» Back to News Index


July 2007

Hi folks!

Ceol nam Feis Tour  (View Photos)

I was MD for a tour showcasing the astounding talent of young traditional musicians from 5 different Feis areas around the Highlands. I was blown away by the standard of their muisicianship, the pure talent and the craic involved too! We visited Perth, Banchory Edinburgh and Glasgow - the first time the tour has been outside of the Highlands. 

Lots of lovely people who know how to play and have a good laugh too, I loved it, the audiences loved it - what more could you ask for! July was a very exciting month for myself and the New Shoes. We completed a three-week tour of the Highlands and Islands, during which time we visited lots of lovely places - Cromarty, Achiltibuie, Findhorn, Aberdeen..... and lots more.

We had a very special acoustic night in the beautiful Alvie House where we played in the library. And other highlights included the wonderful Hebridean Celtic FEstival on Lewis, and Feis an Eilean on Skye, where we played with a full band line-up as well as myself, Marc and Claire also including Luke Daniels, MArio Caribe and Paul Jennings. It was a great night! Check out Claire and Paul who learned to play the clarsach. 

We finished the tour in Knoydart, surely one of the finest places in Scotland, which involved getting a RIB - finally I got to go on a rib - loved it, even though I got soaked on the way back! Met up with the inimitable Tam the Banjo and had a brilliant stay in stag bothy. I played a couple gigs towards the end of July with Gerry (fiddle) O' Connor also from Dundalk. One of those was in the Tolbooth with the super-talented Brian Macalpine on piano. 

And finished off the month with a radio interview with Aine Hensey who presents The Late Session, a good music program on RTE 1. She very kindly picked me up from Dublin Airport, even though the All-Ireland Hurling final was on - go raibh maith agat Aine!