If Monsters of Folk wasn’t already the name of a band, you would surely have to apply the title to Crosby, Stills and Nash (goddamn you Neil Young, why won’t you just bite the bullet and get back in there too?). They’ll be coming to Dublin’s O2 arena on Thursday July 1. That’s a big venue by most people’s standards. Of course when your first live outing was in front of half a million people at Woodstock, it probably seems quite cozy.

Although most performers of their vintage are happy enough to tot up the earnings from the back catalogue while dangling a grandchild or two on the knee, CSN (as we oldies like to call them) are at work on a new studio album with Rick Rubin, which should see the inside of whatever record shops are still in existence at some point later this year.
There's further good news for those for whom their peerless back catalogue will never be bested. A new collection brings together the demo recordings of many of the songs that went on to become the backbone of their studio recordings.
Possibly not the best analogy I’ve ever used, but here goes: it never rains in Kila-land, it pours. There is major jumping up and down in Kila Towers with the news that The Secret of Kells film has been nominated for an Oscar. Receiving the nomination, in the face of fierce competition from some other brilliant animated films, it seems that the effort from Kilkenny’s Cartoon Saloon has paid off and that the Irish contender is the film everyone is talking about in Hollywood at the moment. Kila’s music is featured on the soundtrack, which is absolutely gorgeous. The score features Kila in collaboration with French composer Bruno Coulais, and again showcases the band’s ability to embrace a form they’re not entirely familiar with and produce spectacular results. The film was also nominated for the Annie awards and is now going to get a full theatrical release in the US during March. All of which bodes well for American fans of the band, as negotiations are now under way to bring them back to the US for a long-overdue tour there later in the year.
Not satisfied with that, the band has also launched Soisín, their latest album. After recording Luna Park, the band decided they should record two albums, one of lively music to dance to, and one of slower, soft music to chill out to. Well Gamblers’ Ballet ticked the lively box and after three years of dancing, Soisín brings us music to reflect, rest, daydream and even cry to. ‘Katy’s Tune’ from Soisín is playlisted on RTE which is a major achievement for any Irish band let alone this rambunctious bunch of musical anarchists, so some major respect is due.
The album was launched in The Glens Centre, Manorhamilton, which was fitting as most of it was recorded there. They’ll be appearing at the Draiocht Theatre, Blanchardstown, on Thursday February 25 and will be attacking Dublin as part of the St. Patrick’s Day festivities with a concert in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre.
Since parting company with fellow redhead Gloria Mulhall, Liz Madden has been exploring a whole world of differently hair-coloured collaborators. Of late she has been working with brunette fiddle player Niamh Fahy, who features on her latest release My Irish Home and who has been performing live with her. The new album features 13 tracks. Although most stick to the ‘Irish’ brief set by the title - ‘Spancil Hill’, ‘Galway Shawl’, ‘Danny Boy’, ‘She Moved Through the Fair’, ‘Shanagolden’, ‘I Know my Love’, ‘An Raibh tu ag an gCarraig’ – a few like ‘Banks of the Ohio’ and ‘This Land Is Your Land’ suggest that the flame-haired one is eager to push the envelope and explore some tunes that we may have shared with our cousins across the Atlantic at some stage. The reaction live to ‘This Land Is Your Land’ especially suggests that the gamble has paid off.
Jess Klein, who has been playing a few gigs here and in the UK with Noelie McDonnell, is one of a healthy contingent of American songwriters who’ll be in Belfast at the end of February as part of the Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival. I first came across her when she signed to United For Opportunity – the New York label that is also home to the Guggenheim Grotto – and released City Garden. Since then, although she’s still with the label, she has parted company with the city that never sleeps and has moved to country music’s alternative home (or should that be alternative country music’s home) Austin, Texas. In comparison with her earlier albums, which took the blues as their bedrock, her new album Bound For Love is deeply influenced by the change of pace and scenery.
The festival, which continues until Sunday February 28, takes in some rather exotic venues. Aside from the regular Belfast gigs, there’s the opportunity to see Gerry Green and Benita Hill in the Long Gallery at Stormont, the Anthony Toner Band in the Great Hall at Queens, Andy White in the Art College and Miss Paula Flynn in the Dukes Hotel. As well as the headline gigs, there are also a large number of songwriter ‘in the rounds’ sessions, where the likes of Carlene Carter and Nanci Griffith can be seen up close and personal talking about their key songs.
There’s no stopping the juggernaut that is Facebook. Even Baltimore Fiddle Fair has jumped under its mighty wheels and now has a page there. This year’s dates have been announced as Thursday May 6 to Sunday May 9. There are no announcements yet as to who will be performing and speculation within the fiddle community is approaching fever pitch.