News digest #24

Events in the next ten days (taken from the BIB calendar; please check also the 'Weekly sessions' section of the calendar)

Thurs. 4th: Woodbine, Clancy's, Bruff, Co. Limerick

Thurs. 4th-Sun. 7th: 25th North Wales Bluegrass Festival, Conwy: Peter & Ellen Vigour (USA) with Ray Banks; 4 Wheel Drive (NL); Jeni Hankins & Billy Kemp (USA); Biggin Hillbillies; Brian Golbey; Britannia Band; Chris Moreton; Conwy Mountain Band; Down County Boys; Kidnap Alice; Five and Dimers; Hope Mountain Band; Longway; Monroe's Revenge; the Morris Boys; New Essex Bluegrass Band; Old Grey Dogs; Shake the Roots; and Appalachian dance team Raise the Dust

Sun. 7th: Ferguson & Barwick (USA), The Red Room, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone); e-mail; +44 7747 120659

Mon. 8th: Ferguson & Barwick (USA), Ballymore Acoustic Gigs, Mick Murphy's, Ballymore Eustace, Co. Kildare; e-mail; +353 86 327 0780

Wed. 10th: Ferguson & Barwick (USA), De Barra's Folk Club, Clonakilty, Co. Cork; e-mail; +353 23 883 3381

Thurs. 11th: Ferguson & Barwick (USA), Blackrock GAA Club, Cork city; e-mail; 087 2944821

Fri. 12th: Ferguson & Barwick (USA), St John’s Theatre, Listowel, Co. Kerry; e-mail; +353 68 22566

Fri. 12th-Sun. 14th: 23rd Athy Bluegrass Festival (Facebook), GAA Centre, Dublin Road, Athy, Co. Kildare: Woodbine, Bending the Strings, Down and Out Bluegrass Band, Watery Hill Boys, Way Out West, Clem O'Brien, Sullivan Brothers, and special guest artists George Kaye (fiddle) and Tom Corbett (USA; mandolin/guitar)

Other news

A feature on the imminent tour of Ireland by Gary Ferguson and Kathy Barwick (opening dates shown above; full schedule on the BIB calendar) can be seen on Bluegrass Today.

The updated schedule of events up to 2 August at the Séamus Ennis Cultural Centre, Naul, Co. Dublin, can be seen here.

The Open House Festival team in Belfast announce that 30,000 copies of a 100-page brochure for their Open House Bangor 400 Festival (1-31 Aug. 2013) are now available, and it can be found at all the participating festival venues, most public places, and many shops in Bangor, Groomsport, and Holywood, Co. Down. The full programme includes a Bluegrass Picnic (4 Aug., 3.00-5.00 p.m.) with the Canadian all-woman band Oh My Darling (see photo above), their only show in Ireland during a seven-week tour of Europe; the Dog Ruff String Band playing at the Goat's Toe (10 Aug.); and Ragtime Jams by Dolbro [sic] Dan every Sunday in August. Read the team's bulletin here.

The UK Brookfield Knights agency sends this link to another review of the Abramson Singers (CAN/USA) trio, who are due to tour these islands in the latter half of next March (see the BIB for 19 June). BK's Loudon Temple says: 'We still have a few dates to fill in the tour period that we flagged up. Please let us know if you would like to bag a slot for your 2014 programme.'

Thanks to bluegrass radio presenter Bob Mitchell (WKWC-FM, WFPK-FM, and Radio Bluegrass International) of Louisville, KY, for his new e-mail address.

With the closure of the Sin E bar on Ormond Quay, the Dublin Bluegrass Collective is looking for a new venue for its weekly sessions.