Tom Rush was so, so good last night. He’s a masterful guitarist and storyteller. Just fantastic and we’re so glad we made the effort. The theater holds 300 and I think he had between 75 and 100 in the audience, mostly his contemporaries from the look of it. I easily outpaced them on the trip to the men’s room.

I feel like I discovered a new artist last night. Speaking of which, he was accompanied by Brendan Cleary, a young singer/songwriter and excellent guitarist whose first album comes out later this year. Highly recommend him as well.

Sadly, Austin is populated by music snobs who just don’t turn out for older artists. I often have to travel to Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio for shows. Case in point - Art Garfunkel has sold about 200 tickets at ACL Live (capacity 2400) for his November show.

Ciaran is on the new album by Paul Walker and Karen Pfeiffer. The album cover looks like its filmed at Middleport Pottery where we go most Saturdays for a coffee after a walk with friends.

I'm genuinely surprised by this. And by Tom Rush still gigging.

Jules

And a new one, Tom Rush at the State Theater, tonight!

I am not familiar with his oeuvre, but I have known his name for a long time. As I understand it, he was a key figure in the American folk revival of the early 1960s. He's 85 now, and by all accounts is still a fine performer and storyteller.

We weren't planning to go until we saw that he had sold only about 1/3 of the tickets at the 300-seat theater. For reasons unknown to me, Austin remains a nightmare for legacy artists. I wonder why they bother to come here (but I want them to continue, please).

Looking forward to tonight!

Rosemary Hardman was a name i had heard but I confess,  couldn't place till I read of her passing very recently.  There are connections with a number of artists known to me.

Incidentally that Judy Dyble and Andy Lewis album is perennially a quid on Vinted at the moment (which means it's about a £4 in total).  Poor Jude.  Undervalued, I'd say...

Impossible to state the massive role he had not just on Irish music, but by way of producing acts like Capercaillie, and so many supporting roles, such as on Dan Ar Braz’s l’Heritage des Celtes he left a legacy and musicianship that may never be equaled. RIP Donal

Cherry Red have reduced the price of their Judy Dyble box set (contains Enchanted Garden, Spindle and Whorl). Now £11.99.
http://Judy Dyble: Darkness to Light – The Recordings 2004-2006, Remastered 3CD Box Set https://share.google/ouvBmIuJPz1ljejIh

First gigs booked for 2027:

Robyn Hitchcock with an electric band, 04 Center, 13 February! Aside from the Witchseason Weekend back in 2009, I’ve only seen Robyn once as a one-man acoustic band last year, so I’m really looking forward to this.

Chaka Khan, at a brand-new 4,000-seat venue in East Austin (Heritage Hall, I think?), sometime in April! There’s no way she’ll sell 4,000 tickets in Austin, but I applaud the promoters for going big. I think she’s more suited for a 1,200-1,500 seat place.

"I read that he was the first Irish musician to adopt he bouzouki tuning that changed folk."

It was actually Johnny Moynihan of Sweeneys Men who introduced it to Andy Irvine who introduced it to Donal. Of course it was Lunny who made it his own signature sound, that combination of the open tuning and the percussive rhythm - the beat that IMO really brought the sea change.

The interplay of Irvine and Lunny's string work on the Planxty albums is blissful.

P.S. proper order the boys dedicating MOTL to him, nice one.