Michael J. Miles (USA) in Ireland and Spain, 4-11 Nov. 2017 (update)

Thanks to Tom Cussen of Clareen Banjos in Clarinbridge, Co. Galway, for news of an upcoming visit to Clarinbridge by banjo maestro Michael Miles of Chicago on Saturday 4 November, when he will be doing a concert in Paddy Burke’s in Clarinbridge - not for the first time. The concert is sponsored by Clareen Banjos, with some help from the Clarinbridge Arts Group, and is the first show in a tour (see details below). Here is the press release for the tour, with special reference to the Clarinbridge show.

Folk & blues: a concert of American music

Michael is regarded as one of the most innovative clawhammer banjo players in the world. He's a fine singer and fingerstyle guitarist. His musical background is steeped in the folk and blues of Chicago, in J.S. Bach and Motown, rock and roll, and the American Songbook hits that his blue-collar father sang in the car.

For this 2017 tour to Ireland and Spain, Michael has prepared a special mix of American music - folk songs, pop songs, blues, and originals that he'll be playing on his open back 5-string banjo and his 19th century fretless banjo that has a growl like you've never heard before!

And Michael sings like he means it, and he tells heartfelt stories because he's been around the world a few times and tells stories of people he's met and places he's been.

'Michael’s protean talents and musical mastery extend from traditional folk and old-time, through the blues, and into pop and jazz, but his rendering of the Bach suites is a brilliant tour-de-force that effectively obliterates the limits of what was thought possible on clawhammer banjo.' (Banjo Newsletter)

'This is one of the most beautiful recordings I've heard in all my seventy years... It is enough to make me want to learn the banjo all over again.' (Pete Seeger)

Michael, who hails from Chicago but has family all over Ireland (including Galway), came to Clarinbridge in the spring of 2013, with his acclaimed one-man show 'From Senegal to Seeger'. The overflowing crowd at Paddy Burke’s gave Michael a standing ovation and he's delighted to be returning to the town that made him feel so very welcome!

The tour schedule is currently:

Sat. 4th: Concert, Paddy Burke's, Clarinbridge, Co. Galway
Mon. 6th: Concert: details TBA
Wed. 8th: 'From Senegal to Seeger', Athy Community Arts Centre, Co. Kildare
Sat. 11th: Al Ras Bluegrass & Old-Time Festival, Barcelona

Update 21 Oct.: Michael's latest e-newsletter, with video and other links, has just arrived. Please note that details for the 6 Nov. concert remain TBA at present.