Given the success of their debut album, Waltzing Alone, on the other side of the Atlantic, it’s no surprise that the lead single from the Guggenheim Grotto’s second LP is called Waking Up In America.

The single will serve as a taster for the album itself, Happy The Man, due for release on June 20. The album will feature 10 tracks while there’ll be a couple of bonus tracks available for anyone buying it on iTunes. Considering that they sailed to the number one spot on the iTunes folk chart with their last release, GG will be keen to capitalise on their reputation as folk music’s most iPod friendly-act. Fans of the band will be delighted to see tracks like ‘Everyman’, ‘Beautiful Ideas’ and ‘Lost Forever’, which have long been live favourites, make it onto record.
Another woman who has experienced her own fair share of success in the US is Eleanor McEvoy who was caught up in a major label whirlwind in the wake of A Woman’s Heart. Nowadays, with her operations based firmly in Wexford, she’s more interested in a roots approach. Her latest tour kicks off on Friday May 9 with a show in St. John’s Theatre, Listowel, Co. Kerry. The following evening she plays at the Station House Theatre, Connemara, Co. Galway. On Thursday May 15 she takes the long trek north along the east coast for a show at Belfast’s Errigal Inn with a gig in Dublin’s Aras Chronain the following evening punctuating the journey back southwards. On the evening of Saturday May 17 she plays in the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh while the last date of the mini-tour comes after a well deserved rest from driving on Friday May 23 when she will be in the Burnavon Arts Centre in Cookstown.
Sligo-based folk/world music quartet, No Crows have been very busy over the course of the last couple of months recording their second CD, Magpie, the studio follow up to last year’s live debut, At the Strand. The new tracks are all but done and dusted, down to a final mastering in preparation for a midsummer release. The band, which grew out of its near legendary Wednesday night Shoot The Crows sessions, previewed of some of the tracks from the new CD in a special show in Barry’s of Grange offering die-hard fans the option of picking up a copy in advance of the official summertime CD launch.
Understandably, the band are very excited about the new CD, which features original tunes from each of the members as well as arrangements of traditional tunes from all over the world. The new CD also features a tune written Dervish’s Cathy Jordan, some marvellous Mallorcan traditional music brought to the group by Strandhill’s Mallorcan-in-residence Felip Carbonell and a beautiful treatment of South American composer Astor Piazolla’s ‘Chiquilín de Bachín’. The CD also features some guest performances including a couple of gems from Oleg Ponomarev, the Russian virtuoso with whom the band has a long association.
Music Network, the national music development agency, is seeking young traditional Irish music groups to apply for the Young Musicwide award 2008. Young Musicwide is a unique professional development scheme designed to give a head start to the careers of some of Ireland’s brightest young musicians. The award this year is open to traditional Irish groups of any instrumentation of between two and five people. The closing date for completed applications is 5 pm Friday June 13, 2008. There will be an audition process in September and a band with a proven interest in performance will be selected to participate in the programme for three years.
The previous traditional Irish group to receive the award was Slide who released their third CD, Overneath, under the scheme. As recipients of the award they have toured Ireland extensively during the past three years, performing in many of Music Network’s partner promoter venues.
Cambridge Folk Festival is also doing its bit to encourage budding folk performers by offering performers aged between 11 and 18 the chance to play in the festival’s Club Tent on Sunday August 3. Anyone wanting a crack at this needs to get a CD with up to three tracks to the Young Musician Competition at Cambridge Folk Festival before Thursday May 22.