Folk Centre

In 30 years around musicians I’ve met some awful people. I have often had to comfort friends whose instruments were stolen, usually from dressing rooms or cars after shows. Sometimes (if you’re talking about a vintage Gibson or Fender) the motive was financial. Sometimes, unfortunately, it was a case of another musician stealing an instrument that they coveted. You have to some special form of slime, however, to perpetrate an atrocity like the one John Spillane has recently had to endure. Having played a gig in Listowel as part of the Writers’ Week there, he returned to his car to find his beloved Caballero guitar missing. When the Gardai found it a few hours later, the instrument had been completely smashed. All good musicians form an unusually close bond with their instruments, but acoustic instruments in particular acquire a little bit of their owner’s soul over time, and this mishap will be like losing a limb for John, who loved the guitar so much that it featured on the covers of his last two albums. You wouldn’t want to know what I wish on the low-life responsible.

On a more upbeat note, John’s album Hey Dreamer has been licenced for release in the UK and Germany and will be appearing there in August. We’ll also be seeing plenty of him at hom now that he is fronting Chursai Cheoil, a ten-part look at Irish music over the last 25 years, due to begin its run on RTE during this June.
There are murmurings in Dundalk of great things being shaken out as Stewart Agnew and Emer Kenny have set off on a musical journey together. Each has had tracks produced by Emer’s husband John in the past, so there was already a common ground, and the duo are now writing and recording together in earnest. As anyone familiar with Mr. Agnew will doubtless realise, he’s not a man to let the grass grow, and they have already nailed down two very well-received local gigs, one in the Spirit Store where Stewart has a well established following, and a second in Dundalk Town Hall. The mix of piano, guitar and harp lends a slightly trip-hoppy tinge to a core sound that has been described as “acoustic folk roots”.
Anyone making the trip to the Spirit Store for the Paddy Keenan gig on Saturday June 25 could do a lot worse than hang around until Sunday afternoon. The Brian Meakin band will blow away the last haze of your hangover when they take the stage as part of the venue’s Sunday Blues season.
Keeping with their practice of punching consistently above their weight, the Spirit Store will be bringing a brace of legends to the stage during July, with Michelle Shocked performing there Monday July 18, and John Martyn treading the boards there on July 27. At the time of writing, tickets are still available for both shows – but I wouldn’t hang about.
Work has begun on a DVD compilation of high points taken from Come West Along The Road that looks set to feature rare performances from the RTE archives. Hopefully this will be the first of a series of such releases. The amount of material the station has recorded over the decades is vast and belies the fact that we tend to berate it unmercifully for not making a big enough contribution to Irish music.
Joe Giltrap gets a chance to work with one of his musical heroes on his new single. Having long included Tom Paxton songs in his live set, the two have now recorded a version of Paxton’s ‘The Bravest’ together. Written 13 days after the Twin Towers were destroyed, the song eulogises the 343 fire fighters who lost their lives trying to save others. As well as the single, Joe this month re-releases a re-mastered and extended version of his album The Mountains Of Mourne.
Mary McAleese has accepted an invitation to join the 25th anniversary celebrations of Milwaukee’s IrishFest. The Irish government has been a major partner in programming and funding for the Fest, sponsoring the participation of more than a dozen lecturers, artisans, and craftspeople in 2004, and this visit will really cement the festival’s status.
Probably the highest profile event in the ‘Irish’ music calendar worldwide, the festival has grown in size and significance, swelling to its present iconic stature with acts like Flook extolling its virtues as the most exciting place on the planet when in full swing. This year’s Fest runs from August 18 - 21 and features Danu, Cherish The Ladies, The Bridies, Tommy Makem, Leahy and Wolfstone – proving that Irish is a very broad church indeed in Milwaukee.
As usual there will also be plenty of on-the-up acts and some interesting shows. The Armagh Rhymers will be making the trip this year and should prove diverting for the American audience. Much of the programme has yet to be announced and there may well be a few surprise additions to the schedule.
Before you hit Milwaukee however, you should – I can’t believe I’m going to write this – catch the Chattanooga Choo Choo to the 9th annual Bones Fest of the Rhythm Bones Society. The bones and the bodhran (as well as their whole extended global family) will be celebrated in true Tennessee style. It should be an altogether more relaxed affair than most festivals, the emphasis being on getting as many players together and facilitating some extended jams. The festival takes place on Signal Mountain and in downtown Chattanooga proper from July 8 - 10. There will also be workshops and special classes for kids.
Mick Hanly, who takes up residency in the Holiday Inn, Pearse Street this month, has written an autobiography. This episodic take on his life – as close to a concept album as you’re likely to get without Rick Wakeman on keyboards – is called Wish Me Well/Notes On My Sleeve and forms a pendant piece to the former Moving Heart’s well received album Wish Me Well. The book is published by Gill & Macmillan and is, as they say, available from all good bookstores.
Mid-June sees Carlow transformed by the Eigse Festival, which this year runs from June 11 - 18. Although the music programme this year is quite sparse, it does offer at least one treat as Glór na nGael, Carlow Folk Club and the former Carlow Traditional Singers Club join forces to host a gala Evening of Traditional Music and Song under the banner Suáilcí Sona on Sunday June 12.
The event will feature the renowned Clann Uí Bheaglaoich from West Kerry who are on a promotional tour to showcase their latest CD. Sisters Seosaímhín Ní Bheaglaoich and Caitlín Ní Bheaglaoich will perform favourite songs from their Gaeltacht childhood accompanied by their respective sons, Gavin Ralston on guitar and TG4 Young Musician of the Year, Aogán Ó Loingsigh, on concertina. The Folk Room at The Carlovian will be the venue, and it’s small enough to make early booking a sensible plan.