now.

 

“Charm them
Don’t alarm them
Keep things light
Keep your worries out of sight
And play it cool
Play it cool
50 -50
Fire and Ice.”

 

Mick Kenny aka MTW

It was raining cats and dogs in Dublin all day long with no let up as the clock ticked towards 9pm, but because there was two great bands playing in JJ’ Smyth’s in aid of Dublin City Anna Livia FM’s fundraiser, a wonderful local radio station catering for Blues, Jazz and a whole spectrum of special interest programmes seldom available on the mainstream, I had no option but to wrap up and head into town.

 
I have become very fond of many of the shows on Dublin City Anna Livia 103.2 FM and Charlie Hussey’s Bluestrain on Sunday night has been two hours of pure and untrammelled joy since the early 90’s. The daily Live Drive shows AM & PM have kept me a turn ahead of the traffic gridlock on many occasions and when time allows I chill out with the meditation show on Friday morning. The many excellent shows like Raymond Mc Gee’s Route 103 for when the living is easy, the wine is open and she’s texting you to set the alarm before you come up because she knows your hypnotized by the Ray’s gems on the Saturday night radio, Backbeat to the 60’s, Super Soul Kitchen and John Kavanagh’s Elvis Memories,( who I am forever indebted to for a treasured James Burton personalised guitar pick) fantastic radio wonderfully presented in their own inimitable styles transmitting a charm all of its own.Thinking about JB Legendary Master of the Telecaster from Shreveport Louisiana on a meter to measure stage cool, there is super cool, frosty, North Pole and then there is James Burton the ultimate string pickin gunslinger.

 

Local Radio where else are you going to hear two women discussing the merits of fake testicles for neutered dogs on a Saturday morning? Dublin City Anna Livia FM is a gold mine and a pleasure to listen to as the DJ’s are not interested in self selling or beating you over the head with themselves, instead focussing on careful judgement and discernment, revealing a pleasant intelligent interest especially in matters of local interest style and taste, music, musicians, songs n songwriters.

 
Thankfully JJ’Smyth’s was full of like-minded patronage and support when I arrived and the bad weather outside only seemed to encourage a determination amongst those present to let their hair down and have some fun tonight.

 

Parchman Farm got the show on the road with their signature version of Mose Allison’s key changing classic that provides the group’s moniker. Peter Mc Gowan’s guitar prowess and spine chilling guitar breaks along with his tireless energy and passion to keep the blues alive in Ireland has always been a treat, and has made me an avid fan and supporter over the years. Parchman Farm have refined their current individual talents into one of the most tightly meshed blues machines on the scene. Tony Poland has developed a well-deserved reputation as one of the finest harp players in the country and was in fine form tonight with superb raging and wailing versatility in his chromatic and blues harp rhythm and lead contributions. Tommy Grimes is a kicking front man raunchy and raucous, getting the crowd in the mood with his gritty growling lugubrious vocals on dark brooding numbers like Little Walter Jacobs “Last Night” and making space for each of the band to step up to the mark with Tony Poland playing out of his skin with fluid, darting, swooping appropriate top class Mississippi saxophone solo’s.

 

“Last Night
I lost the best friend I ever had
Now you gone and left me
That makes me feel so bad”

 

Aaron on Double Bass and Fran on Drums tie down the rhythm with style and flash, a solid rolling back line and the perfect foil for the guitar harp and vocal front line. Pete let fly with some of his clean stinging, scorching solos on “Dog Eat Dog” which demonstrates his passion and ability to construct a solo that flows in such a way that it is fresh with ideas and twists that never runs out of steam and pays homage to his traditional Chicago heroes like the superb Jimmy Johnson. Pete’s a Chicago man at heart his lead breaks comes in like a flick knife flashing in a Southside Chicago brawl and makes no apology for keeping his tone in that traditional period when Muddy, Wolf, Hooker and Elmore first decided to plug the six Country Blues strings into the electriCITY grid and hooked us all on fine, singing, swearing and swaggering electric blues and Little Walter threw away the rule book and joined in.

 
Parchman Farm blaze through a wide variety of Chicago and West Coast styles sung and played with heart and soul and rollicking drumming in a solid gold easy foot tapping groove revealing a deep appreciation, passion and love for the music they play. Its that unrelenting passion for the roots of the electric Chicago & West Coast blues that has endeared them to their fans as a fabulous gritty R & B vibe over the years on the scene and makes them one of the most popular musical chasers for a few pints in town on a Saturday night.

 

The night was buzzing when Hollywood Slim and the Fat Cats took to the stage and captured the atmosphere perfectly with a brilliant superlative performance. A multi-talented foursome dressed in Hawaiian shirts bringing sunshine on a cloudy day with a professional tightness that deserves to prosper.

 
Hollywood Slim takes the stage with a authoritative long lean stage strolling swagger from the get go, and works the awe-dience like a Deep South preacher with his deep coffee baritone resonance. The Reverend Hollywood Slim’s irrepressible looning and front man peachiness along with the Fat Cats smooth instrumental proficiency results in a set that consistently created an extra magical flair on stage and a warmth of enthusiasm and awe-dience involvement in JJ’Smyth’s.

 
Hollywood Slim has charisma and his rappy half inflected monologue and swing draws and grabs the attention of the camera phones in the crowd managing to imbue the blues with a good humoured cheekiness between the flashes.

 
Papa Hynes on Drums is outstanding and doesn’t miss a beat hitting everything into the pocket with effortless ease and his performance is a lesson in flair and economy and with Rev Priestly on a firm and powerful bass, the rhythm section is specifically interesting, fine and relaxed one minute, rhythmically strong and stabbingly percussive the next and glorious to listen to as they lay down the well manicured foundations of each song and set out the presentation for the notable and amazing crowd killing guitar work of Junior Hynes.

 

Seek out this guy for yourselves all you blues guitar aficionados, he is a very accomplished player creating breath-taking textures that evoke a welcome insight into the swing styles of T Bone Walker, Louis Jordan and as demonstrated on the late Clarence Gatemouth Brown’s “Okie Dokie Stomp” (1924-2005 died in Texas after fleeing his destroyed New Orleans home and taking shelter from Hurricane Katrina) and the appropriate updates along the way like the obvious ignition and possible mentor Hollywood Fats, always remaining engagingly ineffable and inexpressibly delightful.

 
One of the welcome Blues developments for me in recent years has been the structure and form the current Irish Blues Bands now bring to bear on stage, leaving behind the meandering and aimless virtuosity of the rock blues era, and putting on a show that is entertaining and spectacular with more density and cohesion in the set.

 

A Fender Strat magician Junior Hynes guitar style is stunning and reveals a variety of flavours in the Blues Ice Cream van, hitting the spot each time and delivering the goods with delicious samples of his talent. Taking classic Chicago blues phrases, hooks and licks and making them sound eternal and sophisticated with a fluency that swings sweet north, south, east, and west, without sacrificing any blue in a stylistic West Coast sound, using a capo to get plenty of open string smoothness, that complements the bands 70’s California Swing Blues. The result is a cutting and uncluttered ambiance that has finesse, taste, and respect.

 

Modulating between crisp clean honeyed swing chording and some sweet mellifluous single and double stop bends and locked into the infectious impermeable rhythm section the songs rolled into the night positively steaming because these guys really do play well off each other.

 

Hollywood Slim has goofiness on stage that is a bull eye, bawdy, unpredictable and gets top score for his ability to create the sound of our favourite farmyard animals with his harmonica, which constantly surprises in its emphasis such as his cheeky and imaginative rendition of the “Hucklebuck” and a Hollywood Fats (1954-1986) gem called Red Headed Woman, which was a storming performance.

 
Steeped in tradition Hollywood Slim and the Fat Cats is pure old style swing blues with flair and energy to burn, tips it hi hat firmly in the direction of fun and pleasure and surely did bring sunshine on a rain dancers day.

 

In a week in October 2005 in which the blues world mourns yet another recently deceased loss, this time of Little Milton (1934-2005), its good to go home knowing that the blues is alright in Dublin thanks to blues journeymen like Parchman Farm and Hollywood Slim and the Fat Cats and of course Charlie Hussey and the Bluestrain on Dublin City Anna Livia FM 103.2. Both bands have an identifiable core that is tight and punchy and infuses the atmosphere with a sense of fun and celebration and that’s the kind of provocative exciting entertainment a blues audience needs to get those toes tapping in time to the precious 12 bar portions.

 
In 1970 Muddy Waters played out in UCD and his message on the night was that the Bluesman’s main function is to “play good time music in order to exorcise despair and anguish and to play it so blue it will dance the ass off ya” and if he was walking by JJ Smyth’s tonight he would be proud of his upbeat good time Irish offspring. Thankfully down through the years, I have had the pleasure to connect into Muddy’s spirit and message on the back streets of Dublin, because of the tireless efforts of passionate flag bearers like Red Peters, Jimmy Faulkner, Don Baker, Pat Farrell, Ed Deane, Nigel Mooney, Ben Prevo, Mary Stokes, Bree Harris, Dermot Byrne, Peter Moore, Pat Mc Sweeney and his sadly departed brother Paul who I have no doubt is up there in the heavens trying to convince the publican upstairs that a Blues residency in the back lounge would solve the commercial nature of his business.

 
The festivities ended on a high note for me when Charlie Hussey hosted the raffle and I went home with first prize, an arm full of blues CD’s. One of the CD’s contains a version of Guitar Slim’s The Things That I Use To Do, my desert island blues song, the ultimate vertical expression of horizontal emotion, which I reckon was playing in the Coombe when I arrived in 1954 because it would subliminally command me to put the world on hold for the 3 minutes and 2 seconds of mould breaking magic every time I’d hear it on Radio Caroline on the old Pye Radio, grabbing the sweeping brush to play some imaginary guitar in front of the mirror. It was the in North County Dublin Blues, so poor growing up if I wasn’t a boy I’d have had nothing to play with, but when those primitive rhythms came on the radio it was like tripping through the tulips.

 
What goes round comes round, an appropriate finale.

 

Hey Hey The Blues is Alright
Hey Hey The Blues is Alright
Hey Hey The Blues is Alright
Hey Hey The Blues is Alright
It’s Alright
It’s Alright
Every Day and Night.

 

Mick Kenny aka MTW

It was a hot summers night in Dublin, World Cup fever was everywhere with the familiar battle cry of the grounded Irish Football supporter to be heard in full throttle in every bar along the way to JJ’s.

 
“There one Team missing
There’s only one Team missing”

 
In JJ Smyths there was another gathering at the weekly Irish Blues Club session and it was the Lucerne Blues Festival supporters club past present and future and on stage was the flamboyant Hollywood Slim & The Fat Cats the perfect band in perfect form.

 
I got an amazing buzz from this band in the fall of 2005 at a benefit gig for Charlie Hussy’s Dublin City Anna Livia 103.2 and tonight they continued to exceed all expectations with a wonderful performance in the cool candle lit ambiance of JJ Smyth’s.

 
Hollywood Slim & The Fat Cats create an atmosphere for me of a swinging hot West Coast juke joint full of shades, Hawaiian shirts and Veronica Lake look-alike cocktail waitresses.
Individually each member Junior Hynes Guitar, Papa Hynes Drums, Brendan Rev Priestly Bass, and Hollywood Slim on Harp and Vocals, have a skilful commanding stage presence but the tight knit well rehearsed chemistry of all four members bursts with an energy that lifts their own music and their covers into a brilliant homage to their heroes and influences that is rarely matched.

 
Diving straight in with some beautifully tempered T Bone Walker followed by the Texas swinging prime of Clarence Gatemouth Brown’s Okie Dokie Stomp, Junior Hynes impacts immediately with sublime sophisticated technique on his Fender Strat through ever-reliable tweed Fender Bassman with a hint of additional reverb.

 
His tone throughout the entire set was a delight, true blue and complemented by an excellent balance from the Bass, Drum and Vocal which, although full of dynamics always stayed within a very comfortable volume range throughout the entire performance.
Hollywood Slim is fun on stage, exuding humour and vocal histrionics in-between swapping harp phrases with Junior’s Guitar or just launching into some melt down blues harp flourishes.

 
The powerhouse cohesiveness turns out two-focussed high intensity Jimmie Rogers tunes reminding many of the blues lovers in the audience of a memorable night in the company of the great blues man up in Whelan’s in the 90’s with Houndog Taylor’s stick man Ted Harvey shaking the foundations.

 
Junior Hynes is playing out of his skin this weather and his recent trip to Memphis seems to have added a few more colours to his technique rooted in the Texas jump blues of the aforementioned T Bone Walker, Gatemouth Brown and the later exponents like Hollywood Fats and much more making him one of the most well rounded blues guitarist’s on the scene.

 
Standards like Kansas City are turned into masterpieces of musicianship; a treasure throve of propulsive bass rhythms and the hot and sensitive swinging drums of Papa Hynes on his first live outing since knocking his shoulder out recently yet in absolutely astounding form.Bobby Blue Bland is treated to all kinds of wonderful dynamic subtleties casting an exuberant spell around JJ Smyths with some fine groovin R n B and rapid clean toned guitar lines.

 
The evening is full of go for broke upbeat songs catching the groove shooting up the spines in the house, killer tone, speed and bottleneck magic in the summer air.When a formidable band like Hollywood Slim & The Fat Cats takes on a song like the Hucklebuck then the real dynamics of good interpretation are always a treat, retracing the riff all the way back to Charlie Parker, revelling in Hollywood Slims showmanship and Junior Hynes dizzying speed.

 
You probably knew this already, but now the idea has the official stamp of science.Researchers compared a group of guitarists recently with a group of non-musicians by tapping their fingertips while scanning their brain for activity (insert obvious joke here).Turns out the musicians brains showed a much larger area of response when the left hand fingertips were tapped with the conclusion that the hours of practice and playing are not only training your fingers but are actually expanding the number of brain cells that send them cerebral and inspiration e-mail.

 
Hollywood Slim & The Fat Cats have a lot of seasoning in the mix and add appropriate attack, tension balance and release to their respective rolls that is such a joy for a fan of this style of music handed down by T Bone Walker, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Charlie Christian, Duke Robillard, Ray Charles, Django Reinhardt, Sam Cooke, Kid Ramos and of course the Hollywood Fats Band.

 
They say that if the only tool a tradesman has is a hammer then everything looks like a nail and if that is through then rest assured when you watch these guy’s play you soon realise that they have the whole toolbox with them.

 
Hollywood Slim has an electrifying presence on stage and reels in the audience with his farmyard boogie, mature and diverse delivery style making the sophisticated technical proficiency; rich tone and tremendous enthusiasm of this quartet look deceptively easy.Junior Hynes show enormous growth as a player showcasing impressive improvisational skill and technique who is digging deep into a rich vein of blues turning left on swing and right on inspiration to anyone wishing to witness some sweet swinging chops on the freeboard.

 
Just like their version of Route 66 any trip down this memorable musical path will bring you into contact with several different styles that swing, are danceable and very well played by the delightfully entertaining Hollywood Slim & The Fat Cats.

 
Whatever about the World Cup the Blues was on a winner Tuesday night in JJ Smyth’s with the fine performance from Hollywood Slim & The Fat Cats including a double barrel blast in the middle from JJ’s Interval Band featuring Dave on Guitar, Declan on Bass & Vocals, A J on Harp and Irish Blues Club organiser Barry O Reilly on Drums.

 

Mick Kenny aka MTW

The wonderful atmosphere at a Gypsy Lacy gig is fuelled by a mix of humour; nostalgia and good old fashioned audience participation sing a long.

 
What makes it so popular is the link it has with the great family get together customary to Dublin in the rare auld times.

 
When the weekend came around in the old days in Dublin, families would gather in each others house kids and all and have an evening, that started off with a table full of delights, ham sandwiches, Swiss rolls, homemade tarts and finished off with a sing song ignited by enough bottles of porter and spirit to sedate a rampaging rhinoceros trying to get his rocks off.

 
Everyone was obliged to have a party piece and the ballad was a favourite particularly one with plenty of humour and wit in the lyrics.Then the sixties came and groups like the Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers took the Irish folk ballad to world wide acclaim and also took the families out of the homes and into a new phenomenon, singing pubs the length and breath of the country.

 
What was unique about the Folk Ballad groups that were born out of this custom was the bond between the audience and the musicians on stage with rousing chorus’s lifting the roof off the rafters.This was a very spontaneous style of music that fused traditional melodies and instrumentation with the humorous story telling lyrics of the family sing a long. The traditional songs taken across the Atlantic by our exiled cousins in the previous generations were being reinterpreted back across the waves by artists like Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash just in time to add to a new fashionable Folk Ballad boom in Ireland.

 
Suddenly the extended family descended every weekend and several nights a week to the Embankment, Old Shielding, Wexford Inn, and Murray’s out in Lusk and Brigit Burkes up in Tallaght.

 
Ever since from Ballyfermot to Ballybunion, Bundoran to Bantry the Irish Pub Ballad Group has been synonymous with having the craic agus ceol and is one of our most popular tourist attractions and entertainment exports.

 
Gypsy Lacy carry on that tradition to perfection and have been doing so now for many years in the Irish Ballad pubs around the country and abroad with all the ingredients of a great night out reverberating around the venue as soon as the sound of Sean’s Tanglewood six string, Brendan’s Mandolin, leader and founder member, Christy’s squeeze box and whistle and Joe’s bass anchoring it all down, rings out through the sound system.

 
The repertoire is a set of classic Irish Pub Ballads and makes way for contributions from the audience which is art form in itself as singers get up and challenge the lads to straddle and stay in tune as their party piece invariable progresses through more keys or quays than there is on both sides of the Liffey.

 
Gypsy Lacy are up for party mood big time and have a song and tune for every occasion, and can do every thing, incorporating popular classics like Wonderful Tonight into an atmosphere that’s boozy and live and always with its heart in the right place.There is bedrock of talent and craftsmanship going on at the root of the Gypsy Lacy sound and they make it look easy and that’s the secret of seasoned performers like these guys and just when you wish the night could last all night long, sadly along comes closing time and the National Anthem to send everyone along their merry way home.

 
Gypsy Lacy are artists with ability providing the bridge that spans a night full of enjoyable entertainment with a lounge full of cheer and porter, the memories generated are souvenirs of a great night out and mementos for great family events, with their own inimitable versions of the ballad favourites and Christy’s comedic good humour.For brews, ballads, laughs and tales of the Irish way of life Gypsy Lacy are great fun.The most popular song of the sing a long in the Kestral was from the host of the night’s proceedings the lovely dark haired beauty Irene who was celebrating the fact that she was 18 years old with 22 years experience and impressed all with her rendition of the standard of the Dublin family get together Molly Malone.

 

Molly Malone (In Dublin’s Fair City)

 

In Dublin’s fair city, where the girls are so pretty
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
She wheeled a wheelbarrow, through streets broad and narrow
Crying: Cockles and Mussels, Alive, Alive O

Chorus: Alive, alive O
Alive, alive O
Crying, cockles and Mussels
Alive, alive O

She was a fishmonger, and sure t’was no wonders
For so were her Father and Mother before
And they all wheeled their barrows,
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying: Cockles and Mussels, Alive, alive O

(chorus)
She died of a fever, and no one to grieve her
And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone
Now her ghost wheels her barrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying: Cockles and Mussels, alive, alive O

 

Mick Kenny aka MTW

Lonesome George Thorogood as he likes to call himself tore up the Olympia with his own brand of hard rocking slide guitar blues Monday night.

 
Not since the great Elmore James first dusted his broom has an audience witnessed such a stage technique emphasising blistering well-lubricated raw and primitive power chords sliding into a stratosphere of musical excitement and sexuality.

 
With the seating removed on the ground floor the tightly packed audience jived and bopped away all night long reminiscent of a 1950’s high school hop.

 
The show promptly got off to a real treat from a Detroit country blues band called The Deadstring Brothers. Front man Kurt Marschke bounced about the stage like a young Pete Townshend with windmill arcs across the strings of his battered Fender Telecaster in-between his excellent vocal duets with Marsha Marjieh. Their music grooves along full of magical American classic rock influences, its Mamas and Papas meets early 70’s Rolling Stones wild horses era with the urban echoes of the MC 5 and The Ramones all bubbling away in a nice new Country Stew full of modern flavours similar in taste and texture to Lucinda Williams, Rosanne Cash, Sheryl Crow and The Dixie Chicks. The textured keyboards and pedal steel contributions were timely and sublime in the mix and each song revealed a solid road tested quality. Warning up the audience for someone revered as much as George Thorogood is a big ask but one that The Deadstring Brothers accomplished with confident ease gaining many new fans in Dublin on the night.

 
The 55-year-old George Thorogood and his band the Destroyers known in the early years as the Delaware Destroyers has been rocking the blues since his debut album release back in 1974.George arrived on stage in dark shades dressed in black as were the rest of the Destroyers and launched into a new potential anthem from his new CD Hard Stuff called Rock Party prowling the stage, scanning the crowd at different levels leaving no one in any doubt that the main man had arrived for the main attraction.

 
The Destroyers are a well-oiled machine moving in synchronised patterns to the pounding beat, Slim Jim Suhler on Gibson Les Paul, superb skin hammering pile driver Jeff Simon on Drums, Bill Blough on Bass and Buddy Leach on Saxophone.

 

A purple hue hung over two banks of 6 foot high black covered amplification on each side of the Drums sitting on a high rise.George throws the glasses across the stage and launches into Who Do You Love, the drums sounding like thunder behind the driving Bo Diddley rhythm.

 
The songs roll on one after the other with hardly time to draw a breath between each classic hit and when George does start rapping with the audience its bad boy talk with a delirious audience hanging on to every word.

 
“I am going to do everything in my power tonight to get arrested and if someone is going to get arrested tonight then it might as well be me”

 
The Fixer, Move It On Over, One Bourbon One Scotch One Beer tear up the house in a take no prisoners approach by this American Band.

 
Like many white boy blues players George found the blues through listening to what his early heroes the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Peter Green were listening to and exploring this historical Aladdin’s Cave blues guitar wizardry all the way along Highway 61.
To get a feel for George Thorogood’s music imagine you’re making a Terminator movie and Arnie arrives into the roughest bar in town on a mission from the future naked as the day he was born.

 
He throws back a treble Southern Comfort and heads over to a psychopathic biker shaving himself with the flame of lighter in the corner. He tells the badass dude he wants his clothes, his customised Harley Davison and his motorcycle boots. “You forgot to say please” the Hells Angel replies as he stubs out his cigarette into Arnie’s chest, followed by a bout of physical convincing before Arnie’s heads back out to the mean streets fully clothed in the doomed bikers possessions.

 
Outside leaning against a parking meter beside the Harley is a voluptuous blonde scantily clad homeless hooker, falling out of Rolling Stoned tongue logo top.
She’s nineteen years old with ways like a baby child, as Muddy Waters would have said, eyes as blue as the deepest blues.

 
She doesn’t know where she’s goin and you don’t want to know where she’s been.
She makes Arnie an offer he can’t refuse, in return for a ride out of town on the back of the bike she will rub him down with sweet scented oils every night after his daily battles to save the planet.

 
As the two of them roar out of town at dawn into a badass future an appropriate and tailor-made piece of music erupts and it can only be Bad To The Bone by George Thorogood.

 

This classic piece of slide is an Open G power chord rotating assault on the 3rd and 5th fret moving it up to the 12fret for the solo that’s got a primitive early match play of Big Bad Bo Diddley and John Lee Hooker meets Chuck Berry and Jimmy Reed vibe.It’s that old perfection of simplicity that George brings to his music and its been that way ever since George first say the light, attending a John Hammond gig and the place lighting up like the church in the Blues Brothers. That was the turning point for a life of high volume white knuckled slide guitar playing just looking for the next gig.

 
George has been the hottest ticket in Dublin for me ever since I witnessed his trailblazing acrobatic action packed guitar style including reversed duck hopping stage manoeuvres in the afternoon sun in front of 82,000 fans supporting The Rolling Stones in Slane in 1982 and I was standing in the middle of Wembley Stadium for the legendary 1985 Live Aid show when George’s performance of Madison Blues with his special guest Albert Collin’s blues master of the Telecaster was beamed from the Philadelphia stage by satellite link up on to the huge screens on either side of the Wembley stage and around the globe into the largest TV audience ever on the planet.

 
George Thorogood & The Destroyers is an act that needs to be experienced live to get the full impact with Lonesome George himself shifting between the mean, moody and magnificent on his good time southern fried blues rocking formula and The Destroyers stunning hot tight and punchy contributions on bass, drums and horns stuffed with personality.

 
George Thorogood’s gig was packed to the gunnels with relentless fast, furious, slow and sublime excitement and guaranteed satisfied smiles on every face walking out of the Olympia Theatre on to Dame St after a series of encores that left the audience exhausted with new songs like Hello Josephine leaving indelible imprints on their first outing.

 

Mick Kenny aka MTW

Stayed on in Switzerland after the Lucerne Blues Festival to attend the first staging of the Geneva Blues Summit organised by Laurent Gillieron blues fan and guitarist with the Backstroke Blues Band.

 
Modelled on the Lucerne template with all its attention to detail Laurent and his administration team are motivated by the same principles, to bring a well organised blues event to the Geneva social scene, a scene Laurent describes as a musical desert in terms of live blues activity.

 
I travelled down to Geneva on a three hour train ride through picture postcard countryside till I finally seen this big internationally renowned city on the Lake Geneva shoreline.Once you get the hang of the bus and train system it’s easy to make your way around the delights of this city bustling with shopping activity, museums, exotic flower gardens on the lakefront and lots of serene old world charm in the old town region. Also paid visits to famous Geneva attractions like the headquarters of the United Nations and the International Red Cross but my favourite haunt was to Starbucks on Rue de Rive whose window seats offer a relaxing view of the hustle and bustle with the nicest mug of coffee decorated with sumptuous cream and sprinklings on top.

 
The first event in the Geneva Blues Summit was a workshop for local blues guitarists, featuring two separate classes from the headliners, Dave Specter and Steve Freund in the huge Ramada Encore Hotel complex. All the guitarists formed a wide semi circle in each of two rooms with their electric guitars and practice amps and absorbed all the tips and techniques offered by these two excellent American Blues Guitarists. Its was a revealing insight by these two great players into their own individual styles and teaching routines, as well as into the world of ninth chord and seventh chord progressions, into classic Freddie King blues riffs, resolving Robert Johnson style turnarounds, and phrases that transform the chords in theory into waves of emotional magic on stage.

 

I first came across Dave Specter and The Bluebirds on a visit to Paris in 2004 and was captivated by his wonderful jazzy blue guitar style with his Epiphone Riviera in an All Star Chicago revue that also featured Jimmy Burns and Nora Jean Brusco and would site his versions of Hot Cha from his Speculatin album and People Get Ready from his recent CD release with Steve Freund on It Is What It Is as two favourites on my play list of the year and so it was an eagerly awaited prospect to see him perform again in Geneva.

 

The Geneva Blues Summit performances the following night took place in a fine old venue with balcony’s and high carved wooden walls and ceilings on the Salle du Faubourg in the centre of Geneva.

 
All the trappings of a well organised event were on hand staffed by a loyal team of enthusiastic volunteers committed to putting on a top quality night of blues entertainment.

 

The first band on stage was the Backstroke Blues Band featuring
Laurent Hat Trick Gillieron on guitar, Valerie Snow White Biselx on vocals, Patrick Mr Groove Pegataz on Bass and Jean Christian Boom Boom Barben on Drums. This local blues band formed in 1996 kicked into their well rehearsed set to a warm and enthusiastic attendance and featured a set of original songs and covers influenced by Smokin Joe Kubek, Little Charlie & The Nitecats, T Bone Walker and the guest star Dave Specter. Laurent only took up the guitar at the age of 27 and had spent the last fourteen years well developing his finely honed chops on the fretboard.

 
The upbeat tempo energised and pumped out the blues, capturing the houserockin’ atmosphere and spirit of this special event with Laurent guitar breaks and Valerie’s soaring vocals, burning across the stage with eagerness and clear passion for live performance.

 

They were followed on stage by the big band sound of Bluecerne, a blues band up from Lucerne with Heinz Moby Arnold on keyboards and harmonica who had joined the Backstroke Blues Band on stage for a jam, Renato Cazzaniga on vocals who punctuated his stage delivery with some high kicks reminiscent of Van Morrison’s performance on the Last Waltz, Roli Mossman on some very nice subtle and probing Guitar, Michi Butikofer on Bass, Josi Muff on Drums, Patrick Roosli on Saxophone and Martin Scheidegger on Trumpet. It was a fine big brassy energetic performance with plenty of give and take between the musicians, spontaneity, humour and improvisation.

 
“We‘re here to entertain you
Let’s have a party all through the night
We’ll be up till tomorrow morning
When the sun is shinning bright”

 

The headliner act Dave Specter & The Bluebirds featuring Steve Freund arrived on stage with a fire and a depth of emotion from the four players on stage that could best be described as 110% craftsmanship quality.

 
With Otis Rush sideman Harlen Terson on Bass and Mike Schlick on Drums, a marvellously talented rhythm section and regular members of Dave’s Bluebirds revealing the subtlety and shading of experienced road tested blues journeymen, the lush tones of Dave’s Epiphone Riviera and Steve’s harder edged Les Paul creating a joyful feast of tone and phrasing magic on stage.

 
A tall soft spoken man, Dave Specter is a musicians musician, the modern master of the instrumental, a genre that relies on the voice of the guitar and excels when that voice is as rich and warm as Dave’s eclectic trademark signature sound full of nice melodic phrase sliding, sophisticated slippery riff driven soulful single note lines, double stops, great tone and superb measured composure with a rhythm intensity that adds an hypnotic presence to his songs and covers like Hot Cha on the Speculatin CD and the burner on the night People Get Ready a magical fretboard excursion between Steve on rhythm, some soulful motown mastery on bass from Harlen and Mike Schlick’s incredibly subtle jazzy drumming with the end result sounding like four different languages all conversing fluently and cohesively together on stage.

 
The beauty of Dave Specter’s style, lies in his smooth blues tinged relaxed grooves that breeze into the atmosphere with the soul of the blues and the sensitivity of fluid, percussive and spontaneously jazzy technical proficiency. What I particularly like about Dave’s staggering music is the toe tapping irresistibility and marvellous charm of the instrumental musicianship.

 
Steve Freund has been demonstrating his passion to play blues guitar eight day’s a week from the east coast to the west coast his current base, since the early seventies, working with Sunnyland Slim, Eddie Taylor, Luther Allison and Koko Taylor and is now a traditional master of the Chicago blues guitar techniques with an absolutely fantastic blues voice.Steve and Dave work well together on stage and in the studio both being comfortably versed in each others guitar language skills as demonstrated on Steve’s CD I’ll Be Your Mule and Dave and Steve’s latest collaboration It Is What It Is.

 
Organiser and a really nice guy Laurent Gillieron joined Dave and Steve on Stage for a good old fashioned blues jam and acquitted himself admirably in the company of such skilful guitar wizards and brought proceedings to a satisfying close for everyone in attendance at this first Geneva Blues Summit.

 
It was a great night clearly enjoyed by the crowd transfixed by the skilful musicians, dancing and taking in all the action on stage.It was a lovely break in Geneva and worth it just to see two calibre players like Dave Specter and Steve Freund perform live on stage in the company of such superb complementary and interesting musicians as Harlen Terson and Mike Schlick.

 
One observation I did notice was a lack of posters in the local music shops and ticket outlets where many locals seemed surprised and unaware of the event happening which I felt might be a problem in solving the commercial nature of such a blues event in Geneva.
This is a big problem in the bigger cities and likewise in Dublin where event recognition is difficult and crowd attendance inconsistent. Lucerne a smaller city admittedly in terms of coverage was noticeably for its pavement displays around the main streets and massive billboards near festival locations like the Hotel Schweizerhof.

 
It was the end of a great blues holiday in Switzerland and the next morning I was waiting on a bus to the airport when the Bluecerne van pulled in and gave me a lift on their way back to Lucerne which was much appreciated by these guys who were in great form and are most definitely on the bright side of the road.

 

Mick Kenny

Back in the early 70’s when we were all moving about in random directions trying to make ends meet and waiting for the weekend to come in order to see some live music in the local youth club or go into town to the Club a Go Go or Countdown Club the local hero’s for the likes of me were the musicians to made the transfer across the water to the big league. To the fans and budding musicians at home these exiled local hero’s generated pride and joy as they built their reputations, broke new musical ground and achieved international recognition for their musical talents.

 
It was in this context that I felt a real sense of privilege watching two of my local hero’s Ed Deane and Fran Byrne walk on stage in JJ Smyths Saturday night having followed their careers in the New Spotlight, NME and Hot Press over the years in an industry that can tear your soul apart and unfortunately has sent many of our musical local hero’s to a sadder stage in the sky.

 
I watched these two much acclaimed musicians on stage and I felt their was an honesty in the way these men played that makes the experience unique a feeling that all that matters to musicians of this calibre is getting to play in a place and at a time where it would mean something to people.

 
When you’ve paid your dues and toured as extensively as Ed Deane you always try to add something new and it becomes clearly evident that when he plays a solo he doesn’t stick to what was planned and plays from the heart until he can hear himself singing through the guitar. He plays the classics and he plays them well, not with the original precision or technical finesse but with his own eyes closed self possessed unique style that shows how much he has embraced each song and made it his own. When his heart tells him to get out a little bit he goes for it and when it pays off it’s a lotto win for everyone in the room. It’s of course also a high risk strategy for live entertainers and not for the faint hearted because you lose marks on the slick meter when it doesn’t fly and only works for the guitarist not trying to be anything other than what he is. Ed also has a superb safety net in his Drummer Fran Byrne whose ability to weave support and innovate around Ed’s playing was absolutely fantastic and a joy to ears and eyes.

 
Ed’s guitar’s on the night were a Black Fender Strat and a commie red Danelectro both strung with the low E string closest to his shoes, Ed strings them as if played by a right handed player thus the bass strings are on the bottom of the neck. Except for a jazzy old world Aria Pro hollow bodied arch top with the strings strung the opposite way, the signs of a man who likes a challenge, and a musician who wants to play what he hears in his head.Ed had trouble getting this good looking Gretch like guitar under control with a fair bit of uncomfortable twiddling with the tone and volume knobs as the jazzy orientated number progressed which is often unavoidable when utilising several different types of guitar through a stage set up and often results in the guitar sound having a mind and agenda of its own.

 
It’s a bit like taking an untrained Alsatian for a walk, you’re the one with the lead but it decides where you’re going.It’s a suspension of belief to watch Ed move between right handed and left handed guitars playing them backwards and forwards in open and standard tuning in accordance with his handwritten set list on the floor beside him and occasionally at the behest of a request from the crowd jubilantly heralding Ed Deane’s return, clearly delighted to witness this legendary Dublin Guitarist on stage again.

 

Ed plays a myriad of diverse guitar styles very effectively, a treasure throve, including some highly charged Link Wray and the unmistakable Pulp Fiction reverb drenched left handed upside down Dick Dale surf guitar with whammy bar chords that make you want to drive out to Dollymount Strand with the top down at midnight to hear the waves crashing and rolling onto the rocks of Dublin Bay on a hot summers night.

 
It’s when Ed gets into the Blues that this southpaw reveals a startling vibrato enhanced ringing guitar style, his guitar chops imbued with a similar emotional left handed string bending intensity and style of another Chicago southpaw Otis Rush.

 
When Ed Deane plays its about attitude, delivering every note with conviction using a mix of pick and fingers to get the chugging boogie riffs up and running and as soon as the band are all aboard the bluestrain he dips into his bag of tricks sliding up the fretboard to pull double stop bends and piercing single note lines pouring himself into every move never failing to command complete attention.

 
Talking about bluestrains the audience included my favourite aviator of the blues airwaves Charlie Hussy from Anna Livia’s FM 103 Sunday night show Bluestrain as well as three of the best Blues Guitarists on the scene Ben Prevo, Pete McGowan and Johnny Renolds in a JJ’s, house full of live Blues musicians and supporters including Larry Roddy who has worked tirelessly over the years to promote live Blues music. Both Ben Prevo and Johnny Reynolds joined Ed Deane’s Band onstage for tasty samples of their own talents on the fretboard adding a variety of flavours to the blues scale territory with Eamonn Murray on Sax and Blues Harp the expressive James Delaney on Keyboards, Fran Byrne on Drums and Chris Mayfield on bass name checked inadvertently by Ed Deane as Curtis to much amusement. It was amazing to hear the chemistry of Ben and Johnny’s right hand string pushing bends bounce against Ed’s southpaw string pulling bends on both of their respective jams.

 
There was a wonderful atmosphere of celebration in JJ’s Saturday night including contributions from two ladies in a decidedly reduced state of awareness whose dancing routines in front of stage defied the laws of gravity during the bands rousing rendition of Houndog.

 
In the mid sixties many white kids in Ireland and Britain appropriated the Blues styles and learned how to belt out the tunes that had kept the audiences in the Roadhouse circuits of the oppressed Southern States of America entertained after long and hard days in the field. The power of this music to motivate and keep the spirit high was the attraction of the Blues for these young guitarists who mastered their craft and got their license to drive the music forward creating the evolution of modern music as we know it in all its different directions.In England there were the likes of John Mayal, Peter Green and Eric Clapton and in Ireland we had the likes of Rory Gallagher and Ed Deane to heed and lead the call of the Blues.

 
For all of us who love music and the people who make it we had National treasure on stage in JJ’s Saturday night.

 

ALL YOUR LOVE I MISS LOVIN’
ALL YOU KISSES I MISS KISSIN’
ALL YOUR LOVE I MISS LOVIN’
ALL YOUR KISSES I MISS KISSIN’
SINCE I MET YOU, BABY
I NEVER KNEW WHAT I WAS MISSIN’

 

Mick Kenny aka MTW

Dunmore East a spectacular cosy seaside fishing village on the sunny south east of Ireland, full of old world thatched charm and a full menu of get away from it all activities is also the home for an annual assembly of Bluegrass music’s finest local and international performers.

 
Mick Daly started the ball rolling twelve years ago and has kept it rolling with a singular focus ever since, when as then proprietor of The Spinnaker affectionately known locally as The Spanker, decided to put a bit of life into the quiet spot at the end of the summer by organising this Bluegrass Festival to help boost the commercial nature of the villages wares at the end of August each year.

 
So it was onto the M50 and down the N11 with the family for the 175 km trip to Bunclody native and musician Richie Roberts B&B Avon Lodge in Dunmore East to get my head around the world of Bluegrass.

 
The first performance for me was the from the USA called The King Brothers featuring John Catterall on Banjo, Mandolin and Vocals and Paul Kenney Guitar and Lead Vocal.
The King Brothers are an innovative mingling of Bluegrass, Country and Irish Traditional inspired primarily by the music of The Stanley Brothers pioneers of Bluegrass who released all their music on King Records in the 50’s hence the name.

 
Playing on a stage set up on the lawn of the Fawlty Towers look-alike Haven Hotel on a warm sunshiny Saturday afternoon the equally warm and friendly King Brothers embody a profound familiarity and grasp of the Bluegrass traditions.The easygoing presence of John and Paul on stage quickly earned them an equally warm appreciation from the audience as they worked their way through a repertoire of old folksy Blue Ridge mountain music with infectious mournful and joyous harmonies.

 
There were reminiscences of their sessions with the formative Dixie Chicks and a great version of John Denver’s Country Roads.They talked about the fascination prison songs have and song with delightful harmonies bringing a sad a beautiful poetic depth to the lyrics.The gateway to different musical forms for me has always been the guitar and there is no shortage of guitar-fuelled magic to be heard in Bluegrass music.

 
The chemistry of Paul’s walking bass lines and strumming patterns on his Martin six string acoustic fitted with a Fishman Thinline pick up combined with John’s Banjo picking was foot tappingly wonderful from this very pleasant professional duo.

 
I Lived A Lot In My Time was a rolling delight full of captivating lyrics and a catchy chorus:

 

” I fought the grim reaper down in the dark valley
I prayed where the sun didn’t shine
I look through the bars of this cold lonely prison
Yes I’ve lived a lot in my time”

 

A Dublin based group called Hog Rose provided the next musical delight up at the top of the town in Powers Bar. There was a singalong in full swing by the time we settled into their set featuring classics like the happiest song I think of all time” You Are My Sunshine.”
Plenty of blarney in between the songs and wonderful good time tunes like Take Me Back To Tulsa, I’m Too Young To Marry and a tribute to the late Dublin Traditional singer songwriter John Harte entitled “I Wonder Where You Are Tonight”.

 
The most noticeable quality watching Hog Rose is the passionate love and admiration they have for the music, with each song given a 110% dose of love and affection from this group featuring Richard Hawkins whose commitment and passion for Bluegrass music promotions is a sparkling genuine down to earth treat for fans and musicians ensuring that the circle will remain unbroken thankfully.

 

“You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are grey
You’ll never know dear
How much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away”

 

Another Irish family keeping the bluegrass and old time music flame alight over the years with regular sessions in the Cork area are Kevin and Geraldine Gill and their two sons who I came across on my travels doing an un-amplified session in The Spinnaker on Saturday night with members of the Jack Danielle’s String Band from France and performing again on Sunday in the small but lovely front garden setting of The Ship Restaurant surrounded by Sunday diners tucking into the excellent food on offer.

 
The grace and simplicity of this fine seldom heard traditional music was like the icing on the cake on a warm seaside village afternoon.One of the fastest picking exciting groups performing over the weekend was The BlueGrass Boogiemen from Holland and they were lifting the roof off The Ocean Hotel on the Saturday night when we arrived.

 
There was a great sense of humour, fun, great musicianship being demonstrated by The BlueGrass Boogiemen jumping about the stage in minstrel black and white shoes and alternating vocal positions around the main microphone.The on stage energy of these melodic bluegrass rock and rollers was captivating and engaging with the audience on their feet from start to finish watching super pickers, hoe down fiddle playing, wonderful bluegrass instrumentalists and interactive duelling vocalists.

 
Like all of the other performers I witnessed over the weekend in Dunmore East I found that I was quiet familiar with the bluegrass repertoires featuring as it does music that has been the pinnacle tracks on the soundtrack of our lives in our favourite cowboy films, swing bands, country, old time traditional and new folk music performances not to mention contemporary movies like Johnny Cash’s Walk The Line and Oh Brother Where Art Thou with classics like Man Of Constant Sorrow flowing amongst songs with the purest strains of angelic Appalachian bluegrass.

 
Walking about listening to the different bands I soon realised the diverse array of styles under the Bluegrass/Folk/Country umbrella, from the fun songs to the beautifully poignant, that takes the audience willingly back to a time when life was less complex because of the strong spiritual nourishment in the soul searching lyrics and the upbeat arrangements.

 
Unfortunately it proved impossible to get around all the bands and often you met musicians on the sidewalks rushing from one venue to the other along the hilly streets with their musical instrument cases tucked under their arms from The Ocean to The Haven or from The Strand to Powers, The Ship or The Spinnaker.

 
On the Saturday and Sunday night I mingled with the thousands of local fans wandering outside the Harbour side Strand Stage with their young exuberant flaps closed looking for a familiar face in the crowd, humming along young and old to the melodic waves of Blue Moon of Kentucky coming in off the nearby Atlantic Ocean.

 
Blue Moon Of Kentucky is one of the great signposts on the musical route of every music fan just as it was on a young impressionable Elvis in one of Bill Monroe’s travelling tents on the outskirts of Memphis in the early fifties so much so that he developed it down at the crossroads with some thumping blues and laid it down with Sam Philips and Scotty Moore and The Wranglers on the B Side of his first single to make the world spin on a musical revolution that has carried us to where we are now in present day music fashion.The ~Blue Ass Festival in Dunmore East each year is a gathering of the faithful, a family reunion that ends in a midnight jamboree in the bars and out on the streets.The groups do what they feel like doing until all the instruments are packed up and goodbyes are exchanged.

 

After a walk through the marvellous woods with its labyrinth of natural pathways, that span the rear of Dunmore East on Sunday morning we stopped by The Ocean Hotel once more to get toe tapping again while the Clarksville Mountain Band rally the troops with storming versions of Old Tom Tucker, Last Train to Clarksville and a Funkgrass version of Stevie Wonders Superstition before moving next door to Powers to get some good seats for a session from Blue Railroad Train featuring American Bluegrass veteran James Field and four French musicians with a shared love of old traditional bluegrass and driving traditional country music full of virtuoso passionate playing and with both English and French harmonic vocals.

 
Straddling the fence between Saturday night drinking and Sunday morning church, Blue Railroad Train had plenty of Honky Tonk Blues, Steel Driving tales of lonesome heartbreak and all night cafe’s with a repertoire that included Chuck Berry’s 30 day’s, Big Bill Bronzy, sorrowful trails, slow trains and created an atmosphere in Dunmore East on a Sunday morning of where the deer and the antelope roam to the rhythm of Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs and newgrass legend Ricky Skaggs.

 
Sunday afternoon in the Haven Hotel was buzzing and packed for the superb Boxcar Preachers from Austin Texas who specialise in fast picking Texas Bluegrass oozing with fast and furious charisma and excitement.

 
Craig High was fantastic and in top form with super charged washboard, jaw harp and hollerin good old fashioned vocals surrounded by a cacophony of musical expertise gushing forth like an oil strike from Bruce Mitchell and the boys including some amazing steel guitar picking from Ian Mitchell playing with his guitar angled almost horizontally to use a tapered stainless steel bar on the strings for single string accuracy.

 
This is barnstorming humorous lovin music straight off Walton’s Mountain full of good times and hard living yarns from a seasoned bunch of good time musicians.We got a sermon from the hill outside the Haven Hotel and a rip-roaring version of Folsom Prison Blues.

 

” I hear that train a coming, its rolling around the bend
And I ain’t seen the sunshine since I don’t know when
I’m stuck at Folsom Prison and time keeps dragging on
But that train keeps rolling on down to San Antoine”

 

There was much dancing high on the hill from young and old inspired by waltzing Texan Lady Connie from Austin who told me to go down and see the magnificent statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan in the Boxcar Preachers hometown of Austin Texas.

 
This music is the embodiment of a set of values where the present can come to terms with the past, nomadic troubadours emulating their idols with the crowd in their corner because they know how they feel about this music they love.

 
Playing with a feeling because this music going back to fellow Texan, Jules Verne Allen has meaning and a literal truth that will remain on the road as long as there is anyone to listen, motivated to play it, because if its not your time now, play it loud and proud until its your time again.

 
As the evening moved into the final sessions of the Festival we stopped into The Ship to sample some of Dunmore East’s finest Monkfish and Crab Claws washed down with a bottle of Marques de Riscal Reserva 2001/02.This classic Rioja with its vanilla and oaky aroma and full bodied ripe rich fruit flavoured lengthy delight was the perfect complement for all this acoustic rootsy rare auld mountain vibe.It left me in flying form for the finale in the Spinnaker later when the Boxcar Preachers put on another splendid performance and put it all into focus singing:

 
“Ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down
Ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down
When the Boxcar Preachers play
I’m gonna get up out of the ground
Ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down”

 
The Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival was Honky Tonk boogie music with a traditional country beat with a logic of approach and the sureness of artistic intent featuring:

 
– The Boxcar Preachers
– The King Brothers
– Bluegrass Boogiemen
– Clarksville Mountain Band
– Hog Rose
– Kevin & Geraldine Gill
– Jack Danielle’s String Band
– Tennessee Hob
– Blue Railroad Train
– Mean Eyed Cats
– Richie Roberts& Friends

 

Mick Kenny aka MTW

Chris De Burgh returned to an Irish stage on Saturday night to a full house in the INEC for a solo performance celebrating all his best-known hits over the past 30 years.

 
The set reflected his evolution as a singer songwriter over the years from his embryonic performances in Captain America’s in Grafton Street in the early 70’s with his earlier trademark story songs to the big production numbers of the 80’s to the more recent romantic songs and anti war themes.

 
The epic tales of the Christmas favourite A Spaceman Came Travelling, Spanish Train, the burlesque activities of Patricia the Stripper to the romantic worldwide hit and housewives anthem Lady in Red, Missing You, the comforting Carry Me to the songs from his new album Songs of Freedom. One of the stand out tracks and performances for me was a tribute by Chris called Songbird, to the late Eva Cassidy a lady born with the voice of an angel who tragically died of cancer before her career blossomed whose vocal performances continue to create a profound moving experience to listeners belatedly and attract a world wide audience posthumously.

 
During Lady in Red the spotlight focussed on a beautiful tanned Lady sitting beside me wearing a stunning red dress who was clearly captivated by her idol on stage. I knew she had devotedly gone to all his concerts in Ireland and England since the early 80’s, had all the concert ticket stubs proudly displayed in a large frame at home, I knew she had bought the red dress for the concert and especially for Chris but what really made be proud was the fact that she was my Lady Irene and that she was coming home with me tonight. It was a win win for everybody ha ha as the guy say’s in the Simpson’s.

 

This was Chris De Burgh’s only Irish appearance in a world tour that had just finished a string of dates in Germany and is heading to Canada next for this Irishman who has sold over 50 million albums and continues to have an enduring appeal all around the world.Chris used a absolutely brilliant sounding dark blue solid body 12 string guitar, custom made I believe in the Guitar Factory in Florida and piano in a performance that sounded technically flawless and the songs lost none of their identity being stripped down to the bare essentials in fact Chris unrestrained by a band on stage made the atmosphere sound spontaneously infectious allowing him to work the audience at his own pace.

 
This freedom soon created a genuine mutual rapport and affinity with the loyal fans mostly good-looking thirty-something’s bringing flowers, chocolates and even a bottle of his favourite wine up to him between songs. Chris is well known for his love of fine wine having once drank a full bottle of 1945 Chateau Lafitte as soon as he arrived home after the birth of his youngest son.

 
His songs are introduced with the theme and inspiration, described very clearly and humorously with each song painting a visual sound track of the events. Here For You is a good example of a song he introduced describing that family anxiety when a grown up child, in this case his famously beautiful daughter Rosanna crowned Miss World in 2003, leaving home for an experience abroad and the very real mixed bag of emotions, pride, joy, sadness, worry that airport experience and event brings to mind for parents.

 
One of the great things about live concerts like this is listening to members of the audience around me singing along passionately with fragments of the lyrics of their favourite song, a song that was not only happening on stage in the present but was also an association with personal events in their own past, a soundtrack from good times in life that binds the artist and fan intimately together past, present and future.

 
He belted out rockers like High on Emotion and Don’t Pay the Ferryman and lifted the roof off metaphorically with a Beatle medley Hard Day’s Night, Oblidi Oblida, and swept us away with his version of Hey Jude that revealed his vocal range and just how good an entertainer he is on stage, it was like listening to his hero Paul McCartney.When he looked for some dancers a group of aerobically inclined fans arrived at the front of the stage to engage in a type of free form dancing and bopped away to their hearts content, unsurprising tossing a big old pair of red panties on stage that had me wondering was Brigit Jones in the audience as well tonight.

 
Chris and Family had earlier enjoyed the scenic delights of this visitor friendly county telling us about his trip out to the folk museum in the 19th century Muckross House and Gardens renowned for its world calibre botanical collections, the remarkably friendly locals and the mist pronounced “mished” that descends like a cloud around you as you drive along the mountain roads.

 
Kerry is a fantastic place to visit and the spirit of friendliness and welcome as you walk around the streets of Killarney is palpable and a wonderful credit to the people of the area.He was quiet happy to talk about his ups and downs and acknowledge his much publicised indiscretion of the past and accepted that the halo had slipped and the fans loudly reassured him that they remained unswayed, because just like the mistakes of any member of a family they had also dealt with it and moved on which is the survival dynamic of family life the world over. He did however have a few sharp words also welcomed by rapturous applause for the anonymous type O negative media critics, letting us know for their benefit, that he was still alive and well, not divorced and happily getting on with his life, with his wife Diane and kids who were all in the audience and clearly delighted to see Chris doing what he does best. When the show was over they mingled with the fans and consented willingly to have pictures taken in their company. On the way out we bought the new CD Road to Freedom from the youngest member of the family.

 
What these tabloid crucifixion merchants don’t understand is the glue that exists between an artist and his audience, the relationship that grows and strengthens into a channel of mutual support, excitation and satisfaction over time.

 
Having read the unsubtle sensationalistic rubbish tabloid style article in the Irish Independent that afternoon I knew exactly how he felt, and I am constantly bemused to what end these celebrity career attacks serve other than to attract the attention of the Church’s priest recruitment division to target this group of scribes in our society for enlistment to the priesthood, with their obvious morally impeccable, faultless and immaculate credentials.

 
Hey guys say what you mean, mean what you say but please do not be so mean when you say it, as the wise old saying goes.

 
Chris De Burgh had the satisfaction when he walked off stage that he had worked hard tonight and if their was a fragile and weak uncertainty about pulling off a one man show after all these years away from an Irish Stage, it was put to flight immediately after witnessing him taking his Wireless Microphone Headset and 12 String Electric around the auditorium playing and shaking hands with the audience who patted him on the back, laughed, cried and screamed as he moved through the aisles of fans. Those ecstatic moments for a fan when the world stops and sparkles like a star right before your eyes and, fades back into reality gently like a melting snowflake.

 
The Gleneagles INEC venue, it most be said is excellent with the stage easily within view from any angle and the PA superbly distributing the sound as clearly as if you were sitting in front of a sound system at home but the most refreshing observation was the courtesy and polite efficiency of the INEC staff who unobtrusively went about their business in marked contrast to the jumped up cattle drovers I am regularly confronted with in the Point and similar sized events in Dublin over the years.

 
Mick Kenny aka MTW