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Anyone who enjoyed the sets by North Carolina artists Lynda Dawson (guitar) and Pattie Hopkins (fiddle) at last year's Appalachian and Bluegrass Music Festival at Omagh, Co. Tyrone, will be glad to hear that they have now released a thirteen-track CD, Traditional duets.

The material on the album ranges from Bill Monroe compositions ('Dark as the night, blue as the day', 'Cheyenne', 'Sittin' alone in the moonlight') to older songs and tunes ('Bonaparte's retreat', 'Red rocking chair', 'Train on the island') and more. It can be bought from their website and from Cd Baby, where you can hear samples and buy individual tracks as downloads.

Their career as a duo began in 2012 when other members of Kickin' Grass were unable to appear on a showcase at IBMA's World of Bluegrass; Lynda and Pattie filled the gap together and found that it worked for more than just an emergency. More details are on this Laughing Penguin press release.

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Traditional duets is one of the growing number of projects successfully funded by a Kickstarter campaign. As reported earlier on the BIB, our own Wookalily is also using Kickstarter to fund their new album; and they still need £700 to reach their target by 1 June, less than a week away.

Read the full details on their latest e-newsletter, where there is also a link to a recording of their recent appearance on the Gerry Kelly Show on Radio Ulster.

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The BIB editor writes:

It had to come, especially after my recent remark on the BIB about We Banjo Three playing old-time tunes on tenor banjo. Yesterday Bluegrass Today published a series of photos from DelFest 2014 taken by Todd Powers. The very first in the set shows master mandolinist Ronnie McCoury playing - yes, a tenor banjo. It's too early yet to say what this will mean for bluegrass music; but at least it tends to support my long-held conviction that the tenor is not a banjo at all: it's a loud member of the mandolin family.

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Good deals now available: Compass Records, with their unique catalogue of both Celtic and bluegrass music, are offering 25% off over a hundred titles. More details are in this e-newsletter. And this weekend Homespun, the Mother of Instructional Recordings, are offering 20% off all downloads - the sale ends at midnight tomorrow, 27 May.