Folk That: X-It Strategy

BBC 6 Music is an altogether more mainstream kind of affair than its RTÉ cousin 2XM, where you have enthusiast-programmed shows made for the love of it. Whereas 2XM is fanzine radio – occasionally great fanzine radio it must be said – 6 Music has a decent budget and some high profile presenters. It’s a different animal. Given the broadly similar tasks of developing an audience for digital radio, the two broadcasters have taken radically different approaches.

RTÉ signed up a bunch of virtual unknowns and let them do their own thing, growing a 2XM style in an organic fashion. Over the couple of years since its inception, the station has been blossoming out of sight. It’s a diverse affair with Gavin Morrison’s Through The Looking Glass showcasing some forgotten gems from the ’60s, while The C Word with Miss Paula Flynn mixes long-forgotten country from the 1930s and 1940s with contemporary Irish bands and John Bela Reilly’s Undercurrents which only plays emerging acts. While there are a few friendly visitors like Dave Fanning and John Kelly, the bulk of the presenters are working musicians of some description.
In the UK, 6 Music is very different. From the outset, it relied to a much greater extent on established presenters like Lauren Laverne and Stuart Maconie and some grandstanding from the big names like Jarvis Cocker and Cerys Matthews. It’s more like all-day late night radio than the eclecticism on offer over here. To my mind, the notion that the BBC might close it all down to save what, in effect, is loose change for them seemed ludicrous in the extreme.
Nine million sterling might be a lot of money to you or me, but for the BBC it’s probably what they spend on cappucinos annually. Still, I’m relieved, if not entirely surprised, that it has had a stay of execution. It’s still one of the few areas of big boy radio where you might hear something truly underground, where a lo-fi acoustic act might sneak into the playground and get a go on the swings. Part of me would love to see them have to do it 2XM style, making guerilla radio on a shoestring, but I shouldn’t grudge them a few comforts either.
The name High Plains Tradition might conjure images of Clint Eastwood in outlaw drifter mode riding like a ghost through some desert town. In fact, the five-piece bluegrass outfit hail from the Rocky Mountains and are a pretty affable bunch. If you’re willing to take your chances they’ll be coming to the Seamus Ennis Centre in Naul on Monday July 19. They feature a classic bluegrass line-up of guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin and bass fiddle and play a mixture of original material and classic ‘grass from the likes of Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley and Jimmy Martin. Judging by their website, they don’t seem to take themselves anywhere nearly as seriously as they take their music, so it should be a fun gig.
Bookending the week is a concert on Friday July 23 featuring two of the finest players of Irish traditional music ever to grace a stage, when Liam O’Flynn and Paddy Glackin team up. O’Flynn is probably the most appropriate musician to play in that particular venue. Not only did he study the uileann pipes with Seamus Ennis (as well as Leo Rowsome and Willie Clancy), he was also bequeathed a set of pipes by him. Paddy Glackin may not be able to boast that level of connection to the place but is equally embedded in the Irish tradition having been first inspired by the Donegal fiddlers John and Mickey Doherty on a trip to Donegal in the company of his father, Breandan Breatnach and Clare fiddle player John Kelly.
Although he trained classically and is as comfortable playing John Cage as playing reels, he has a performance pedigree that few can match including a stint in the Bothy Band and a back catalogue that includes collaborations with the likes of Donal Lunny and Micheál O Domhnaill.
The following evening, Saturday July 24, you’ll find Sarah Grey – New Hampshire-born but a long-time resident of Scotland – taking the stage in the company of Kieron Means who is just as well noted as an interpreter of old songs and Ben Paley, who they describe as ‘the best fiddle player’.
It’s also set to be a great month for music at the Cherrytree in Walkinstown with L’Angelus from South Louisiana blowing into town on Saturday July 17. They have roots in the Cajun and country camps, but what they play is original and entirely their own. The three siblings originally started playing with their mother and brother Johnny at county fairs in the mid-1990s as Linda Lou and the Lucky Four, but after returning to their Louisiana roots they slimmed down to a three-piece (losing the drums – and their mother – along the way) and are now touted as one of the fieriest set of performers playing music.
Tuesday July 27 finds the venue in the eight capable hands of Singers In The Round which showcases the combined talents of Charlie McGettigan, Gary Ferguson, Janet Holmes and Colin Henry. Down through the years, Charlie has worked with artists including Dé Dannan, Mary and Frances Black, Ray Lynam, Hal Ketchum, Maura O’Connell and Eleanor Shanley who have recorded many of his songs including ‘Feet of a Dancer’, ‘A Bed for the Night’, ‘If Anything Happened to You’ and others.