Press Release

Return of The Bluegrass Boys

Kilcar Folk, Blues & Bluegrass Festival – Sunday May 4th. (Áislann Chill Chartha)

The Bluegrass Boys were formed in Dublin in 1989 with John Kinsella 5 string banjo player being the only original member left. (The others are due for parole in 2020).. John was a part time member of the famous Chippendales and his results for his recent I.Q. test came back negative. He was quite happy with that! The new lineup is.... on fiddle Dessie Crerand-they say the best way to confuse Dessie is to de-tune one of his fiddle strings and don't tell him which one! He is well known on the Irish bluegrass festival circuit (for all the wrong reasons!) Allen Cooke who wrote the famous song 'I wanna whip your cow' and 'I hate every bone in your body except mine...' a very talented songwriter indeed on Guitar, and completing the line-up is Patrik Cereghetti from France-a non comprehensible English speaking jazz bassist on Double bass. Patrik was a member of 'The Blackberry Boys'., a cross dressing bluegrass band based in the 'Moulin Rouge' in Paris. Their first album titled 'She feels like a new man tonight' sold 4 copies, 'ahem'

The Bluegrass Boys are currently putting together material for an album but haven't the money as yet to pay for recording (still paying off fines, alimony, blackmailers and debts etc) but hope to be able to record sometime in the summer of '08. So if you like hillbilly music and are feeling down, depressed or just fed up why not come along to one of their gigs.. .it's better than Prozac! You'll be ahootin and ahollorin before you can say "Mama get me a hammer.. .there's a fly on papa's head" The band will be playing in various venues i.e. pubs dance halls church halls graveyards, kitchens, toilets.. .toilets? what the hell..anywhere they'll get paid!! So kick your shoes off (then put them back on again!) and get your ass down to see The Bluegrass Boys.

The following is a basic guide to Bluegrass for those who may be unfamiliar with this musical genre.

Bluegrass A type of grass that grows on the plains of Kentucky. It's actually a blueish shade of green. You can't smoke it, but horses love it and it makes powerful silage!

Grand ole Opry The Bluegrass musicians Nirvana!!

Banjo A chocolate bar made by Cadburys about ten years ago. Not bad with coffee but played havoc your cholesterol counts!

Bluegrass legends Listen and learn.. .Earl Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Mark O' Conner Tony Rice.etc.

The above are commonly described variously as 'pioneers' 'statesmen' 'virtuosi" 'craftsmen' or 'innovators' but never..NEVER as 'hip' 'funky' 'brother" moma' 'mega' or 'crucial'.

Capo A handy, clamp like thing that can be fitted onto the fretboard of a stringed instrument to keep out unwanted notes. Thus allowing the Bluegrass musician to play away nonchalantly while flirting with members of the audience.

Mandolin A small sweet fruit, like a baby orange that peels very easily and is often on special offer (along with kiwi fruits, plums and over ripe bananas) in supermarkets.

Fried chicken The staple diet of all Bluegrass musicians. No vegetarians here thank you!

Fiddle Nigel Kennedy plays a violin.. .Dessie Crerand plays a fiddle.

YEEHAW! When a Bluegrass band starts to really cook, people all over the shop start into hollering 'yeehaw' or 'yup ya boy ya' and such like. This goads the easily excitable musicians into playing faster and faster until everyone in the house collapses into a jaded heap. Then it's back into waltzes and two steps till it all starts up again.

Bela Fleck After a glorious career in horror movies, along with fellow baddie Vincent Price, Bela embarked quite late in life on a career in Bluegrass music, started a seminal, innovative, ground-breaking band called "New Grass Revival" then married Maura O' Connell. Channel 4 often screens his movies, most of which are mostly set in Transylvania and the black forest, very late at night, whenever there's a full moon, at Halloween etc...

The Bluegrass Boys One of finest Bluegrass Bands playing in Ireland at this time. The Bluegrass Boys are playing mostly around the Donegal area at the moment but when they get their rambling shoes on.... well, watch out!!

Frets A set of grooves set into stringed instruments such as guitars, Banjos and .Mandolins so that Bluegrass musicians can still find the notes even if they can't stand

up anymore. Fiddles don't have any frets so they can sound woeful after a few pints.

In County Cavan, the phrase 'Isn't that a fret' means astonishment. As in Donegal 6-19, Cavan 0-2, 'Isn't that a fret'!!..

The Blue Moon Bluegrass singers like to sing at the moon. As in 'Blue moon of Kentucky/Keep on shining', 'Moondance' 'Moon river', 'The rose of Mooncoin'etc

Hillbilly's Hailing from the Appalachian Mountains they shoot tourists then swing them from gumbo trees (remember 'Deliverance' and 'Southern comfort') They make soup and handbags out of alligators. They also play banjos and everybody dances!

White Trash The name given to poverty stricken Irish and Scottish settlers who came to live in Kentucky and Louisiana in the mid 19^th century. Their traditional dance music became fused with the rhythms and instruments of the African slave peoples to beget, among other music,.. .Bluegrass.

Also a heavy metal band from Carrickmacross. A kind of mixture of Horslips and The Scorpians. Last heard they were saving to buy a van..

A Bow A gesture made to the audience by a Bluegrass musician after completing a particular tricky solo run. Or. a weapon used by Native American Indians who weren't much into Bluegrass music.

So that's it.. The Bluegrass Boys will most likely be playing at a venue near you this summer so keep an eye out and your ear to the ground and your eyes peeled, elbow greased, knees knocking, fingers crossed and one foot in the grave etc. etc.