The Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival

Great bluegrass group last night at the Westport Coast Hotel down on the quay.  Great meal there as well with fresh Clew Bay mussels and an entrée of firm and flaky fillets of John Dory (yes, two l's and please pronounce the t), a terrific white fish.  The members of the Corn Potato String Band are from the states, Minnesota and Michigan, and the appropriately bearded young fiddler player, Aaron Jonah Lewis, has won many awards for his skill, including being selected the American Champion Bluegrass and Old-time Fiddler.   Breathtaking speed and virtuosity.  In fact, he conducted a master class for fiddlers in one of the pubs this afternoon.  The band actually plays a wide variety of roots music including Texas Swing, Ragtime, and old time Polka.  It's like getting an American Music history lesson with great humor and good fun.

We were pleased to be remembered by Hubie and Sarah MacEvilly, the brother and sister leaders of the Rocky Top String Band, a local group that spends the rest of the year playing traditional Irish music.  Great musicianship and beautiful harmonies.  They know us as the Yanks that hang out with the Duffys.  We caught their lunchtime session outside of Madden's Bistro this afternoon.

The Bluegrass Festival has been in existence for 8 years.  In an "only in Westport" sort of story, the festival was the brave idea of Uri Cohen, an Israeli Jew who settled in Westport a number of years ago.  He brought his idea to Darren Madden, proprietor of the Clew Bay Hotel, who chose to take a chance and sponsor and provide a venue for Uri's brainstorm.  This year, the festival has been recognized as one of the top 20 festivals in Ireland -  an amazing recognition in a country that specializes in good times and festivals of all sorts.  At this point, the festival rages all weekend long, with all events free except the Saturday night concert.  It seems as if all the local pubs sponsor at least one event, many of them being held concurrently.  You can have one hell of a musical pubcrawl in this town this weekend.  Way to go, Uri!

Sadly, we may miss our dear friends, Padraic and Marion, the next few days as Padraic's aunt has died.  He and Marion will travel to pay their respects.  We hope to catch up with them again as soon as possible.

In the car park outside of Madden's Bistro

Hubie on guitar; Sarah lends her gorgeous harmonies

 

Enjoying the Rocky Top String Band

Candee with Uri