Visitors from Virginia, 7-25 Sept. 2017

Thanks to Ed and Trish Bowes (above) of Midlothian, VA, for the news that they will soon be in Ireland for three weeks (7-25 Sept.) - partly to see distant or extended family and partly to see the country, but they will also be glad to meet, hear, and pick with other musicians.

Ed and Trish have both been involved with folk, jazz, bluegrass, and other music for many years. and are making good use of retirement to enjoy music all the time. At home they play in a local bluegrass band, the Dust Cutters (seen below; this photo was taken before the band gained a mandolinist). They also play a mix of traditional and more modern music as a duo or with friends, under the name 'Push To Start'. When they married, Ed composed the wedding music; eight of the tunes were then arranged for classical string trio, and have been recorded by the Jason Labrador Trio on the 16-track album The Beverly waltz and wedding suite), which can be heard on CD Baby. Ed writes:

We have a second home near Elkins, West Virginia, about four hours from Richmond, and spend most of our summers there, enjoying the Augusta Heritage Center, which has programs at the local college for five weeks that include weekly workshops in various types of traditional music and dance. The theme weeks include bluegrass, old time, cajun, classic country, swing, and blues, sometimes Irish, and it's wonderful. This past July I got to study banjo with Alan Munde, Trish studied dobro with Jimmy Heffernan, and in previous years I've gotten to study with Tony Trischka, Russ Barenberg, Tom Adams, and a lot of other wonderful professionals.

An important matter on which any help would be appreciated. Ed will be able to borrow his cousin's guitar to use in Ireland. He also plays banjo, but feels it might be too difficult to bring one this time with everything else they have to bring, so any suggestions for renting or borrowing a banjo will be welcome. Ed will be bringing the normal banjo paraphernalia of picks, strings, capos, tuners, and the like. Their itinerary is as follows:

Thurs. 7th-Sun. 10th: arrive and stay in Dublin, spend time over the weekend with Ed's distant family, whom he's never met
Mon. 11th-Tues. 12th: Kinsale, Co. Cork
Wed. 13th-Fri. 15th: Dingle, Co. Kerry
Sat. 16th-Sun. 17th: Galway city, to connect with Trish's extended family
Mon. 18th-Fri. 22nd: 'Improvise'
About Sat. 23rd: return to Dublin
Mon. 25th: fly back to USA

Trish and Ed can be contacted by e-mail (Trish; Ed) or phone (001-804-317-3057), and Ed can also be reached on What's App, at 804.317.3057.

The Dust Cutters: Ed and Trish on the right