Valerie Smith & LIberty Pike planning tour, Aug.-Sept. 2018

Valerie Smith (front) with Liberty Pike: (l-r) Tom Gray, Joe Zauner, 

Wally Hughes, Lisa Kay Howard

In spring this year Lisa Kay Howard on mandolin and her husband Wally Hughes on fiddle and dobro were touring in Ireland as Round Hill, accompanying singer Brooksie Wells. Lisa Kay and Wally are both also members of Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike - a band which over the last two decades has been known for Valerie's exuberant vitality and the excellence of her band members (the present bassist Tom Gray, for instance, is a member of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame). Longtime BIB readers may remember Valerie bringing a dynamic earlier version of the band to an Athy Bluegrass Festival some years back.

Thanks to Lisa Kay for the good news that Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike are planning to be back in Ireland less than a year from now, as part of a tour of these islands beginning on or around 31 August 2018 and ending on 16 September. Event organisers and venue operators who would be interested in presenting them should contact Lisa Kay by e-mail or 'phone (001-540 270-2875).