Goodness Gracious

Although I like most kinds of music, and have deeply enjoyed music throughout my life, there is a special charm to bluegrass.  I don't know much about it and only have a few groups/artists in my playlist on my digital player - a Ralph Stanley double album, a song or two by Norman Blake, and some other songs from Oh Brother, Where Art Thou.  But, when I come to Westport and go to the events of this weekend's festival, I just plain get bitten by the bug.  So much life in the music, so much camaraderie evident between players in their own groups and with those in other groups, and just an unmistakable infectiousness about the rhythms, the vocal harmonies, the tone and timbre of the instruments.  It was Padraic's choice to attend tonight's concert at the refurbished townhall and what a good call it was.  A beautiful venue with great acoustics, and three terrific groups to listen to.

I've included my still shots below, along with some videos snatched from Youtube.  I sure you'll be able to enjoy the musicianship; I wish you could've felt the electricity as these groups fed off the energy from the almost 300 fans at the townhall last night.

As you'll tell from the accents, the Flats and Sharps are from the UK; Jigjam is from Ireland.  I've thrown in a Rayna Gellert video at the end.  What a fiddler.

The amazing Flats and Sharps

Jigjam