Paul King
Donegal born and Galway based Paul King is a relatively new name on the Irish gigging circuit. He has just released his eponomously named debut album (Oct 2010). His music is inspired by a deep rooted love of funk, soul, and blues music. Tracks like ‘Last kiss Goodnight’, ‘Change your Mind’ and ‘An Ode to the Meters’ have a well crafted, New Orleansian funk 'n' blues vibe bringing to mind the Funky Meters. Others such as ‘Eclipse’, ‘Light Me Up’ and ‘Drifting’ have a nice reggae feel. King's catchy songs coupled with his passion for his craft should see him progressing to the bigger stage sooner rather than later.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Paul-King/164253226930282
www.myspace.com/paulkingmusic


Liam Merriman
Waterford-based but Wexford-born singer/songwriter Liam Merriman recently recorded his second album in Nashville, Tennessee, with Thomm Jutz producing (something he has also done for the likes of Nanci Griffith and Mary Gauthier). Listen at www.myspace.com/liammerriman.

Tea and Sympathy
Alicia Corbett and Tea & Sympathy performed at Greenacres Gallery, Wexford on in Sept, 2009. From Minneapolis, the band’s tasty folk/alt. rock sound, with the emphasis on Corbett’s haunting vocals and lyrics, will appeal to fans of Aimee Mann, Kristin Hersh, Ani DiFranco and Hope Sandoval. Alicia’s perceptive song-writing places her squarely in that body of unsung master chroniclers of modern America today. She is accompanied on this tour by long-time colleagues Kurt Koppelman on Mandolin, Michael Koppelman on bass/guitars and Bryce Walsh on Bass.
Alicia Corbett is the John Banville of songwriting. Her songs pull back the layers and delve deep into the minutiae of what it is that makes us tick. Examining the lyrics one gets the impression that each story has been painstakingly and lovingly revised and reduced down until you know she can take it no further. One also finds with Corbett that the slow unraveling of her stories does not always lead to happy endings. What chance that Bonnie Prince Billy or Nick Cave might be lined up to duet on some of those darker songs!
Delta County Blue (extract)
her lips were red
her hair was white
but you didn’t care
and you forgave her
when she’d come in late at night
her skin was pale
her smile was cruel
but she just knew the things to do
to make you do those things you do …

And from the song "Seems So Different Now":
Caught my shadow on the basement wall
I tried to skip and glide
And I know I’m not that tall
If it seems I’m different
It’s only because I’ve changed
We all change ourselves we never stay the same …

"Tea and Sympathy is one of the best live bands to come out of Minneapolis,"beautifully messed up and mesmerizing". Jim Meyer, Star Tribune
Listen here: http://www.myspace.com/corbettinorbit
Or here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tea-and-Sympathy/60545969133

David Creevy: Master Guitarist
Multi-award winning guitarist David Creevy performed at Greenacres on Friday, September 11, 2009.
Creevy is recognised as Ireland's most talented young guitarist. He has studied with America's greatest guitarist, Christopher Parkening. Parkening is considered to be the Heir to the Legacy of Andres Segovia. Parkening proclaims that - "David Creevy is a very talented young classical guitarist. An instrument speaks from the heart of a player and it is this young man's heart that speaks when he plays."
A recent graduate from Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama, where he studied with John Feeley, Creevy has been honoured with multiple awards. During his first year he won the Patrick flood Award for the best Guitar Recital and was runner up in the Yamaha European Guitar Foundation Prize. He was also the recipient of the George Louden J.S. Bach Guitar prize and the Senior Guitar prize.
His competition success led to a performance in the John Field Room in the National Concert Hall, after which he was invited to perform for the President of Ireland, Mary MacAleese. In 2003, Creevy's talent was internationally recognised by being selected as a finalist in the Stotsenberg International Classical Guitar Competition in America. He is the first Irish guitarist to be among the top twenty players of his generation. Following that competition, Creevy was invited to study with Christopher Parkening. He was selected as one of six students from around the world to perform for Parkening at his annual Master Class in California.
"…Creevy is a sensitive musician with a knowing sophisticated side…a strong technique with an ability to define layers in a multi-line texture…"
The Irish Times

Kevin Brady Trio featuring Bill Carrothers
The Kevin Brady Trio performed at Wexford Arts Cedntre in May 2009. The Trio released it's latest album ‘Zeitgeist’ featuring American pianist Bill Carrothers on May 16th with the prestigious jazz label ‘Fresh Sounds New Talent’. Percussionist Brady is delighted to continue his collaboration with the highly regarded pianist/composer. One of the country's leading jazz drummers he has many years of experience playing with some of lreland's most prominent jazz trios including Organics and the Phil Ware Trio. He is described as "one of the most dynamic forces in the Irish jazz scene today" (Sunday Tribune).
Bill Carrothers is quite exceptional in this setting, having recorded with many internationally acclaimed groups. Recording with luminaries such as Gary Peacock, Bill Stewart, Drew Gress, Marc Copland.
“Carrothers is a relentlessly inventive pianist with harmonic sophistication ... has to be heard to be believed" (Chicago Tribune); "The pianist of the 21st century” (Libération).
Go listen to Carrother's Carrother's comedy jukebox on his website. He also has a fantastic selection of WW2 posters on the site. See/listen to Carrothers' albums.
Jazz lovers might also like to check out some of the albums Bill has recorded with his wife Peg Carrothers such as the wonderful Blue Skies.
The music performed by the trio features original compositions from their latest album ‘Zeitgeist’ which will go on Worldwide release with Fresh Sound Records.

Sara Grey, Kieron Means and Ben Paley
Sara Grey, Kieron Means and Ben Paley played Colfers, Carrig on Bannow, Co Wexford in August 2009. New Hampshire born Sara Grey is a fine old style banjo player and a brilliant interpreter of traditional folk songs. Although living in Scottland for close on forty years now her knowledge of the old songs from her home place is impressive. Her son Kieron Means is more focused on the blues side of America's musical heritage with Roscoe Holcomb being a particular favourite. His skilful guitar accompaniments are sparse and understated. Ben Paley, son of Tom Paley (New Lost City Ramblers), has been described as the best fiddler of his generation (fRoots magazine). Fabulously gifted and naturally talented "he’s a Zen fly fisherman, only with a bow not a rod"! Paley is also a fine singer, witty and expressive too as he showed with an old Yiddish song.

Michele Ann Kelly
Michele Ann Kelly played The Sky & The Ground, Wexford on July 16, 2009. Earlier in the day she entertained a youth group in the Coolcotts area of the town.
Michele Ann is a star in the making. Listening to her sing last Thursday I could not decide if she was (a) Top of the Pops material, (b) Nashville-bound or (c) destined for the West End! One thing is certain: she inhabits every song she sings ... completely. Her pitch-perfect voice is not just easy on the ear but manages effortlessly to convey the emotions behind the words. Listen for yourself: Michele Ann Kelly.

Gary Ferguson (USA) and friends on tour 2009
Gary Ferguson (vocals and guitar), Janet Holmes (vocals), Colin Henry (guitar and Dobro) and Charlie McGettigan (vocals and guitar) served up a fine evening of country, folk and Americana music at Wexford Arts Centre July 9, 2009.
From Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Gary Ferguson writes beautiful chilled-out American ballads. He is a story-teller in the old sense reminding one at times of John Prine, Guy Clark or Townes Van Z. One slowed-right-down ballad brought to mind Lucinda Williams. His decision to link up with the vastly experienced Leitrim-based "Rock 'n' Roll Kid" Charlie McGettigan was a good one. Charlie style is not that dissimilar from Gary's showing that Drumshambo can enlighten and inspire just as much as Gettysburg! I had not expected him to dominate the stage as he did. He is funny, engaging, self-deprecating and as good a raconteur as you will find anywhere. His Feet Of A Dancer, made famous by Maura O'Connell, brought the house down. Belfast's Janet Holmes honed her tasty bluegrass/Irish/Swing-era jazz sound with the respected Belfast jazz/blues band BirdDog. Her crystal-clear vocals - think judy Collins/Joan Baez - combined with savvy song writing make for one of the finest country/folk performers on the island. Multi-instrumentalist Colin Henry's dobro is the glue that binds the evening. He showed his versatility by playing guitar and banjo on a few numbers. At evening's end he surprised the audience by showing he could sing as well, bringing to mind a young Doc Watson.
This was the first time these four musicians had shared the same stage ... and it worked.

Everybody Is Wild About The Wilders!
Hey y’all been missing something if you haven't seen Kansas City’s “hillbilly hurricane” The Wilders. The band which played Wexford Arts Centre July 1, 2009 laid on a no-holds-barred, dung-kickin’ hoe-down.
Playing fiddle, banjo, guitar, dobro and slap bass the band’s mix of “white-hot” honky-tonk, bluegrass, country and rockabilly makes this music that’s hugely infectious and good-time. The band’s fifth CD – produced by the legendary Dirk Powell - was voted Best Alt-Country Album in the American Independent Music Awards.
Listen to Wild Nory at http://www.myspace.com/wilderscountry .


Ailie Robertson Trio
The Ailie Robertson Trio, led by the young award-winning Scottish harpist, played Greenacres Gallery, Wexford on July 4, 2009.
Young Scottish harpist Ailie's pedigree is already impressive: five times National Mod Gold Medallist, erstwhile member of the Scottish Harp Orchestra and currently member of international six-piece band The Outside Track. Ailie fronts a contemporary, dynamic trio of harp, guitar and percussion. Playing with outstanding vigour and poise, the jigs, reels and polkas will get your feet tapping while her slow airs will stir your soul or, as Maverick magazine puts it, “tear your heart out”!.
“You know without doubt you are listening to inspired genius”. (FolkWords)
Listen here: http://www.ailierobertson.com

Glenn Tilbrook
Glenn Tilbrook is the voice of Squeeze. Last visit to Wexford was an Arts Centre gig in Nov 2008. Suffering from a serious tummy bug and a bad head cold but still turned in a fab performance. What a guy!

Mick Flannery, Wexford Arts Centre
Highly lauded Cork singer Mick Flannery made his Wexford debut at Wexford Arts Centre on Saturday, Nov 14, 2009.
Listen to the Meteor Award winner at www.myspace.com/mickflannery. Read this interview with Flannery from the Limerick Event Guide

The Focus Group
The Focus Group are four hip young gunslingers from Enniscorthy rapidly gaining distinction for their subtly sardonic, social power pop (hey, who wrote this stuff?!). Awarding the quartet "review of the fortnight" in his First Cuts column in Hot Press (Oct 2008), Jackie Hayden applauded their “quirky attitude and damn fine music” which brims with the “confidence and art-swagger of Roxy Music.” Their latest single Bits and Bobs (April 2009) is getting very favourable reviews.
The Focus Group

Jinx Lennon at The Bailey
Punk-poet performance artist and D.I.Y force of nature Jinx Lennon played Enniscorthy’s Bailey Live last November (2008).
Jinx has been the headline act of the Leviathan area at the last three Electric Picnic Festivals where his blistering mix of spoken word, electro and social commentary has won him an avid following.
Lauded be people as diverse as economist David McWilliams and author Pat McCabe as perhaps the most singular and original lyricist working in Ireland today, the rage and rawness Jinx brings to each live show is beautifully complimented by the magnificent voice of his stage partner, Miss Paula Flynn.
Having released three acclaimed albums, Lennon was recently the subject of a television documentary as part of RTE1’s Arts/Lives series while a radio play based on his songs and lyrics called ‘Know Your Station’ was broadcast on RTE Radio1 as part of the ‘Parlour Plays’ series, and has been short listed for the Prix Europa 2008; Europe’s biggest competition for radio, television and emerging media. Reinvigoration for the open-minded, Jinx is not to be missed.
Miss Paul Flynn

Halferty/Guilfoyle Trio
March 25 (8.30pm) Halferty/Guilfoyle Trio played Wexford Arts Centre. These three pivotal players on the Irish jazz scene came together for the latest gig in the Wexford Jazz & Blues Series. Composer, innovator and stunning acoustic guitar player Ronan Guilfoyle is constantly pushing the boundaries of jazz music in Ireland; Conor Guilfoyle (drums), as respected and as much in demand as his brother, is a well respected music teacher and has always had a grá for the Latin side of jazz; guitarist Tommy Halferty is a mainstay of the Irish jazz scene, his agile, Brazilian inflected style lending "an irrepressible voice, always lyrical and animated". They did not disappoint the large and enthusiastic audience with a show that married stunning musicianship with a choice of material that spoke of better days ahead!

Launch of new CD by Wexford Traditional Balladeer John Ennis
The album "The Tomhaggard Martyr" by traditional singer John Ennis was formally launched by Liam Gaul at a reception at the Stanville Lodge Hotel, Barntown, Wexford, on Wed. 26th November.
"The Tomhaggard Martyr" features songs collected over a lifetime by John. He performs these songs with the characteristic love and attention that has made him treasured by aficionados of the genre throughout Ireland and beyond.
Singing for as long as he can remember John Ennis has a fondness and preference for the ballad and on this album some of the finest songs in the tradition get loving treatment and performance of the highest calibre.
In a tribute to the singer, renowned song-collector and traditional singer, Paddy Berry, says of John Ennis, "...he always sings with conviction and sincerity even on casual occasions, never compromising the integrity of his song. His fine musical voice enhances brilliantly every song he sings".
All in all there are fifteen songs featured on the album. The song selection represents John Ennis' varied repertoire. The mood changes from the title track, "The Tomhaggard Martyr", a fine song recalling local events in Cromwellian times, written by Nick Kinsella, to the light -hearted "ould-cod" "The Salt". From the new setting of Siggerson's "Mountains of Pomeroy" to the evocative "Orchard" by Kevin Evans, all contrasting with French's immortal "Ballyjamesduff". These renditions are all combined by John to give a truly memorable collection of fine songs.

Notes on "The Tomhaggard Martyr"
"The Tomhaggard Martyr", is a factual account of an incident that took place in Tomhaggard, South County Wexford on Christmas morning, 1653.
While clandestinely celebrating Mass, then illegal under the Penal Laws, the congregation were attacked by Cromwellian Forces and the Celebrant, Father Nicholas Mayler, was killed by English troops.
A member of the congregation, Mrs Lambert, bravely saved the Mass Chalice by firstly concealing it in her skirts and then hiding it on the shore of nearby Lingstown Lake. Later, she recovered the chalice and returned it to the Mayler family where it remained for generations until it was safe to return it to the local church.
Nowadays, each Christmas morning in Tomhaggard, a large crowd assembles at first light for an open air mass to commemorate this tragic event. The Mass takes place on the exact spot where Father Mayler was killed now marked with a commemorative stone. There is one very special visitor to the Mass, the exact chalice that was used by Father Mayler on that fateful morning in 1653 is used in this celebration each Christmas morning.
It is now a tradition that at the end of this Mass, the Ballad "The Tomhaggard Martyr" is sung by John Ennis.
www.scalltamedia.com

Declan O'Rourke Wows A Packed House At The Vine
Singer Declan O'Rourke showed last night (Sept 10) at The Vine, Wexford why he is rightly see as being at the vanguard of a new generation of Irish folk singers. Having dined from The Vine's excellent Thai menu earlier in the evening O'Rourke was nevertheless hungry to satisfy the appetite of a voracious audience (and were there more women there or was that my imagination!). Starting slow he sang a number of songs from his debut album Since Kyabram including No Place To Hide, We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea, the beautiful Sarah (Last Night In A Dream) and Love Is The Way, the latter giving him an oportunity to try out what looked like a toy kid's guitar. He moved seamlessly on to the second album Big Bad Beautiful World singing the title track, Make Something and the romantic Just To Be Friends. By now O'Rourke had won over everyone in the house with, it has to be said, the female majority stopping just short of throwing undergarments towards the stage. This guy is a Joe Dolan for the modern era! The famine ballad Poor Boys Shoes would have drawn tears from a stone. However launching straight into Galileo (Someone Like You) he brought the mood right back up to euphoric levels. Having now been onstage for over 2 hours straight singing his heart out, telling yarns, and charming an enraptured audience he then hushed down the house and sent us on our way with the hauntingly exquisite a capella song Marrying The Sea. The good news is that Declan O'Rourke returns to Wexford October 29 for a Festival Fringe gig at Wexford Arts Centre.

Sxip and Rhiannon (USA)
The duo known as Sxip and Rhiannon played Colfer's, Carrig on Bannow on Dec 9, 2009. What a gig! The audience was small but the atmosphere was mega. In keeping with the intimate nature of the evening Sxip decided to do without amplification. With a warming coal fire buring and the lights turned down this was, more than anything, like an evening in the company of good friends.
But steady we are getting ahead of ourselves. Rewind.
Rhiannon Giddens is a member of The Carolina Chocolate Drops. Sxip Shirey is a member of the Luminescent Orchestrii. After a chance meeting led their two bands to record 5 human beat box jug band tracks, Giddens and Shirey realized something special was happening between her banjo and his resophonic guitar. The two play their two instruments as if they were one, weaving melody and rhythm from many influences together. They have a way of cooking up backwoodsy roots, folk and urban sounds into something delicious, surprising and new. With Appalachian, Folk, Gaelic and Hip-hop influences their music is an explosion of texture and sound.
From Durham North Carolina, Rhiannon Giddens is the female voice of The Carolina Chocolate Drops, a young but seminal African-American string band. In this project she steps out, showcasing her full range as a singer of folk, blues, gospel, pop, Gaelic and whatever takes the moment.
Sxip Shirey is a legendary underground folk guitarist and composer from Brooklyn, New York and member of “Gypsy Tango Punk Klezmer” band The Luminescent Orchestrii. With a bag of tricks that include a resophonic guitar, triple extended pennywhistles, mutant harmonicas and human beat boxing, you never know what to expect.
If you want to hear their music:
www.myspace.com/carolinachocolatedrops
Rhiannon's My Space
www.myspace.com/luminescentorchestrii
www.myspace.com/sxipandrhi
Colfer’s, already renowned as a venue of impeccable taste, truly outdid itself this night.

Andy Irvine & Donal Lunny's Mozaik
MOZAIK are Ireland's Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny, Bruce Molsky from the US, Nikola Parov from Hungary and Rens Van Der Zalm from The Netherlands.
Best described as a band of friends and musicians, that gather together to tour and record when the fancy takes them and the timing is good, Mozaik, got together in Australia in early March 2002 to put together a tour that took in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane (where this album was recorded, at The Powerhouse venue) and Canberra and numerous spontaneous sessions in the towns and cities in between.
Andy Irvine describes the six day pre-tour rehearsal:
"The six days merge in my memory now. We practiced night and day. Bruce's Old Timey tunes zipped on through the summer night as bottles of wine were uncorked and Nikola cooked extravagant meals and played his Kaval, Gadulka and Gadja and anything else that came to hand. Rens was as solid as a rock. He had done the most of all of us in pre-rehearsal. The guy knew all the material. Donal moulded and glued and nipped and tucked while guiding the music along with his bouzouki and his guitar and I warbled out my songs ... "
Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny form the basis of the group. Irvine, a multi talented musician, singer and songwriter has lived through an incredible array of musical projects, from the pivotal Sweeney's Men with Johnny Moynihan and Galway Joe Dolan in the mid sixties, through the groundbreaking Planxty with Lunny, Liam O'Flynn and Christy Moore in the early seventies and collaborations with Paul Brady and De Dannan in the mid seventies, and onto pioneering world music projects with Davy Spillane and Bill Whelan in the eighties and nineties plus many solo albums and tours. On Live From The Powerhouse, Andy contributes vocals, bouzouki, mandolin and harmonica.
Lunny can lay claim to one of the longest CVs in Irish musical history. His first recording band was Emmet Spiceland in the sixties, followed by Planxty in the early seventies. He went on to form The Bothy Band in 1975, went through the re-forming of Planxty and then onto Moving Hearts in the early eighties. He hosted the hugely successful internationally screened Irish music programme Sult in the nineties, along with touring Australia with a new band Wheels Of The World and contributing to the Common Ground album with Sinead O'Connor, Bono and Liam O'Maonlai. In 1998 he formed a new group Coolfin, with Nollaig Casey, John McSharry, Graham Henderson, Ray Fean, Ronnie O'Flynn, Lloyd Byrne and on occasion Sharon Shannon. Lunny performs bouzouki, guitar, bodhran and backing vocals on Live From The Powerhouse.
Both are joined on this record by Rens Van Der Zalm on guitar, Bruce Molsky on fiddle and banjo and Nikola Parov of Riverdance fame who plays traditional Bulgarian instruments the Kaval and the Gadulka.
The opening track is a blistering rendition of A Blacksmith Courted Me, one of Planxty's trademark songs. Another Planxty favourite Smeseno Horo returns to its Balkan origins with Nicola's kaval playing coupled with Donal and Andy's incredible strings. All the tracks showcase the quintet's incredible dexterity and the laid-back vibe of this group of multi talented, multi cultural troubadours.

George Kilby Junior
George Kilby Jnr plays The Vine Restaurant, Wexford on August 22, 2007 (10pm). Adm 10 Euro.
Born and raised in Anniston Alabama, George’s earliest musical memory is listening to his uncle play Hank Williams songs on the porch. He led his first group, the George Dickel Band, to New York’s legendary Lonestar Cafe where he shared the stage with Albert King, Etta James and James Brown. He recruited the legendary Pinetop Perkins and R&B man Rosco Gordon to play on his cd “George Jr. and his Elders.” New Orleans drummer Charles "Honeyboy" Otis gave the disc a spicy flavor which continues to be part of Kilby’s sound today. By a strange twist of fate, George landed a roadie gig for The Beach Boys, so the CD was cut in L.A. and released in New York on Pipeliner Records.
The disc, Pinetop Perkins and Friends was the first to establish Pinetop as a touring act. This led to a deal with Omega / Vanguard Records. While at the label, Kilby produced Pinetop’s seminal Portrait of a Delta Bluesman, which won the W.C. Handy Award, Blues Album of the Year. Kilby’s third effort with Pinetop, Live at 85 (Shanachie OE99), features his band, the Coolerators, in an exciting live setting.
Presently, George has taken his own material center stage. His sound draws from both the Blues and Country traditions, but New York gives the band its cutting edge. The 99 indie, Spell it Out, has helped support several tours of Europe lately. He appears regularly at European festivals and clubs from Scandinavia to Ireland. The new self-titled CD George Kilby Jr, on Baltazar Music (Copenhagen) is well on its way to being a very popular disc in Denmark.

Seven Blind Mice
Seven Blind Mice is a young Wexford based Blues/Soul septet of funky poor-sighted rodents imbued with the spirit of Jake and Elwood!

Geoff Muldaur
Geoff Muldaur is one of the great voices and musical forces to emerge from the folk, blues and folk-rock scenes …centered in Cambridge, MA and Woodstock, NY.
“Geoff Muldaur was and is one of my musical heroes.” Loudon Wainwright 3
“The Lovin’ Spoonful’s favorite singer went and got better.” John Sebastian
“There are only three white blues singers — Geoff Muldaur is at least two of them.” Richard Thompson
During the 1960’s and ’70’s, Geoff made a series of highly influential recordings as a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and the Paul Butterfield’s Better Days group, as well as collaborations with then-wife Maria and other notables (Bonnie Raitt, Eric Von Schmidt, Jerry Garcia, etc.). He left the stage and recording world in the mid-1980's for a working sabbatical but continued, however, to hone his craft, albeit ‘flying beneath radar’. He composed scores for
film and television, garnering an Emmy in the process, and produced off-beat albums for the likes of Lenny Pickett and the Borneo Horns and the Richard Greene String Quartet. And his definitive recording of “Brazil” provided the seed for — and was featured in — Terry Gilliam’s film of the same title.
With his magical voice and singular approach to American music in tact, Geoff is once again touring the world. Recent performances have included The Lincoln Center in New York City, The Getty Art Center in Los Angeles, Royal Festival Hall in London, as well as folk and blues festivals in Newport RI, Edmonton Canada, Dublin Ireland, San Francisco, Bergen and
Notodden Norway to name a few. Geoff may be heard regularly as a guest on Garrison Keillor’s A
Prairie Home Companion and has been featured on
a variety of National Public Radio shows, including
Weekend Edition and All Things Considered.
Geoff's newest albums, The Secret Handshake, Password and Private Astronomy have met with high critical acclaim and feature Geoff’s unusually crafted interpretations of classic, oftentimes obscure, American material as well as his own unique compositions.

Augustin Maruri Machado
The widely travelled and much acclaimed Spanish classical guitarist Agustin Maruri last played Wexford Arts Centre in June, 2009 (almost three years to the day since his previous visit).
Maruri, who has weaved his magic from Chile to China, has always been a huge favourite in Ireland. While many virtuoso performers can dazzle you with their brilliance they very often simply do not know how to entertain. Maruri, on the other hand, will take your breath away with his playing AND send you home with a smile on your face!
Agustin Maruri has given masterclasses as invited Professor at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, the New Delhi School of Music, and the Peking Superior Conservatory. Among the composers who have written for him are, Francesco Telli, Pedro Sáenz, Jose Maria Sánchez Verdú, Josep Pascual, Erik Marchelie, Manuel Seco, Zhangbing, Paul Coles. He has premiered many guitar works including Torroba's "Interludios" and Francesco Telli´s "Serenata". Maruri’s work in the rediscovery of Adam Falckenhagen's music has received acclaim by, and awards from, the Yuste European Academy. In 1999 Maruri started a series of recording for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, using the original historical instruments from the Museum's collection.
If there is one recording I would strongly recommend it is Maruri's recording of the music of his first teacher, the guitarist, poet and composer Daniel Fortea (1878-1953). It is simply stunning. The beautifully crafted melodies, all delivered in an understated and unhurried way, take you back to the innocence of pre-Franco Madrid.
Maruri is one of Spain's foremost guitar virtuosos, as well as being a true gentlemen. His passion for his chosen art form far outweighs any desire for all the trappings and the bright lights.
Visit Agustin Maruri's website.

Ben Weaver and The Two Gallants
The rather wonderful Ben Weaver and special guests The Two Gallants performed at Wexford Arts Centre on Wed, Dec 7, 2005. What a gig - an evening of laid-back moonshine-soaked badlands poetry on a rickety back-porch in the back of no where.

"Ben Weaver is the most exciting young songwriter I’ve come across," says author Larry Brown (1951-2004, "an American original whose voice and guitar are matched only by the power of his words. His songs are an incredible, haunting gift of music."
The press says of Ben Weaver:
"Big Ben Weaver is 24, has a beard and a dog and favours the woods of Northern Minnesota. For once, the work clothes tell a story. He's a startling new talent..." Ross Fortune, TIMEOUT (London)

“…musical postcards that recall a rural Tom Waits, or Greg Brown in his dark, bluesy moments. He’s like that spooky old guy who lives in a trailer but tells amazing stories.” Kieth Goetzman, UTNE

".... like a hillbilly Leonard Cohen." Sylvie Simmons, MOJO

“…the quintessential backwoods antihero, maintaining his private, stripped-down songwriting style, while leaving the cabin door ajar for anybody with a curious ear.” Matt Parris, THE WEEKLY DIG

"Weaver's brand of youthful rebellion comes filtered through the mad-staring eyes of a corn-chewing old-timer."
Henry Day, Q

"Weaver's voice - which makes Lee Marvin sound like Aled Jones - lends biblical portent to the most mundane detail. A one-man Brothers Grimm with no happy endings. Enjoy." ****UNCUT
http://www.benweaver.net/albums.html - for MP3 tracks

The Two Gallants
A guitar and drums two-piece that applies heavy volume to a blend of country, folk and blues in a manner reminiscent of the early work of “No Depression” genre pioneers Uncle Tupelo, they’re from San Francisco, though their Americana sound suggests the South or Midwest. It’s no surprise they’ve just signed to the highly successful Nebraska independent label Saddle Creek.
www.twogallants.com

Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike
Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike played the Phil Murphy Weekend, Carrig on Bannow, Co. Wexford July 2005.
The same month, Valerie, one of bluegrass music's most original and energetic performers, released That's What Love Can Do on Bell Buckle Records. Serving as Smith's 4th release, the album brings her full circle back to a place of familiarity and is quilted with bits and pieces of her previously released albums, Patchwork Heart, Turtle Wings, and No Summer Storm. That's What Love Can Do weaves a new and original sound into the very fabric of Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike. Produced, recorded, and engineered by the Grammy-winning Richard Adler of Nashville's Sound Wave Studios, That's What Love Can Do features the talents of Smith's multi-instrumentalist band, Liberty Pike; Becky Buller (fiddle, viola, clawhammer banjo and harmony vocals), John Wesley Lee (mandolin and mandola), Jessica Lee (bass) and Matt Leadbetter (harmony vocals). Two-time IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year and IIIrd Tyme Out lead singer Russell Moore joined Valerie for some fine harmonization. Moore says, "I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in on the session and singing a couple with Valerie and sharing a few laughs in the process. This disc has got all the elements of a great recording and I'm very excited to be a part of it". Other noteworthy guests include 2004 IBMA Bass Player of the Year Missy Raines; percussionist Pat McInerney (Nancy Griffith, Dolly Parton, and Johnny Cash); rising resophonic guitar star Andy Hall, guitarists Chris Eldridge, Megan McCormick, Matt Wingate and banjo picker Chris Pandolfi and others. That's What Love Can Do is an album, which bridges the gap between bluegrass and americana with a rich, heartfelt sound that can relate to a larger audience. Bill Wence of Bill Wence Promotions Nashville said, "I was completely overwhelmed with the quality of all 13 songs on Valerie's new album. In my estimation, she is one of the finest talents in any genre and this album certainly proves it. There's a magic in her soul and delivery that touches your very heart on the first listen." Valerie Smith chose her material from legends of the Nashville songwriting community like Lisa Aschmann, Tom Kimmel, Brad Davis, and Gary Scruggs in addition to a personal Smith favorite with Sarah Majors while embracing the talented folks around her, the writers in and around Liberty Pike, including fiddler and well-known bluegrass songwriter Becky Buller and guitarist Megan McCormick. Anchored in Valerie Smith?s raspy, soul tinged vocals, the album?s repertoire ranges from the haunting Becky Buller penned In Those Mines, a powerful tribute, wrapped in the Appalachian tones of the frailing banjo, to the many deceased miners lost in pursuit of the black mineral that fueled American industry to the heart-wrenching Americana vignettes on Heaven is Waiting, a story of loss, sacrifice and hope on the plains of Missouri seen through the sometimes harsh eyes of Mother Nature. The jazz-hued take on the Brad Davis song Falling, features the spot-on vocal harmonies of Russell Moore and Becky Buller along with guest banjoist Patton Wages and showcases Liberty Pike's instrumental chops. The rockabilly echoes of Johnny Cash can be heard coming down the line as a small town girl dreams of riding the rails on the rollicking Engineer, another treasure from the Becky Buller catalogue, and likely to strike a chord with anyone who has ever gotten goose-bumps from a midnight train whistle, or has wistfully gazed with wanderlust down the tracks. Like every Southerner, whether born or transplanted, Valerie Smith knows a good story when she hears it. A strong choice of song-full storytellers coupled with top-notch vocals and instrumentalists, Smith revisits her musical story on That's What Love Can Do and in the retelling, she opens the doors to one more corner of her musical world and invites the rest of us to come along for the ride.Bell Buckle Records is a label dedicated to producing Bluegrass and Americana music from Valerie Smith and other fine artists, including Becky Buller and the Jeanette Williams Band. For more information on Bell Buckle Records, please visit www.bellbucklerecords.com or call (931) 389-9694.


Firegarden
The band which consists of John Wynne on vocals, John Finn on guitars, Fiona St ledger on Bass and Kyle O’Connor on drums signed to the south east’s leading independent label Cherish Records in 2004 and released their debut E.P “Believe Tonight” in September of the same year selling out its initial press of 500 copies.
The band have since built up a formidable fan base throughout the country gaining critical acclaim along the way. Their sound has been described by hot press guru Jackie Hayden as a mixture of classic credence Clearwater revival mixed with the pop sensibilities of REM.


Planet Woman
Planet Woman - final gig of the tour. Exciting musical collaboration of five musicians - Ora Barlow (NZ), Lorraine Jordan (Wales/Ireland), Kim Halliday (NZ), Mahina Kaui (NZ) and Sarah Beattie (Scotland). Last played Wexford (Colfer's) Aug 05.

Don Baker
Wed, Aug 24: Don Baker + band performs at The Backroom, Centenary Stores, Wexford. Tel 053 24424. Adm 15 Euro.
Wexford's Blues fans have a real treat in store when The Backroom at the Centenary Stores plays host to one of Ireland's legendary Musicians and Actors, the man Bono named "the greatest harmonica player in the world" ... Don Baker. Don's stunning harmonica performances and blistering finger style guitar mesmerize audiences. Don has seven albums under his belt and is now working on his eighth, so there is no shortage of original material.
Don Baker was born in Whitehall, Dublin in 1950, into a dysfunctional family. Essentially abandoned and left to fend for himself, largely due to
an alcoholic father, the desperate conditions of his early childhood resulted in TB and hospitalisation at age seven. Whilst in hospital Don came upon a harmonica player and was quickly charmed by the instrument.
Frequently in trouble with the police, Baker was in and out of prison until the age of 19. While in prison, he took up the guitar and according to
himself "never looked back". Leaving Ireland, aged 22, he spent ten years travelling across Europe, playing all the while.
Baker has since built a wide reputation as a harmonica player. Mark Feltham (who has played with Oasis, Joe Cocker and Rory Gallagher ) rates him as the
greatest acoustic harmonica player in the world. A fine guitar player, Don learned blues guitar by listening to the great country blues players -
Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Blake, Robert Johnson, and Scrapper Blackwell.
Internationally known for his major role as Joe McAndrew in the acclaimed film 'In The Name of The Father' starring alongside Daniel Day Lewis . Don
also recently traded his harmonica for a role as a hard man in RTE's long running and popular soap FAIR CITY .

Michael Londra - singer and radio presenter
"Michael Londra is situated in that ideal place - somewhere between the Irish Tenors and Enya. Talk about commercial. He has a wonderful voice and, after a lot of hard work and dues paying, he is poised for
international success." Larry Kirwan, Black 47 and host of Celtic Crush on SIRIUS Satellite Radio

From the American Radio and Internet Newsletter:
"Ireland, and 'being Irish', has gotten trendy over the past five years," says Celtic artist Michael Londra, creator and program director of RadioCelt, the latest upscale offering of Internet radio's AccuRadio. "And the music's part of that." He points to the worldwide success of acts like Sinead O'Connor and Enya -- artists that have been wildly popular in the U.S. and elsewhere for a decade or more.
Londra and the AccuRadio team (including Kurt Hanson, Gail Becker, and Ralph Sledge) began work on RadioCelt in Spring, and officially launched the station in June.
Londra, a native of Wexford, is himself a leading figure in the Irish music community. He spent 18 months as the lead singer for Riverdance on Broadway. He's performed in the U.S. (Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, and the MGM Grand) and Europe, and recently released his solo debut album.
Bringing RadioCelt to both fans of Irish music and AccuRadio listeners is certainly increasing his visibility. Londra and RadioCelt have been featured in cover stories by publications like Irish World in London, The Irish Post in Sydney, and The Irish Echo and The Irish Voice in New York.
Any artists wanting exposure in the US should send Michael their catalog and he will do what he can to help them out. "I am proud of Radiocelt as it gives some new artists a look in. Being a Celtic performer I know only too well what it is like trying to get airplay on AM and FM. Make sure you get the word out to singers / bands around the county."
Michael Londra
Director - Radiocelt
119 West Hubbard St. Suite 4E
Chicago,IL 60610
www.radiocelt.com

Dan Comerford, talented Wexford Song-writer
Daniel Comerford, a young singer/songwriter from Rosslare Harbour, has had his song, It Shouldn't Last Much Longer, chosen as Hotpress Pick of the Fortnight.
Daniels is one of fifteen tracks by local singer/songwriters on the Wexford Songclub CD, Just Another Freak Show, released last month in the songclub?s base - Finegans Bar, Wexford. This week the CD got a very favourable review in Hotpress magazine with Daniels track described as "a supreme slice of eastern-tinged open-tuned boogie. Brilliant!"
Daniel, at seventeen, is the youngest member of Wexford Songclub, and is a Leaving Cert. student at Bridgetown Vocational College. Not only is this a flying start for Daniel but for the Wexford Songclub which is thriving after just one year, thanks to the support of Wexford?s finest artists and to the dedication of Darren Byrne and the two Ians.
This excellent CD, Just Another Freak Show, is available at BPM records, or pick one up when you visit the songclub which happens every Tuesday night in the feel-good atmosphere at Finegan?s Bar - 053 23727.

Ffynnon (Wales)
Lynn Denman, singer with Welsh traditional group Ffynnon, says “the great thing about traditional music is that it connects us not only with a modern audience but with all the people who’ve sung the songs over maybe hundreds of years... folk music crosses boundaries; you don’t necessarily need to understand the language to feel the sentiment”.
Ffynnon played a stormer of a gig at Wexford Arts Centre April 2005 with Boston band Crooked Still.


Crooked Still (USA)
Crooked Still is a young, dynamic quartet of musicians from the Northeast US. They play traditional, distinctly American-based traditional music comprised of an extensive Bluegrass, Appalachian, and Blues repertoire. Their new CD, Hop High, has been receiving rave reviews throughout the US.
Crooked Still played a fab candle-lit with wine-bar gig at Wexford Arts Centre in April 2005 with Welsh outfit Ffynnon.

Salthouse (Wexford band)
Salthouse album gets great review. See band profiles.

‘Hanging by a Thread’ was described as “an album exuding a real sense of purpose…..offering us inspired programming from start to finish, with impeccable attention to detail, and a track such as Wasted hovering on a groove like the heady motorik days of Stereolab.” Leagues O’Toole, The Irish Times.
The Ticket duly awarded ‘Hanging by a Thread’ four out of five stars, reiterating its “warmth of production, the harmony of acoustic guitar and the
quietly funky, perfectly timed slipstreams of electronica.”
The Dublin Event Guide: “George & Liam are an impressively tight rhythm section, Stephen adds sweetness to the sound and Niall is the memorable
voice. Their music is tender but also muscular.”
The Voice: 10/12 “Salthouse’s musical styling may contain an essence and beauty that our music scene has been searching for…..”
www.eclectichoney.com “At times lapsing into laid-back instrumental wanderings, on other occasions offering tender lyrics and solace - but always
serving them up alongside a generous slice of melody, Hanging by a Thread is a snapshot of a band in progress, trying new things and proving to be very successful.”
Hotpress: 8/10. The band have more then succeeded in bringing “brooding intensity and intelligence” to the set with a “subtle mix of the acoustic past and electronic future.” And “Not since well over a decade ago has a band from the Southeast showed such confident promise.”

David Hosking
David Hosking performed in Wexford October 2004 as part of the Music on The Fringe line-up. He played Wexford's Crown Bar back on Feb 22, 2004.
Already very popular – indeed something of a folk hero – in Australia, he made a decision last September to dip a toe in the more dynamic Irish and British music scene. This led to him taking the rather unusual decision of making Derry his home for a period of six months. The Wexford gig was his last before he departs for Melbourne.
While here David has been working away at the hard-to-crack singer/songwriter coalface. He has supported artists of the calibre of Ron Sexsmith and Juliet Turner, and he has played at arts centres and music clubs in the north of the country and in Britain. While in Derry, he has received extensive critical acclaim and airplay on both Radio Foyle and Radio Ulster.
Before decamping to this hemisphere, David had been playing the Melbourne live scene for many years. He is held in high regard in his hometown. Intelligent lyrics and clever melodies characterise his eclectic brand of folk-pop. You will not hear the rattle of a sledgehammer anywhere in his work; his music is subtle and full of hard-fought-for wisdom: "Jesus forgive me for all the things beneath my belt/forget, forget like a mother would/. . .step to my door and punch the bell/I won't hear it otherwise 'cause I play loud as hell" (from "Lie Down Here").
The Crown Bar gig was a low key affair and yet none the less sweet for all that. His stories and his songs merged into one in such a way as to keep the small audience engaged throughout.
"The man writes like Schultz created cartoons; simple, uncluttered life pictures that strike you as nothing but authentic. He is one of the finest songwriting talents I have heard, and I wouldn't be surprised if you see his career unfold rapidly here in Ireland." (Mark Patterson, BBC)

“One of Hoskings' strong points is not dithering too much between different styles; he has an incredible vocal range which is pefectly suited to the personal and observational material. Sleeper is an absolute stunner of an album.”
www.musicworkz.co.uk

As a folk-rock singer songwriter he is up there with the best in contemporary alternative Australian music, and deserves to be better known.
You can find out more about David's music at Belmore Records web site.
David's last Wexford appearance was Oct 2004 at The Vine, Wexford, on the Opera Festival Fringe, with Stewart Agnew, Annette Buckley and Duke Special. He also appeared at the same venue with the wonderful Roesy.

Mary Coughlan
Mary Coughlan last performed in Wexford at the 2004Opera Festival Fringe.
She is one of Ireland's best ever singers. Most controversial too. She has been compared to the legendary Billie Holiday. Like Holiday, she has experienced great highs and gut-wrenching lows. In fact Coughlan has just finished a second Dublin run of Lady Sings The Blues, a show dedicated to the songs of Holiday.
The personal intensity and blues-tinged edge to her singing has led Q Magazine to say of her, "Mary Coughlan sings with a hard intelligence which binds spells". And, according to Mojo magazine, "she has a voice to kill for." Mary's debut album, Tired and Emotional sold over 100,000 copies. She could have gone mega at that stage if old demons had not risen up to torment her and she found herself, at age 29, rapidly sinking into the depths of a drink-sodden depression. Her record label dropped her and Coughlan proceeded to go completely off the rails. While Billie Holiday ended up cashing in her chips at age 44 and heading to the big gig in the sky, Coughlan managed to kick the booze and crawl her way back. Her album, Mary Coughlan Sings Billie Holiday, is an album dedicated to a woman she has always admired, a woman who, like Coughlan, knew just how low you could actually go. Billie Holiday died in 1959 at age 44. Mary Coughlan is now happily married in Bray, Co Wicklow and enjoying a more quality-driven music career.
"I'm totally enjoying singing now, much more than I ever did before," she says. "And having confronted my demons, I don't have to hide behind anything any more. I just get up and sing these songs that send a shiver up my spine and if they can do that for me, hopefully they'll do the same for the people out there listening."

Jack L
The award winning, platinum selling Jack L is a class act. He should be huge but he's not. Why? One suspects that Jack and the boys may have taken their eye off the ball - lost it even - in the past few years.
Jack has been a very special “live” performer since he burst on to the music scene with his first album 6 years ago. This new show is called “Intimate and Acoustic” and features extracts from all the shows he’s toured so successfully. He will also feature songs from a brand new album which will be released later in the year.
Jack has been compared to and inspired by Scott Walker, Frank Sinatra, Jim Morrison and Tom Waits. But is, at the end of the day, very much his own man and his unmistakable and remarkable voice, bursts through the airwaves whenever he is played
His last show “Chez Jack L” was one of the most successful theatre shows of the last 18 months, ran for 4 months in “Spirit” in Dublin and then toured to sell out houses throughout the country. He also brought it to Europe and the USA over the Summer months to great acclaim.
Jack is now one of Ireland’s best known and best loved performers. The excitement and live energy he creates on stage, captures the imagination of all who see him. Hear him perform all the hits, including the anthemic Georgie Boy, Roof lullaby and Ode to Ed Wood and introduces songs from his eagerly awaited new album, due out later this year.

Valda Chamber Choir
Founded in 1998 Valda have been top prize winners at all the major festivals n Ireland. Already this year Valda have been prize winners in the Lyric FM Choirs for Christmas competition, Arklow and New Ross choral festivals, Cork international choral festival and also hold the Wexford County Council Music Bursary award. Valda have spiced up their repetoire for
this years concert and promise an exciting pot pourri of great variety or, as they say themselves "from Sacred to Salsa"!
Valda is at its essence a group of eight friends from varying walks of life, who simply enjoy singing together. The members of the group are Louise
Malone, Eleanor Furlong, Liz Murphy and Liz McGuinness, Robbie Fitzpatrick, Shane O Donnell, Pat Jackman and director, Donagh Wylde. They try to keep the repertoire as broad as possible, spanning the centuries and the continents. Music styles range from madrigals to Jazz and from African through to
South American.

Niall Toner Band
NTB are the top bluegrass act in the country. Their music pays homage to Flatt & Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family. The band's last cd There's A Better Way has been extremely well-reviewed in music mags. Richard Greene, ex Bluegrass Boys, described the band's two Bill Monroe tribute songs as "absolute classics". The Nashville Bluegrass Band have recorded Toner's song, There's A Better Way, and it's on it's new cd, Twenty Year Blues.
The line-up is Niall, formerly of Hank Halfhead & The Rambling Turkies, on vocals and mandolin; Dick Gladney holds down a rock-solid rhythm on his double bass; Clem O'Brien plays guitar and shares vocal duties. Clem is well respected in his own right as the finest flat-picker around and also famed for his incredible high tenor singing voice. He has recently been moonlighting with The Chieftains on their World-wide tour.
Niall Toner Band

David McKenzie (violin) & Josh Johnston (piano).
David and Josh have been playing jazz together for the past two years. Their music takes the swing jazz of Stefan Grappelli and Django Reinhardt as a starting point but also draws on other jazz styles, original compositions and folk music from around the world; they blend their diverse musical experiences to create a rich celebration of what music and music-making is all about.
David is a concert violinist, whose 25 year career has seen him hold posts in orchestras in Wales, England, Holland and Ireland. He is currently Principal Second Violin in the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Josh studied Popular Music in the University of Salford, and graduated as a pianist, band leader and composer.
The duo has just released the album A Minor Happiness.

The Carnival Saloon
The Carnival Saloon were formed back in 1998 by Paul Laffan (vocals), Cian Boylan (piano, hammond organ), and Martin Lynam (guitar). They began life interpreting the songs of Tom Waits in the famous and now defunct "DA Club" in Dublin, where they built up a huge cult following with their mix of high-octane cabaret and jazz-influenced rock. The band is currently recording an album of original music.
The band features some of Ireland's finest musicians, who collectively have played with the likes of George Martin (The Beatles), Mary Coughlan, Juliet Turner, Brian Kennedy, Van Morrison, and Paddy Casey. The band is completed by Eanna Hickey (percussion, keyboards), Steve Hogan (drums), and Ruaidhrě O'Donovan (double bass).

Kila
Kila, fusing traditional with African, is one of the most entertaining bands on the planet today.
Over the years Kila has been called all manner of things. The most undesirable being: Acid CeltThrash Trad, Celtic Rock, Tribal Celtic, Celtic Caribbean, Celtic Fusion and the worst; Afro pop Celtic Genre Busters! One commentator has said 'Its Traditional music, but its not'.
Spain has Nuevo Flamenco and Flamenco Pura. Argentina has Nuevo Tango and Tango Pura. Bossa Nova, which means New Beat, recently underwent an imaginative transformation since its creation and rise to popularity in the early sixties. It is now classified Nova Bossa Nova. None of this classification precludes that any style is better than the other. S饎 ӠRiada once wrote that 'Irish Traditional Music is like a river, and new influences are like pebbles that get thrown in and caught up in the flux'.
Kila's albums throughout the years bear the imprint of each individual band member and their experiences of culture, people, musicianship and creative collaboration and learning. These experiences are brought together when the group perform, both live and in the studio, giving each Kila performance and album an exhilarating infusion of life and energy. The band played a number of major festivals over the Summer not least being the WOMAD Festival (UK). In every case they proved to be genuine show-stoppers.
Kila

Carolina Herrera (Colombia)
Carolina Herrera is a Colombian living in London, where she is currently studying medicine (she is a fully qualified doctor in Colombia), business studies and music. A guitar-playing singer, Carolina's repertoire ranges from Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil to Spain and Portugal plus an American song or two. Since her first appearance on Charlie Gillett's Saturday Night show on BBC London in March this year, Carolina has played the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Ronnie Scott's club in London. Only a couple of weeks back Carolina was one of the big surprises at the WOMAD festival, Reading.

Frankie Lane and Paul Kelly
Frankie Lane ( Guitar, Dobro and Vocals) and Paul Kelly (Violin, Mandolin) are one of the best-known duos touring in Ireland. Their live performances are frequently sublime, sometimes bizarre, but always totally entertaining. What sets Frankie and Paul apart from other duos is the sheer scope of their material. Paul, while primarily a traditional musician, has developed a broad eclectic palette of styles, which compliments Frankie’s extensive range of songs perfectly. In a typical concert, (if there is such a thing with these guys!) one may hear Irish Traditional tunes and songs, American Folk, Western Swing, Jazz, Classical, Bluegrass, and even a Gypsy number or two!
Frankie Lane has done time with The Fleadh Cowboys, The One Eyed Rattlers as well as working with many of the big names in traditional music. He has a passion for the cowboy ballads and trail songs of Marty Robbins. He describes the blood-spattered tales among them as harking back to a time when the good guys were good and the bad guys were…well, Mexican! His Gunsmoke at El Paso album, which features Sharon Shannon, Seamus Begley, Eleanor Shanley and Shane McGowan, contains an eclectic mix of funky trail songs and dreamy romantic tales. Frankie was nominated earlier this year for a prestigious Meteor Music Award. His regular musical companion is the mandolin and fiddle player, the wonderfully talented Paul Kelly.
Frankie and Paul’s individual talents have led to them working with the likes The Chieftains, The Dubliners, The Waterboys, Sharon Shannon, The Pogues and Townes Van Zandt.
Frankie Lane
Paul Kelly

The Devlins
"The Devlins have always had the ability to produce compelling, understated musical gems and the release of their fourth album 'Waves' looks set to cement their reputation as an Irish band with more longevity, creativity and credibility than most." 'Waves', the band's fourth album has already made it into the Top 20. Here's what the press have to say about it:
"The haunting, under-stated songs The Devlins are so proficient at writing are coming to them easier than ever. High-tempo, uplifting, moody and epic, 'Waves' looks set to cement their reputation as an Irish band with more longevity, creativity, and credibility than most". - THE EXAMINER
"Recorded by Doves and Coldplay collaborator Danton Supple, the end result is often mesmerising. 'Sunrise', the album's lead single, is the perfect summer song. 'Waves' is the record to launch them into the big league!". - HOT PRESS
"Highly melodic, finely crafted songs that tug on the heartstrings......The best album of their career!". - THE INDEPENDENT
"Crunchier than toast! The Devlins new album goes for a tougher sound with a little more swagger. How well it suits them". - THE IRISH TIMES
"Their fourth and most fabulous album. An irresistibly attractive disc complete with radio rock belters and sing-along anthems" - IN DUBLIN


Stairheid Gossip (Scottish all-female a cappella group)
Angels sing history could be a subtitle of this group. A capella singing is an art and these ladies have perfected it. They can take songs that are almost overlooked because we are so used to them and give them a new lease of life.
'Bahele Bonke' is proof that we do not need to know a language to understand and appreciate a well-performed song. This South African about leaders
imprisoned in Longweni Prison will move you although you have no idea of the words. They repeat the magic on 'Igama Lama' but the English words of Christine Kydd help us understand that track.
A rhyme known to all of us inspired this song 'King of the Castle' by Colum Sands but it is far deeper than a children's chant. You will need to listen
carefully but it is worth the effort.
Another song that bears close listening is 'Rantin' Dog'. The words are by Robbie Burns and tell a tale of an unmarried mother worried about getting
help in caring for her child. It is a lesson in how older folk songs are as relevant in 2003 as in the 18th century or earlier.
'High Germany' is one of those hackneyed songs that Stairheid Gossip revive and breathe new life into.
As the notes say, call centres and mobile phone plants do not give rise to great songs like 'Women O' Dundee' but I suppose if we listen carefully the
sentiments may have sad parallels.
'Johnny I Hardly Knew You' needs no introduction but listen to this rendition and you will weep at how little worlds are changing.
These ladies do great work on the traditional music of Scotland and Ireland but they do not stand still. They took 'Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby'
from the movie 'Oh Brother Where Art Thou' and made it their own with a beautiful version.
They return to Scotland for 'Aye Waukin O' and do a fantastic version with the dialect words adding to the magic of a song of unrequited love. 'Cotton Mill Girls' is a spirited rendition of an American song that must go down a treat in live shows.

Senan O'Reilly adds:
A cappella singing can be a hit and miss affair. I have heard too many groups that just don't gel - either the repertoire is unsuited to the voices, the balance among the voices is wonky, or one or other of the voices is weak. Stairhead Gossip are, however, above all this. It might be pushing it to say they are flawless but they are as close as damn it. I have just
been listening to their Stirrin' It Up album and am in a state of high exhultation! This is timeless music, music to listen to again and again. The choice of songs is inspired. There is a mix of styles from folk to African to Gospel; there are songs filled with harmonies as all five voices join in and others sung solo; there are songs about politics, and songs about love all sung from the woman's perspective. From what I can gather this a bunch of ordinary women that came together to sing songs. They all share a love of
music, the type of music that grew out of honest-to-God living. Wonderful!

ELEANOR MCEVOY
UK AWARD FOR Eleanor McEvoy
Wexford based Eleanor McEvoy's latest album Yola has been voted Album of the Year for 2002 by the influential UK hi-fi magazine HI FI PLUS. The award was made to her at the recent Bristol Hi Fi Show at which the Irish singer-songwriter played live before an audience of hi-fi enthusiasts and the British music
technology industry.
Yola is McEvoy's fourth album and it was produced in tandem with her musical partner, Belfast keyboardist Brian Connor, and released in Ireland on her own Blue Dandelion label and in the UK on Market Square Records. It was recorded at The Works recording studio in Dublin and described by HI FI PLUS as "one of those rare albums that creates and moves through its own
kinetic rhythmic sense as each of the languidly-paced songs leads seamlessly into one another."
According to McEvoy, "Although no artist makes records to win awards, such a prestigious award as this from HI FI PLUS is a great morale boost and its
effect is already obvious from the response to my most recent tour of England and Scotland. I would also like to think that the award is a further affirmation that Irish musicians, producers, engineers and recording facilities can compete with the best in the world."
McEvoy is currently writing songs for her fifth album which she plans to record later this year.
Read more at Eleanor's website.

Kate Jacobs (USA)
Kate Jacobs is a writer and singer of distinctly literate pop songs. She has released 3 albums on the Bar/None label, most recently the critically acclaimed Hydrangea. Now, working with long-time collaborator and Hoboken neighbor Dave Schramm, she has recorded a fourth: You Call That Dark.
NPR’s All Things Considered described Kate as a “favorite author,” saying that she “builds vivid scenes and characters inside twangy 3-minute pop songs that achieve the kind of sleight-of-hand narrative compression that marks the work of the best modern storytellers.” You Call That Dark continues in that vein, with another finely-wrought collection of short stories.
It took six years to compose and record the songs that make up You Call That Dark . They were accumulated in the midst of having children (she has two small boys) and getting married and growing flowers and cooking and tending to life in general. Recorded with Dave Schramm, who also produced, these songs are, as Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker wrote about Hydrangea, “real songs, descending equally from pop and country and lit from within by some distant racial memory of Rubber Soul.” Billboard said of Kate’s work on Hydrangea that it, “ventures effortlessly into jangly pop, gorgeous balladry, and complex, contrapuntal harmony—as if inspired by Alex Chilton, Joni Mitchell and Brian Wilson.” Similarly, the songs on You Call That Dark are melodic and richly harmonized with tight rhythm tracks and bright, warm, full guitars, organs and pianos.
“I had a wonderful time making this record,” says Kate. “We cut basics in Hoboken and did most of the rest in Dave’s Brooklyn studio, working for a few hours here and there when he was free and I could get a babysitter. We were loose about it—trying things out and throwing them away and starting over and then stopping to work on something brand new. I guess that’s why it took six years!”
Besides producing, Schramm performs on acoustic and electric 6- and 12-string guitars, dobro, piano, organ, xylophone and harmonium. The album also features James MacMillan on bass, Paul Moschella on drums and percussion, Andy Burton on Hammond organ, John Graboff on mandolin, Joe Ruddick on piano, and Mary Lee Kortes and Stephanie Seymour on backing vocals. On That Time of Year a 5-piece jazz ensemble with clarinet and banjo provide a klezmer setting for one of Shakespeare’s sonnets. You Call That Dark was mixed by John Siket and Gary Arnold.
Farmers and farms, mostly old and in disrepair, are the central theme of the album. As a fourth-generation scion of a dilapidated apple farm in upstate New York, Kate is keenly attuned to the losses of family farms and the rural landscape in general. In Helen Has a House, there’s Helen, a frail old lady living alone on her farm in Vermont: “The sugar shack her daddy built is a perfect nest for winter”; What a World, What a God tells the plight of an ancient hardscrabble Irish farmer who ends up in the modern hospital where no one understands his Gaelic; there is an elderly mechanic in If It’s an Elm Tree who has a vast field full of junked cars and an enormous, lovingly tended elm: “I met a man he’s fixing cars/For sixty years under the stars/He hauls them up into the tree/And they do sway there gracefully.” Pete’s Gonna Sell is about a neighbor upstate who recently was forced to put his farm up for sale, “A field an orchard and a barn/A hundred year old apple farm.”
The other eternally recurrent theme in Jacobs’ writing is family. Your Big Sister is an emotional, irreverent pop song which she describes as “a theory of greatness” about first-born daughters (she is last-born). God Bless Ione is a rowdy thank-you to her father’s spiritual advisor who is loosely quoted as saying, “Buddha Buddha Buddha is the quickest cure/Your western ones, I’m not so sure.” Meanwhile the opening song, Lavender Line, begins: “A family is a bitter thing, you find as you go/A child may suspect, but a child does not know.” She is philosophical about life’s deep pleasures and inevitable sadness, singing liltingly in I Walk in Fear: “And the joy that we find always comes as a surprise/While the pain was arranged long ago.”

Kate was born in Virginia and moved to Vienna, Austria when she was 11. She was a serious ballet student until college where she segued into modern dance, bringing her to New York City in the early 80s. There she danced with a number of choreographers while starting to write songs and skits and make films and produce her own multi-media theatrical productions. Eventually she started playing guitar and formed a band to play her original material. Later she sang in a girl duo, performing her songs and classic country covers with tight harmony arrangements. She played a steady Sunday afternoon gig at The Nightingale in the East Village for a couple of years. (Blues Traveler, The Spin Doctors, Joan Osborne, and The Holmes Brothers were all regulars in those days.) There she learned a lot about playing in pick-up situations with other musicians and “more than I ever wanted to know about the 12-bar blues.” In time she tapped into the rich musical life of Hoboken, starting to play and record with Dave Schramm and James MacMillan. When her second album What About Regret came out, an editor at Hyperion Books heard a song from it on the radio and commissioned the lyric for an illustrated children’s book which was published in 1996 (A Sister’s Wish). She is currently writing a book of essays about gardening.

Kate’s overall influences were absorbed growing up in an informally musical family: the Tin Pan Alley rags her father sang around the house, her mother’s Russian ballads, the gospel-based music of the Civil Rights-era, show tunes, pop songs. There was the ballet repertoire, and a lot of opera in Vienna. An obsession with Fred Astaire led to a deep appreciation for the songs of the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Johnny Mercer. She didn’t hear country music until a friend from Texas played her Loretta Lynn in college. She loved the musical and narrative simplicity of those songs and found them strongly affecting and inspiring. “It was the first kind of music I heard that I could figure out how to write. And there were only three chords.”

That style has served Kate well in the stories she has chosen to tell over the years She’s learned more chords and adopted a looser approach to song form, but she still sticks to the facts and delivers brief narratives that speak volumes about the way we live. You Call That Dark is a new collection of indelible characters and pop hooks that will have you singing along, and wondering what ever did happen to Helen and her barn.
http://www.katejacobsmusic.com

Tom Russell (USA)
Tom Russell played The Vine Restaurant, Wexford on May 19.
Tom Russell was already one of the most critically acclaimed singer-songwriters in roots-Americana-folk-country music when he released The Man from God Knows Where, a masterful folk-opera about the immigrant experience in America that he based on his own family's history, in 1999. On a series of exceptional albums going back to the 1970s, he'd created a timeless body of work that was mined for material by such stellar artists as Ian Tyson, Sylvia Tyson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Johnny Cash, Katy Moffatt, Joe Ely, Dave Alvin, Nanci Griffith and many others.

After many years in New York City, and before that in California, Canada and Texas, Tom has spent the last few years living near the Mexican border in El Paso, Texas and, in 2001, he followed up The Man from God with Borderland, another set of brilliant songs, that were set on one side, or another, of the border. While some of the songs on Borderland were autobiographical, or semi-autobiographical, others featured Tom writing from a character's perspective. Tom Russell has few peers at creating songs that speak from someone else's voice.

Tom's brand new album, Modern Art, featuring three duets with Nanci Griffith, is full of songs that authentically speak from his subjects' voices and life experiences. We know some of the people in these songs. "The Kid from Spavinaw," about Mickey Mantle, and "Muhammad Ali" are homages to sports heroes from an era when being a hero to kids like the young Tom Russell meant something. As Tom said, "all my sports heroes were from the 1950s and '60s when class and character were exhibited." In "The Kid from Spavinaw," Tom, as the dying Mantle, reflects on the highs and lows, the achievements and missed opportunities, of his career and his life. Similarly, "Muhammad Ali," set to a bright calypso arrangement, is a proud reflection from the champ on his life, his principles and on living his life with dignity in the face of a disease that has taken his away so much of his physical vitality.

Another song based on a real person is "Isaac Lewis," a Welsh sailor who died in the 1859 shipwreck of the 'Royal Charter' in the stormy waters near his home village of Moelfre. The ship had been to Australia and was 70 miles from Liverpool when it went down. The villagers of Moelfre, including Lewis' father, watched the tragedy unfold but couldn't get lifelines to the ship in time. When Lewis washed up on shore, it was beside his father's house. Tom has crafted Lewis' story into an epic narrative ballad that can stand tall beside such traditional masterpieces as "Lord Franklin."

Some of the other character-based songs on Modern Art are a creative blend of fact and fiction. Tom sings "Tijuana Bible" as a low-rent, film noir private dick obsessed with the real-life case of Lana Turner's daughter Cheryl killing her mother's boyfriend, gangster Johnny Stompanato, in 1958. Listening, you can picture Bogie or Mitchum bringing the song to life on a black and white screen. In the rocking "Racehorse Haynes," Tom's character is a murder suspect in a seamy case and he wants Haynes, the real Houston lawyer with a record of winning unwinnable cases for clients with deep pockets, on his side.

Tom turns to his own life in "Modern Art," the album's title track and traces some of his own experiences, from being born when Truman was in the White House and a loaf of bread cost a dime, through growing up in the Cold War and on to the responsibility of becoming a father himself. It's Tom's story, but it's also the story of a whole generation born in the years after the Second World War. Sneaking into concerts as a kid, seeing the Beatles and Dylan just as they were changing the whole nature of music. These are the cultural touchstones of a generation that Tom captures in this song.

Most of Tom's songwriting is filtered through his mastery of rootsy folk and country music styles. But, on Modern Art, he also gives us "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," a stunning piece that recalls the golden age of the popular song, when masters like Gershwin, Arlen, Harburg and Carmichael crafted their classics. In "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," Tom evokes that sad moment in life when naďveté gives way to reality. Andrew Hardin, who has played guitar at Tom's side for two decades, and who plays wonderfully throughout the album, is magnificent on this track. "I would love to hear Tony Bennett do this," said Tom, "or Tom Waits."

Along with his original material, Tom also performs some of his favorites from other writers on Modern Art, including the three duets with old friend Nanci Griffith. "The Ballad of Sally Rose," the title song from Emmylou Harris' song cycle about an aspiring country singer, Dave Alvin's "Bus Station" and Nanci's own beautiful song "Gulf Coast Highway." Tom and Nanci, both outstanding artists in their own right, sound fantastic together.

"Crucifix in a Death Hand," is a Charles Bukowski poem that captures Los Angeles as it was in the process of being transformed into a sprawling, freeway-laced metropolis. As the recitation, on top of a guitar arrangement played by Tom and Andrews, ends, Tom segues into a verse of "Carmelita," Warren Zevon's sad ballad of a desperate L.A. junkie about to fall off the edge.

Tom says "The Dutchman" by Michael Smith is "my favorite song." His interpretation of this portrait of a demented old man and his wife is beautifully and movingly done and is enhanced by the lovely harmonies of Eliza Gilkyson.

Also very moving is Tom's version of Carl Brouse's "American Hotel," about the death of Stephen Foster, the renowned 19th century songwriter who gave us such enduring classics as Oh! Susanna" and "Swannee River." There's a long list of notable artists who've flamed early out on alcohol, pills or needles. It didn't start with Hank Williams in 1953. Foster was there a century before.

Tom's performances on Modern Art are first rate. And so are the collaborations from the aforementioned Andrew Hardin, Nanci Griffith and Eliza Gilkyson, as well as fiddler Elana Fremerman of the Hot Club of Cowtown and Gurf Morlix.

Tom Russell is one of the select few who set the standards that most artists can only aspire to. Almost by definition, a Tom Russell album is a great album. Modern Art is a great Tom Russell album.
- Mike Regenstreif January 30, 2003
http://www.tomrussell.com

Sean Tyrrell
Sean Tyrrell has a distinctive voice and a very obvious love of music that comes across to great effect on the CD Cry Of A Dreamer.
He opens with Johnny Mulhern's classic 'Matty' that most listeners will be familiar with from the singing of Christy Moore. Listen to Sean and hear a new song thanks to his unique delivery.
My absolute favourite on the album is another song that was made popular by other singers. 'Coast of Malabar' is one of the great love songs from the traditional canon. I first heard it from Makem & Clancy and I loved it. Then the Cork maestro Jimmy Crowley version gave me a new favourite. Now Sean
Tyrrell has reawakened a beautiful song. Sean sings it that little bit slower than the others and it sounds even more romantic. As I listen, I can imagine sailors from my own homeport of Wexford sailing in clipper ships to India and perhaps falling in love with the "little dark eyed maiden". If you need one song to justify the purchase this is it.
Tyrrell also gives a new life to that fantastic old standard 'Isle of Inishfree'.
Not that he confines his immense talent to reviving classics. 'House of Delight' by David Callinan is a new song to me and it is a delight - no pun
intended.
The same writer is responsible for another beautiful song called 'November Rain'.
He returns to Mulhern for the fabulous mini epic 'Blue Green Bangle'. This is the quintessential story song including a love affair, mining, loss, Irish sense of superstition, travellers and acceptance all in three minute and thirty three seconds with a great tune.
In the albums that I have heard by Sean Tyrrell he displays a great love of poetry and a real flair for putting poetic works to music. On this CD he
takes three works by John Boyle O'Reilly and gives us a beautiful trilogy.
The title track of the album 'Cry Of A Dreamer' comes from one of these poems and the lines tell us much about the poet and the performer, "a dreamer he lives forever and a toiler he will die in a day". Long live the dreamer.
The final track on this excellent collection has a title and sentiment that echoes the 20th century but was written over a century before the 'troubles'
of that century. The words for 'The 12th of July - Lament for the Children' were written by John Frazier who died in 1852. As he wrote "let the orange
lily be your badge, both united flourish, but cannot give the orange growth and cease the green to nourish".
Nicky Rossiter (presenter of "Stories" Mondays on South East Radio)

Joe Guiltrap
Distant Memories is an album that despite its quiet delivery will rise up and smack you between the eyes. It is one of the best CDs that I have listened to in years and I have listened to works from legends and new
talent in that time.
Joe started his musical career in the Dublin folk scene and has been involved in the genre ever since as a performer and running folk clubs. The long apprenticeship shows in the excellence of this album of 15 tracks of top class material.
Adding to the strength of this offering is that most of the tracks are self-composed - some in collaboration with Pat Tynan.
The album opens with a beautifully simple but thought provoking song from his own pen. 'Distant Memory' tells us the tale of a elderly woman and her
recollections of a long life and present loneliness. Anyone with a parent living alone should pay close attention to this song with lines like "and
she longs to hear their knock upon her door".
He brings us the words of the great Australian folk singer Archie Roach on another sad tale as a wife revisits the hospital ward where her husband died.
'The Colleen and the Soldier' has the feel of a traditional song but is from Giltrap's pen and his notes tell us it was inspired by seeing the tall ships
leave Dublin some years ago.
At the centre of the album is The John Kelly Trilogy. This tells in music the tale of the father of Ned Kelly, the infamous outlaw of Australia. I had
not realised until I listened to these three songs that the bandit owes his ancestry to County Tipperary.
The first of the songs, 'Cosa Bana' (white feet in Gaelic) is evocative and powerful. Using a basic accompaniment to underscore a lovely strong voice he
tells the tale very well as we can almost visualise the prisoners "young and old in chains they walked with eyes that stared they never talked".
The tempo lifts for 'Clonbrogan' but the tale is melancholy as John 'Red' Kelly recalls his homeland while he "lies in chains in Van Diemen's Land ten thousand miles away".
The trilogy concludes with 'No More Chains' as John moves from Tasmania to Australia in the hope of a better life, still far from his home.
Giltrap is a mean instrumentalist and brings this gift to the fore on 'Mist on the Valley', which manages to produce a sound that reminds me of a
combination of cowboy songs and the pop sound of The Shadows in the 1960s.
He takes us to 'High Germany' on a brilliant duet with Patty Vetta. The song, most usually performed solo, has a whole new sound in this performance
that brings the meaning of the lyrics to the fore.
My favourite track is another of his own compositions entitled 'The Iceland
Maiden' which tells the story of the lives of fishermen as they trawl the sea which is, "their friend and their enemy too."
The notes remind us of the origins of 'Lorena' as a favourite of Confederate soldiers in the Civil War and Giltrap offers a spirited rendition.
This is another of those albums that may prove difficult to find but please make the effort and when you experience the performances haunt your radio
stations to play it. It deserves worldwide exposure.
Nicky Rossiter (presenter of "Stories" Monday nights, South East Radio)

Mozaik
Andy Irvine & Donal Lunny's Mozaik
MOZAIK are Ireland's Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny, Bruce Molsky from the US, Nikola Parov from Hungary and Rens Van Der Zalm from The Netherlands.
Best described as a band of friends and musicians, that gather together to tour and record when the fancy takes them and the timing is good, Mozaik, got together in Australia in early March 2002 to put together a tour that took in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane (where this album was recorded, at The Powerhouse venue) and Canberra and numerous spontaneous sessions in the towns and cities in between.
Andy Irvine describes the six day pre-tour rehearsal:
"The six days merge in my memory now. We practiced night and day. Bruce's Old Timey tunes zipped on through the summer night as bottles of wine were uncorked and Nikola cooked extravagant meals and played his Kaval, Gadulka and Gadja and anything else that came to hand. Rens was as solid as a rock. He had done the most of all of us in pre-rehearsal. The guy knew all the material. Donal moulded and glued and nipped and tucked while guiding the music along with his bouzouki and his guitar and I warbled out my songs ... "
Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny form the basis of the group. Irvine, a multi talented musician, singer and songwriter has lived through an incredible array of musical projects, from the pivotal Sweeney's Men with Johnny Moynihan and Galway Joe Dolan in the mid sixties, through the groundbreaking Planxty with Lunny, Liam O'Flynn and Christy Moore in the early seventies and collaborations with Paul Brady and De Dannan in the mid seventies, and onto pioneering world music projects with Davy Spillane and Bill Whelan in the eighties and nineties plus many solo albums and tours. On Live From The Powerhouse, Andy contributes vocals, bouzouki, mandolin and harmonica.
Lunny can lay claim to one of the longest CVs in Irish musical history. His first recording band was Emmet Spiceland in the sixties, followed by Planxty in the early seventies. He went on to form The Bothy Band in 1975, went through the re-forming of Planxty and then onto Moving Hearts in the early eighties. He hosted the hugely successful internationally screened Irish music programme Sult in the nineties, along with touring Australia with a new band Wheels Of The World and contributing to the Common Ground album with Sinead O'Connor, Bono and Liam O'Maonlai. In 1998 he formed a new group Coolfin, with Nollaig Casey, John McSharry, Graham Henderson, Ray Fean, Ronnie O'Flynn, Lloyd Byrne and on occasion Sharon Shannon. Lunny performs bouzouki, guitar, bodhran and backing vocals on Live From The Powerhouse.
Both are joined on this record by Rens Van Der Zalm on guitar, Bruce Molsky on fiddle and banjo and Nikola Parov of Riverdance fame who plays traditional Bulgarian instruments the Kaval and the Gadulka.
The opening track is a blistering rendition of A Blacksmith Courted Me, one of Planxty's trademark songs. Another Planxty favourite Smeseno Horo returns to its Balkan origins with Nicola's kaval playing coupled with Donal and Andy's incredible strings. All the tracks showcase the quintet's incredible dexterity and the laid-back vibe of this group of multi talented, multi cultural troubadours.

Lady Mammoth, Waterford
The backbone of Lady Mammoth consists of a conglomeration of roots-influenced musicians, who have played together in various guises for the past eight years.
Vocalist Aisling Browne, the most recent addition to the group, has made an impressive contribution to the Irish music scene, especially when one considers her young age. She has worked with such notable studio and live acts as Grand Central Station, Peter Vogelaar and Ashley Sheehan & the Mute.
To describe Aisling’s and the band’s wide ranging influences is difficult but it draws heavily on the work of 70’s blues, funk and soul pioneers such as Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters, Chic, James Brown and Peter Green. A sample of Aisling's impressive original material can be found at www.fuzzrecords.com/aisling Lady Mammoth like to deliver something new in every set, drawing on the improvisational ability of five accomplished musicians. Their show is an energetic celebration of music which causes involuntary body movement and an instant sense of nostalgia.

Salthouse
‘Hanging by a Thread’ was described as “an album exuding a real sense of purpose…..offering us inspired programming from start to finish, with impeccable attention to detail, and a track such as Wasted hovering on a groove like the heady motorik days of Stereolab.” Leagues O’Toole, The Irish Times.
The Ticket duly awarded ‘Hanging by a Thread’ four out of five stars, reiterating its “warmth of production, the harmony of acoustic guitar and the quietly funky, perfectly timed slipstreams of electronica.”
The Dublin Event Guide: “George & Liam are an impressively tight rhythm section, Stephen adds sweetness to the sound and Niall is the memorable voice. Their music is tender but also muscular.”
The Voice: 10/12 “Salthouse’s musical styling may contain an essence and beauty that our music scene has been searching for…..”
www.eclectichoney.com “At times lapsing into laid-back instrumental wanderings, on other occasions offering tender lyrics and solace - but always serving them up alongside a generous slice of melody, Hanging by a Thread is a snapshot of a band in progress, trying new things and proving to be very successful.”
Hotpress: 8/10. The band have more then succeeded in bringing “brooding intensity and intelligence” to the set with a “subtle mix of the acoustic past and electronic future.” And “Not since well over a decade ago has a band from the Southeast showed such confident promise.”

Frankly My Dear
An a-capella singing group based in Wexford. Repertoire includes folk, blues, soul and traditional songs. The current line-up is: Dympna Doyle, Betty Furlong, Angela Hogan, Greta Hogan, Linda Keeling, Sheila Kisanne, Laura Murphy, Adrienne Meyler-Woulfe, Mag Roche, Leanne Sheridan, Catherine Stack and Anne Heffernan, co-ordinator. Tel 053 23764.

Maria Doyle Kennedy
Actress and singer Maria Doyle Kennedy played an intimate gig at The Vine Restaurant, Wexford on Sunday, Dec 21, 2003 (9.30pm). Accompanying her was partner Kieran Kennedy.

Maria's acting work has been firmly rooted in the independent sector, working with the likes of Alan Parker on The Commitments, John Boorman's
The General, Mike Figgis' Miss Julie, and Bill Forsyth's Gregory's 2 Girls. TV appearances include Father Ted, The Fitz, Queer as Folk and the powerful
RTE drama No Tears.

As a member of The Black Velvet Band she "toured the arse out of the world" and remembers once "being paid in large bottles of Carling!" Maria was also a founding member of the Hothouse Flowers, singing on their first single Love Don't Work This Way, and has contributed to a number of projects including The Planet Sleeps, an album of songs from around the world.

Maria was one of the principal singers (Natalie) in the Commitments movie and on the album which went to No 4 in the American top 40 and topped various charts around the world. Her version of I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Loved You) was featured on an album called The Lady Sings The Blues alongside Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone ,
Tina Turner, Annie Lennox, Sinead O'Connor and many other female guests. Rod Stewart asked Maria to perform with him but, for reasons best known to
herself, she declined!

Maria was responsible for putting the SIRENS compilation together. The album was released in Ireland Jan. 31st. It features 18 tracks from 18
Sirens, they are: Ani DiFranco, Beth Orton, Lisa Germano, Gemma Hayes, Lucinda Williams, Maria Mckee, PJ Harvey, Nina Hynes, Neneh Cherry, Katell
Keineg, Amy Rigby, Kristin Hersh, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Patti Smith, Tanya Donelly, Margaret Healy, Sinead O Connor and Stina Nordenstam.
www.mariadoylekennedy.com


Sean Needham
Tracy Chapman asked him to open for her in
Belfast. Following his performance that night, she invited him to support her on her three Dublin shows at the Olympia. Ladsysmith Black Mambazo founder and lead man Joseph Shabalala blessed him before the first of the four gigs he supported them on and then invited Seán to join them on stage for some Zulu warrior dancing! The Hot House Flowers asked him on-stage to
perform on Don’t Go. During Seán’s support slots, Liam joined in on-stage to play bodhran and sing backing vocals on one of one of the songs. He has also
guested with Diana Krall, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Huey Lewis and the News and the legendary Bo Diddley. Why haven't we heard of him before? Good question.
See him at Finegan's and make up your own mind. The very tasty album Loosely Based On A True Story is out now with the Hey Juliet single getting lots of
airplay. Sean plays the Open Mic night at Finegan's, Wexford on March 30.


Juliet Turner
JULIET TURNER - "Season of the Hurricane"
Released on Hear This! Records / Distributed through Sony Music Ireland
www.julietturner.com

Juliet Turner's much anticipated third album has just been released. There are no romantic love songs here. Turner's lyrics are peppered with references to vampires, premonitions, smoke and mirrors, no strings attached sexual romps and Elvis rising from the dead. And "Season of the Hurricane" is no downbeat, lo-fi affair. The songs are beautifully arranged and the melodies effortlessly catchy - no more so than in the single "Everything Beautiful is Burning", already a huge radio hit but also evident in the punkish energy of "1987", the sassy bells and whistles of "The Signal and the Noise" and the lyrical elegance of the title track.

This is Juliet Turner's first album since 2000 when she released "Burn The Black Suit" which has since sold over 52,000 copies in Ireland alone!

Production by Alastair McMillan (Van Morrison, Paul Brady, U2, Rolling Stones) with Martin Terefe (Shea Seager, Ron Sexsmith) on "Everything Beautiful is Burning" and "Vampire". The album was mixed by Alan Branch (Blur, Bjork, Sade,). Recorded in Amberville Studios, N. Ireland and Electric Earth, East London.

Juliet Turner - Biography

Juliet Turner has recorded two albums - her 1996 debut "Let's Hear it for Pizza" with Sticky Music and "Burn the Black Suit" on her own label "Hear This!" She built up her audiences in Ireland through support slots with artists such as Natalie Merchant, Tracy
Chapman, Brian Kennedy, Gabrielle, Sting and Bryan Adams and shared a billing with Bob Dylan in Kilkenny. She also spent two summers touring in the UK with ex-Byrds singer Roger McGuinn.

Brian Kennedy took Juliet on tour with him in Ireland and introduced her to a much wider audience. " I loved Brian's album "The Great War of Words" and he was very generous in his support of my music".

It was when this tour finished that Juliet with the help of manager Derek Nally and producer Gerard Kiely recorded "Burn the Black Suit", a much more ambitious affair than her debut, tilting at pop but veering off into darker territory. The subject range was wide - the gay and drag scenes in Manchester (Queen on Canal Street), escape and healing through music (Theatre for the Broken), the frustrations and disillusionment of trying to broker a peace deal within a family and a country (Sorry to Say) and the radio hit "Take the Money and Run", a whimsical take on touring and the madness of fans.

"Burn the Black Suit" went double platinum in Ireland and Juliet signed to EastWest Records in June 2001. Since then she has been working steadily to build up a fan base in the UK. She has been touring with Ron Sexsmith and David Meade, completed a successful short tour of her own in the UK and played her biggest gig to date in the Point Depot in Dublin.
In autumn 2002 she picked up a "Best Newcomer in Music" award from the London based "Irish Post" newspaper and another award for her contribution to music from Tatler Magazine at their Women of the Year ceremony in Dublin - the first to receive this award. She spent the rest of the autumn in New York and New Orleans gigging and writing for her third album.

In January 2003, Juliet's single "Take the Money and Run" was playlisted on Radio 2 in the UK and remained there for six weeks, becoming a favourite with both Terry Wogan and Janice Long. Juliet released her new single "Everything Beautiful is Burning" in Ireland and the UK in Nov 2003; the first single taken from her forthcoming album "Season of the Hurricane" is out now.


David Hosking (Australia)
David Hosking played Wexford's Crown Bar on Sunday, Feb 22. Already very popular – indeed something of a folk hero – in Australia, he made a decision last September to dip a toe in the more dynamic Irish and British music scene. This led to him taking the rather unusual decision of making Derry his home for a period of six months. The Wexford gig was his last before he departs for Melbourne.
While here David has been working away at the hard-to-crack singer/songwriter coalface. He has supported artists of the calibre of Ron Sexsmith and Juliet Turner, and he has played at arts centres and music clubs in the north of the country and in Britain. While in Derry, he has received extensive critical acclaim and airplay on both Radio Foyle and Radio Ulster.
Before decamping to this hemisphere, David had been playing the Melbourne live scene for many years. He is held in high regard in his hometown. Intelligent lyrics and clever melodies characterise his eclectic brand of folk-pop. You will not hear the rattle of a sledgehammer anywhere in his work; his music is subtle and full of hard-fought-for wisdom: "Jesus forgive me for all the things beneath my belt/forget, forget like a mother would/. . .step to my door and punch the bell/I won't hear it otherwise 'cause I play loud as hell" (from "Lie Down Here").
The Crown Bar gig was a low key affair and yet none the less sweet for all that. His stories and his songs merged into one in such a way as to keep the small audience engaged throughout.
"The man writes like Schultz created cartoons; simple, uncluttered life pictures that strike you as nothing but authentic. He is one of the finest songwriting talents I have heard, and I wouldn't be surprised if you see his career unfold rapidly here in Ireland." (Mark Patterson, BBC)

“One of Hoskings' strong points is not dithering too much between different styles; he has an incredible vocal range which is pefectly suited to the personal and observational material. Sleeper is an absolute stunner of an album.”
www.musicworkz.co.uk

As a folk/rock singer/songwriter he’s up there with the best in contemporary alternative Australian music, and deserves to be better known.
You can find out more about David’s music at Belmore Records web site.
Catch David at The Vine, Wexford with Roesy Oct 16.

Martin Stephenson
Martin Stephenson, formerly of The Daintees, performed at Wexford Arts Centre Dec 10, 2005 to a small, but very enthusiastic, audience. Stephenson first played Wexford Arts Centre in 2002 with a return visit to The Vine February 2003 for a topping late night session.
Martin Stephenson is a supremely gifted singer, songwriter, musician and performer, whose career in music stretches back twenty years. Born in County Durham, in the North-East of England, in 1961, Martin was initially fired up to play in a band when the Punk Rock phenomenon went overground in the late 1970's. Then, as now, however, Martin's free spirit incorporated a love for an eclectic range of musical styles, from Rockabilly, show tunes, through to straight ahead rock and full-tilt Punk.
He convened The Daintees in the early 80's, the name deliberately chosen as a response to the humourlessness and angst of much of the music of the time. The Daintees became one of the first bands to sign with the Newcastle-upon-Tyne based independent label, Kitchenware, and their debut single, Roll On Summertime was a sparkling, cheerful item that announced the arrival of a considerable new talent. After Kitchenware packed Martin to London Records, he released the marvellous debut album Boat To Bolivia (1985) with The Daintees under the Production auspices of future Pixies/Bunnymen/James sound man Gil Norton. The album positively burst with excellent, rootsy pop songs, boasting a veritable rainbow of styles, sung and played with a youthful enthusiasm and warmth that paradoxically, perhaps, displayed a mature, unique Songwriting voice. Songs such as the bittersweet "Crocodile Cryer" the alcoholic's lament "Little Red Bottle", the emphatic "Running Waters" and the haunting ballad "Rain" further underscored the impression that "Roll On Summertime" had made.
Lengthy bouts of touring saw Stephenson and the band taking his music to the people, and they loved it, carving an awesome reputation as a live act. Subsequent albums, "Gladsome, Humour, and Blue" (1987), "Salutation Road" (1989), "The Boy's Heart" (1992) however, failed to distil the essence of Stephenson's muse quite so effectively. London's quest for a hit single ran converse to Stephenson's desire to make a purer, more heartfelt music, although all said albums had their moments. Martin left London in 1993, and also severed his ties with the Kitchenware management team. He signed to the West London based indie Demon Records, for whom he made three, highly acclaimed albums "Yogi in My House", "Sweet Misdemeanour" (both 1995) and "Beyond the Leap, Beyond The Law" (1997).
Following the sale of Demon in 1998, Martin moved on, releasing "When It's Gone, It's Gone" on the Tyneside-based independent, "Get Rhythm", and during April 1999, released his eponymous album for the Floating World label. The album consists of re-recordings of some of his finest songs, from all stages of his career, free from commercial constraints of the mainstream music industry.
Now relocated in the Highlands of Scotland, Martin remains a gifted, but self-effacing, and modest individual. He ploughs his own furrow, still refining his already prodigious musical skills.
When he's not singing in Tee-Pees with the highland tree People or playing the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall with Janis Ian, you could see him standing on the corner in Inverness town with a banj/tar playing ragtime. Maybe travelling through Spain solo or with his swing band 'The Toe-Rags', cutting original 'Sun-style' tunes selling Vicar St out in Dublin - bang on Merle Travis & Scott Joplin! Blistering thumbpicking(!) or playing chess, writing poetry in an Alness Cafe or an intimate London show in the 12 Bar, Denmark St. next to "Hank's" guitar shop where he hacked his two vintage Gibsons in 1992. But you'll not see him drinking or with the fat cats. Time's too short. There's too much Doc Watson to learn out there!
http://www.martinstephenson.com

Camembert Quartet
Camembert Quartet – that’s Bunny, Clint, Major, Doc and Vic. Stars of the Lyrics Board on RTE 1 (tv), much featured on Ryan Tubridy’s Full Irish Breakfast (2FM), they are an unstoppable phenomenon sweeping the land.
C4 take the greatest hits of the past, present and future and give them a jazz, latin, easy feel … with hilarious results! Check this out:
The Prodigy as you've always wanted to hear them, in a manic jazz beat-poetry style! Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven as Santana might have played it! Take That's Back for Good as a Bossanova! The nu Club sounds of Ibiza as only this talented five-piece quartet can manage! The amazing tribute to Elvis in his later amphetamine corpulent years! Franks Valli (Can't Take My Eyes offa You), Neil Diamond (Sweet Caroline), Tom Jones (It's Not Unusual), The Troggs (Wild Thing) plus Kylie, Dean Martin, Fats Domino and a selection from the greats of the Jazz World. And that's just for starters! Combine this with the Camembert's hilarious performance style, sharp suits and large glasses, and you have the most unique and entertaining live act on the circuit today! Camembert Quartet is the best five piece quartet in the World.

Black 47
www.black47.com
Black 47 (a name deriving from the year 1847, the blackest year of the Irish potato famine) is a New York-based band made up of Irish expatriates and led by songwriter/playwright Larry Kirwan. In addition to Kirwan (vocals, guitar), the band consists of Joseph Mulvanerty (uilleann pipes), Fred Parcells (trombone, tin whistle, vocals), Geoff Blythe (saxophone), Thomas Hamlin (percussion), and Andrew Goodsight (bass). Black 47 plays a mixture of traditional Celtic folk music, rock & roll, rap, and reggae, all topped by the idiosyncratic songwriting and persona of Kirwan. — All Music Guide

Geoffrey Blythe
tenor and soprano saxophones
A veteran of the British music scene, Geoff has worked with several artists including London new wave group The Fixx, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, and Dexys Midnight Runners

Andrew Goodsight
bass and vocals
His multi-instrumental talents in guitar, bass and keyboards have been lent to various projects such as Elwood, Skinnerbox NYC and Whorgasm

Thomas Hamlin
drums and percussion
Hailing from Astoria, Queens, his percussion experience ranges from traditional hand drumming of Africa and Latin America to all facets of drum traps

Larry Kirwan
lead vocals, stratocaster
Co-founder of Black 47, author and playwright

Fred Parcells
trombone and tin whistle
This Detroit City native can be heard on countless jazz albums. Fred is known for his arranging, improvisation and the innovative "electric trombone"

Joseph Mulvanerty
uilleann pipes, flute, bodhrán
Born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, he broke from traditional Irish circles to collaborate with Sean Griffin and the Irish punk group the Ruffians. He later joined Black 47 after the departure of founding member Chris Byrne.

Black47 play a mini Irish tour in November 2004.
Nov. 18 Roisin Dubh, Galway
Nov. 19 The Gasyard, Derry
Nov. 20 The Village, Dublin
Nov. 21 Talbot Hotel, Wexford

Roesy
Roesy, aka Alan Roe, has had the pleasure of sharing stages with many music legends including Paul Brady, John Martyn , Freddie White, Bert Jansch, Billy Bragg, Davy Spillane, Dick Gaughan, and Gomez to name but a few.
His 2002 album "Sketch the Day, Paint the Night" received universal rave reviews. The album was produced by Bernard Butler (ex-Suede) and recorded in Edwyn Collins' studio in London. The track 'Lily' has been a real favourite on both the airwaves and at Roesy's live shows. There is also a live recording called The Spirit Store.

Running alongside his music is an amazing talent for painting, and this has had a major influence on Roesy’s music. His songs sound as though they are being painted before your very eyes. Close them, and you will be transported to a different world full of beauty, light and optimism. Roesy also puts his artistry to great use on his album artwork - all visuals are lovingly designed and specially created for each album.
Although firmly rooted to Birr, Roesy has wanderlust and his interesting travels have also had a lasting impact on his music. You can hear the influence of Roesy’s wanderings in Bolivia in songs such as Smothered in Light, and time spent in Nepal can be felt in What Would I Know.

Here’s what some people have been saying about roesy:
Roesy has another show-stopping treasure in his repertoire - he is blessed with "...an extraordinary voice" (Alan Corr, RTE Guide June 2003). His singing has been described expansively:
"...has a relaxed, gentle-voiced singing style..."
Sarah McQuaid, Evening Herald, June 2003
"Roesy is able to flit effortlessly between Paul Simon warmth, Hank Williams well-deep timbre and a stout-voiced bellow all his own"
Alan Corr
"...expressively comforting voice..."
Jackie Hayden, Hot Press, June 2003
Roesy is no ordinary singer/songwriter. His rare combination of talents helps him stand out in this rather overcrowded genre, and he is undoubtedly "...one of Ireland’s newest poets and true stars." (Jackie Hayden).

“Sketch the day, Paint the night, …..this is lovely!” CHRISTY MOORE.
“An incredible voice” DICK GAUGHAN.
“Roesy is one of Irelands most original sounding singers” LOCAL IRELAND, FEB 2001.

Catch David at The Vine, Wexford with David Hosking on Oct 16 (Festival Fringe).

Lou Laurens
Lou Laurens is a singer/songwriter from Wales with a gift for eclecticism and an extraordinary voice. Her style is a unique blend of avant-garde rock/pop, folk, early music and cafe-concert. Having honed her
vocal technique training as an opera singer, she subsequently explored jazz and folk, worked as a session singer, and began to write and perform her own material in solo concerts, most recently at Cardigan Musiclive and Glastonbury Festival. No adm charge. In assoc. with Good Music Club.
Lou plays upstairs at The Ferryman on Wed, Oct 29 (9pm). Also there is James Bell. No charge.


Nigel Mooney
Nigel Mooney has long been regarded as Ireland's leading blues guitarist. A charismatic figure on the Dublin jazz and blues scenes since the early 1980's, his Gripewater Blues Band spearheaded the blues movement in Ireland and drew many fans of both jazz and the blues. Having played with the likes of B. B. King, Lowell Fulson, Louisiana Red and many more from the Chicago scenes and beyond, Mooney's bluesy guitar style crosses the jazz boundaries and he has appeared with Georgie Fame, Joey de Francesco and Russell Malone.
Nigel Mooney's Hip Operation sees Mooney with an exciting new quartet that includes some of Ireland's finest young jazz musicians. The new album from Nigel Mooney, "All my love's in vain", is just completed and available at his gigs. www.nigelmooney.com
Nigel plays The Vine Restaurant, Wexford on Sun, Oct 31 - 10.30pm til late (Festival Fringe). 15 euros.

Viktoria Tolstoy & Jacob Karlzon Trio
Viktoria Tolstoy vocals
Jacob Karlzon piano
Mattias Svensson bass
Peter Danemo drums

Appearing Centenary Stores (Backroom) Thursday, Oct 23 (8.30pm). 12/10 euros.

Viktoria is one of Sweden's best young jazz singers with many successful albums and tours to her credit. Born in the medieval town of Sigtuna, she moved when aged eleven to Uppsala where her father was appointed Professor of Musicology at the University.
In '94 she was 'discovered' by Mats Josephson of the Swedish jazz record label SITTEL and success quickly followed with the media looking to Viktoria as a successor to the Swedish jazz singing legend of the 50's, Monica Zetterlund.
Her second jazz album was released in '97 by Blue Note. Entitled 'White Russian', it was produced by Esbjorn Svensson, the Swedish Grammy-winning pianist and leader of the sensational EST group
Her latest album, called 'blame it on my youth', uses a compelling mix of songs from the likes of Horace Silver, Frankie Laine and Elvis Costello and features the Jacob Karlzon Trio. Viktoria has appeared with many top musicians throughout Europe including McCoy Tyner
Finally there is the matter of the family name. Viktoria is related to the great Russian author. Her mother is the great-grandchild of Leo Tolstoy and, with her blonde, self assured, natural look, Viktoria would not have been out of place in the higher echelons of old St. Petersburg society
Pianist JACOB KARLZON is one of the most talented in Sweden. Born in '70, he studied music in Malmo, has performed with all the top names in Scandinavia and been featured on more than 20 CDs. He formed his Trio in '93 with MATTHIAS SVENSSON (double bass) who is also a member of the top Jan Lundgren Trio. Jacob's group is now one of the most popular touring bands in Sweden and it has worked and toured with Norma Winstone and Irish tenor sax player Richie Buckley among others. This superb group is completed by the ever swinging drummer PETER DANEMO.
www.viktoriatolstoy.com

Louis Stewart
Appearing on the Fringe at this year's Wexford Festival with Jusin Carroll and Myles Drennan.
Louis Stewart began his musical career in the sixties as a member of the Dublin jazz scene. In 1968 he received an invitation to the Montreux Jazz Festival, together with the Jim Doherty Quartet, and came away with the press award for Outstanding European Soloist of the Festival. The following year in Montreux he won the Grand Prix de la Radio Suisse Romande. He declined the offer of a scholarship from the Berklee School of Music, Boston, as at the time he was with Tubby Hayes' Quartet and Big Band and had been engaged by Benny Goodman for three European tours. In the ‘70s Louis Stewart was a member of the Ronnie Scott Quartet in London. During this period he also cut albums with Sam Jones and Billy Higgins as well as other musicians from the London scene. His excellent guitar playing with Scott’s quartet, on his solo and duo albums in the 1970s and 1980s, and on recordings with George Shearing, Clark Terry, Martin Taylor, Heiner Franz and others in recent years has earned him a well-deserved reputation and widespread consideration as “one of the instruments’ world class players" (Downbeat Magazine). In July 1998 Louis Stewart became the second musician to be conferred with a doctorate in music from Trinity College Dublin. He continues to enchant audiences all over the World with his wizardry while, fortunately for us, retaining Ireland as his base. Imagine being able to wander into Dublin venues JJ Smyth's or The Mezzanine of an evening and catching someone of his calibre performing to small intimate audiences. Wexford will be rolling out the red carpet for Louis Stewart, without question Ireland's greatest ever jazz guitarist.


Viento y Fuego
Perfoming on the Fringe at this year's Wexford Festival. Venue: La Dolce Vita.
The Viento y Fuego (Wind and Fire) repertoire offers a new and refreshing insight into Spanish Music in all its different manifestations. From the traditional 'sevillanas' to the 'Flamenco puro' Solea, Tangos Flamencos, Bulerias, Alegrias, and Tanguillos.
Angel was born in Mexico. He studied at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Musica in Madrid and finished his studies at the "Ecole Superior de Musique et Art Dramatique, Schuola Cantorum de Paris" in Paris with First honours. Winner of the International Competition at the Rakmaninoff Conservatory in Paris he was invited by Trinity College, Cambridge to play for the Villa-Lobos hundredth anniversary celebration. He has been guest of Music Festivals in several countries, he has played in Europe as well as in the Orient and the US.
Angel's interpretations of Spanish music make him the favourite of lovers of Spanish culture. His performances at art exhibitions and in Festivals such as the Munster Poetry Festival, The Cervantes Institute, the Poetry Now Festival, the Dingle Arts Festival, the West Cork Arts Festival, Derry, the London International Guitar Festival, opening artist at the 70th aniversary of Jose Romanillos in Siguenza in Spain at the Dublin Guitar Week and in Trinity College Dublin have had a great impact on the public and on the artistic community in Ireland (as it has in Europe).
Rosa Seda was born in Sevilla in the most traditional site of the flamenco tradition in an area called the "barrio de Triana". She studied at the Escuela de Artes aplicadas in Sevilla. Her wonderful voice has all the traditional Flamenco sound run through with other influences. The combination of her voice with Angel's guitar is seamless. She also turns her hand to percussion, castanettes, "palmas" (clapping) and dance.
Claudia Chambers is Viento y Fuego's percussionist. She plays the cajon, (an instrument originally from Peru that is used more and more in contemporary Spanish music). Claudia's original interest in Spanish music came from her love of flamenco dance, which she studied during her four years living in Spain. She soon became interested in flamenco percussion. Claudia also provides backing vocals and palmas (clapping).
www.angelclassicalguitar.com www.vientoyfuego.net


Camille O'Sullivan
Camille O'Sullivan performs on the Fringe at this year's Wexford Festival. Venue: La Dolce Vita.
Famed for the passionate intensity of her singing and theatrical interpretation, Camille celebrates the work of some of the 20th Century’s most dramatic songwriters. Performing in French, English and German, she brings to life the songs of war-time Europe with a show reminiscent of decadent 1920s Berlin cabaret. Her repertoire includes Marlene Dietrich’s and Edith Piaf’s most memorable songs, classics from the German Weimer period, the songs of Jacques Brel, Kurt Weill and comedy writer Tom Lehrer. You will also hear songs by Hans Eisler, Friedrich Hollaender, Nick Cave and Tom Waits.

With a love for storytelling, she will introduce you to characters such as Pirate Jenny and the Vamp & The Kleptomaniac in songs that range from provocative to desolate to humorous. ‘’I love acting", says Camille," but because I am an emotional person, and these songs are extremely emotional, singing them is like often walking a tightrope for three or four minutes."

www.camilleosullivan.com


Mark Dignam in Waterford - a music lover's review
You missed one hell of a gig last night. Went down to Waterford last night to see Mark Dignam in The Kings Bar. Absolutely brilliant. I hadn't seen him play for nine years, and I'd forgotten what a great performer he is. A voice you've got to describe as beautiful, and lyrics that will make you laugh or cry - sometimes within the same verse. With the passage of time, I'd forgotten also, what a funny guy he can be. He's even devised a guaranteed method of shutting up the talkers. If ever the level of talking gets louder than hs guitar, he gets the culprit to buy him the most expensive drink in the pub (or to put it on his tab). He says that on this tour, it's been working, and it actually did last night. It probably helped that the driver/roadie guy who was with him was built like the proverbial brick outhouse...

Support was by Ethan Daniel Davidson, from a town in Alaska, 10 miles inside the Arctic Circle, who moved to California to make his fortune as a folk singer. He "soon realised that 'fortune' and 'folk singer' are not two terms which go together". Claims that to make sure your stage career as a singer is a long one, you should stick clear of Politics or Religion. But also figure's his career is going to be short... Not the way he covers them. "Talking holy war blues", a song about when he dated a Muslim woman (he's Jewish, of Irish, Dutch, Native American, probably missing something extraction), and any time they had a row, one thousand years of hatred were brought into it.
Well, as is now the tradition, I got myself up-to-date, on Mark's CDs. I've been surviving for the past nine years solely on his first CD, which I've played to death, and still love. I know every song off by heart at this stage. Ethan also had two CDs for sale, so I think that at four, I've beaten my personal record for CD purchases at the one gig.
Mark now lives in Pittsburgh. Both he and Ethan have both just signed to a label in the States, and Mark's next CD it's hoped, will be out in late spring. He's planning to tour again at that time. I definitely think he (or Ethan) would be a great choice of gig when they're back around this way (either Sky & the Ground or Colfers). I'm so sure on this one, I'll put my money where my mouth is.
Catherine

Dana Lyons
“One of the finest performers I’ve ever seen.”
Dean Evenson, Co-Founder Soundings of the Planet

Dana Lyons is the singer/songwriter best known for his hit song Cows With Guns, which went to #1 for the year on Dr. Demento, #2 on the Australian Country Charts and remained on Seattle’s Top 40 for over 10 months. Dana’s song “RV” reached the Top 5 on Dr. Demento and nine of Dana’s tunes have hit the Top 40 on MP3.com.

Dana’s singing has taken him to conventions, festivals, universities and grange halls all over the world. He is a dynamic performer whose beautiful voice and sharp wit make him an excellent entertainer for all age groups in a wide variety of situations.

Cows With Guns
#1 for the year on Dr. Demento. #2 on the Australian Country Charts. 10 months on Seattle’s Top 40.
The origin of Cows With Guns is a mysterious one. Early one summer morning Dana awoke from a dream. He had been visited by the Great Cosmic Cow. Thus, Cows With Guns was born.
Cows With Guns


DARRYL PURPOSE
"America's most original narrative story-teller since Harry Chapin" - Q Magazine, February 2001

"A physically imposing man, hat firmly on head and dressed in black, he bordered on the menacing, until he opened his mouth. Then his natural warmth and charm blazed through." - Michael Mee, Southern Reporter

Darryl Purpose has led a dark and interesting life, one that never ceases to fascinate. Lured as a teenager by the glamour of the world of gambling, Darryl Purpose learned how to do it well and was once was known as the best blackjack player in the world. But he found himself empty in his success in this sometimes shabby and shadowed world, and he pursued other directions. In the mid-1980s, he joined The Great Peace March, a group of activists who marched across the country in protest against nuclear weapons. This led to another march in the (then) Soviet Union and the first-ever, outdoor stadium rock concert there, featuring Bonnie Raitt, Santana, James Taylor, and Darryl's band, Collective Vision.

Since 1996, Darryl has pursued a career as a full-time songwriter and performer. "Purpose has finally realized his calling as a dramatist for the dispossessed, a chronicler of those Americans who, by choice or by chance, live on the heart's back streets, rising up through the crooked lines like leaves," writes Michael Tisserand in the liner notes from his newest album A Crooked Line.

It is this knack for telling stories that makes the songs of Darryl Purpose stand out. He says, "It emerged when I was doing a lot of live shows. I discovered that I could tell a gambling story or a story about the Peace March, and people would react. Then the stories started seeping into the songs." The often dark characters presented in those story songs live all around us, often invisibly, and sometimes we find that they are us. From unrequited love in a bicycle repair shop in Mr. Schwinn to the joy of love found in Last Great Kiss to the search for family lost in Bryant Street, from the savvy gambler in Dangerous Game to the redeemable vagabond in You Must Go Home for Christmas to the total commitment of Travelers' Code, Darryl Purpose expresses the worries and desires that reside deep within the hearts of all of us.

With his distinctive baritone voice, a smoothly proficient finger-style guitar technique which has earned him an endorsement with Taylor Guitars and a sense of drama and storytelling in his lyrics and music, Purpose delivers a charismatic performance that captures coffeehouse and theater audiences alike, including a huge supply of interesting stories from his activities as a peace activist, professional gambler and modern troubadour.

"Darryl Purpose's music hits all the vital areas: the heart, the mind and the gut... Purpose delivers these tales in language that is precise and unflinching, with a voice that rings true from experience. These songs never let go." - New Orleans Gambit Weekly

http://www.darrylpurpose.com/gigs.htm

Leslie Dowdall
Leslie, now living in Enniscorthy, most recently performed at Blackstairs Blues, Enniscorthy.
With her were Bill Shanley and James Blennerhassett, both best known for their involvement with Mary Black's band.

Due for release January, 2004 is 'The Paul Brady Songbook' DVD series with Leslie co-starring. It features six half hour tv shows recently shown on R.T.E.. There are also some extra bonus tracks not included in the tv series. Also available is 'The Paul Brady Songbook' live cd on which Leslie also appears.

Leslie Dowdall's solo career began in earnest with the release of her first album in 1997, the artfully entitled 'No Guilt, No Guile'. The album won high praise for the creativity, vision and the soulful vocals for so long hidden beneath the music of the past. As a result, Leslie won the 1997 'Best Solo Female' artist at the Heineken/Hot Press Music Awards. Also being nominated in the similar category at the IRMA Music Awards.

Included on 'No Guilt, No Guile' was Leslie's first single released in 1996. 'Wonderful Thing' did indeed become a wonderful thing achieving status as an all time favourite song from the ninties. 'Wonderful Thing' is currently receiving renewed interest as it is the featured music for the new National Lottery adverts on TV channels in 2002.

The album release was followed by a Irish tour in April 1997 playing to full houses across the country from Dublin to Cork, Galway to Wexford. The rest of the year was a schedule of touring, recording, and guest appearances on TV and Radio. It was in May that year that Leslie began recording the vocals for Ronan Hardiman's debut solo album 'Solas'. Ronan had received world-wide acclaim as the composer of the music for award winning 'Lord of the Dance'. Leslie and he had previous collaborations to their name.

This period of creativity and performing was, for Leslie, her emergence into the spotlight as one of Ireland's best live performers with a voice that had grown in expressiveness and confidence. 'Leslie's poise and style on stage is something special' as is her voice which appeared to strengthen with each performance. Comments were being made at this time that Leslie may have taken voice coaching but as she herself said, "If anything my voice has got stronger from lack of training and work." The truth may simply be that Leslie's voice was at last allowed to reign above the leaner musical arrangements.

Towards the end of 1997 Leslie formed her own record label, LD Records, under which the single "Freedom" was released, an appropriate title as the first song under a newly formed label. It was also the first of a new set of songs that would form the album "Out There" released in 1998. This new album was a continuation of the passage taken with "No Guilt, No Guile", a continued interest in gentler, more reflective, vocally driven songs.

'Out There' not only confirmed Leslie's ability as one of Irelands best female singers but also confirmed her talent as a songwriter. All the tracks on this album are original, the exception being the Jimi Hendrix song 'Angel' which receives wonderful treatment from the songstress. Co-writing credits on the album go to such notables as Brendan Murphy from the Four of Us and Pat O'Donnell, former Fountainhead member, who also produces the album.
Since the release and subsequent promotion of 'Out There', Leslie had taken a break from writing to become involved in other projects of interest to her. In 1999 Leslie featured in a series of Beatles Celebration Concerts at the National Concert Hall. The concerts were conducted by the Beatle's producer Sir George Martin. Then renewing a previously successful partnership, she appeared as guest vocalist on Ronan Hardiman's second solo album 'Anthem' released in 2000. Leslie was the featured vocalist in the musical production 'The Flight of the Earls' composed and written by Mary Ronayne-Keane. This production toured Ireland in 2001, check back here for possible future dates of this show in 2002. In October 2001 Leslie was involved in Paul Brady's epic 23 date gigs in Vicar Street, with other guests such as Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison, Sinead O'Connor and many more.

No biography of Leslie Dowdall would be complete without mentioning her involvement in the 80's band In Tua Nua. As the voice of the band that fused celtic traditions with rock for seven years, Leslie felt she needed to find her own style. That she has done and is rightfully considered one of the best female singer-songwriters in Ireland today. Her next album, currently being written, will prove that beyond doubt.

Mary Coughlan
Mary Coughlan is one of Ireland's best ever singers. Most controversial too. She has been compared to the legendary Billie Holiday. Like Holiday, she has experienced great highs and gut-wrenching lows. In fact Coughlan has just finished a second Dublin run of Lady Sings The Blues, a show dedicated to the songs of Holiday.
The personal intensity and blues-tinged edge to her singing has led Q Magazine to say of her, "Mary Coughlan sings with a hard intelligence which binds spells". And, according to Mojo magazine, "she has a voice to kill for." Mary's debut album, Tired and Emotional sold over 100,000 copies. She could have gone mega at that stage if old demons had not risen up to torment her and she found herself, at age 29, rapidly sinking into the depths of a drink-sodden depression. Her record label dropped her and Coughlan proceeded to go completely off the rails. While Billie Holiday ended up cashing in her chips at age 44 and heading to the big gig in the sky, Coughlan managed to kick the booze and crawl her way back. Her album, Mary Coughlan Sings Billie Holiday, is an album dedicated to a woman she has always admired, a woman who, like Coughlan, knew just how low you could actually go. Billie Holiday died in 1959 at age 44. Mary Coughlan is now happily married in Bray, Co Wicklow and enjoying a more quality-driven music career.
"I'm totally enjoying singing now, much more than I ever did before," she says. "And having confronted my demons, I don't have to hide behind anything any more. I just get up and sing these songs that send a shiver up my spine and if they can do that for me, hopefully they'll do the same for the people out there listening."
Catch Mary at Riverbank House Hotel, Wexford on Oct 21 (Festival Fringe).

Pierce Turner
WEXFORD MAN PIERCE TURNER IS ONE OF THE 50 THINGS TO LOVE ABOUT IRELAND says Geoff Wallis in the 2006 The Rough Guide to Ireland. Turner rates up there with other Irish delights such as the smell of a turf fire, sausages and champ and Flann O'Brien.

Pierce Turner is an important though under-recognised figure in the story that is Irish music. He is "heir apparent to Van Morrison as the poetic champion of Celtic soul and every ounce the equal of such worthy contemporaries as Elvis Costello and Sinead O'Connor." From his days as a boy soprano to one of our most critically acclaimed perfomers, he has built up a hugely loyal fan-base both here and in his adoped home of New York. He has had a song covered by Christy Moore (Wicklow Hills), he has written music for film and he has had his albums produced by the very best (Philip Glass and Kurt Munkacsi. Liam Fay of Ireland's Hot Press said of him "Joyce with a voice, Yeats on skates, or Brendan Behan with an electric guitar, Pierce Turner is a great artist and this could be his masterpiece."
www.pierceturner.com

Turner has been recording and mixing his new album in Woodstock in Upstate New York, in the recording studio of drummer Jerry Morrotta who has played on numberous successful CDs, including Peter Gabriel and Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney. Also playing on the Album is Michael Visceglio, renowned for his bass playing on Suzanne Vega albums among many others.
Turner's last album, entitled 3 Minute World, was released to international critical acclaim. To date, he has released seven albums, toured all over the world and had his music used in films such as Snakes And Ladders. His composition 'Among The Wicklow Hills' was immortalised by Christy Moore and he has also
worked with various luminaries, from rock star Suzanne Vega and American composer Philip Glass to Irish playwright Billy Roche.

Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club
As front man with one time Irish contenders An Emotional Fish, Ger Whelan (aka Jerry Fish) endured every unforeseen high, low and legal wrangle that rickety roller coaster called rock 'n' roll could possibly throw at him. Eight years on from the last Emotional Fish album and he is back in the thick of it, albeit in a more subtly understated and diverse more. He loiters down the same dark alleys as Tom Waits, Lee Hazelwood and the Fun Lovin' Criminals. He has rounded up a diverse array of local talent (including Damien Rice, Maria Doyle Kennedy and Bronagh Gallagher) for the making of his latest opus Be Yourself. It's a quirky, upbeat collection of superbly realised Jazz, Blues, Soul and Country numbers. It has been described as 'a vibrant mash of lounge lizard schmooze and mariachi passion'.
Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club were voted Best Country / Roots Artist at the Meteor Irish Music Awards 2003.
www.jerry-fish.com

Artist Profiles
Welcome to the new Wexford Live website. If you know of any artist or act coming to Wexford that you think should be profiled give us a shout.