It's been nine months since this page was updated and there's much water under the bridge since then... so maybe I'll just start with the recent news and work backwards.

I just got home after a week of teaching at the Milwaukee Irish Fest Summer School and then performing with FINGAL at the festival itself. I enjoyed my class at the Summer School, and had some very good fiddlers in attendance. Downtown Milwaukee was a delightful place to hang out, especially after I discovered a great restaurant, Buckley's Kisceam Inn.

I'd been warned that the festival was gigantic and that it abounded with "celtic rock" acts, but I was happy to find there's still a strong audience for traditional music in Milwaukee, and the two venues where FINGAL performed were filled with happy trad fans who seemed to appreciate our straightforward approach. It was a major thrill for me to be asked to sit in with the great Kilfenora Ceili Band, long time musical heroes of mine. If you ever get the chance to hear them or dance to them, jump on it. Thanks to Tim, John, Pat and the rest of the gang for making James and me welcome.

In July FINGAL appeared at the Mission Folk Festival in Mission, BC, about an hour east of Vancouver. This was a wonderful festival in a lovely setting near the Fraser River. We got to see a number of musical friends from all over North America, also I finally got to sit down for a few tunes with our good friend (and booking agent) Ita Kane-Wilson on concertina.

Before driving up to Mission, Daithi and James paid a visit to my own Whidbey Island for a CD release concert. The CDs, unfortunately didn't make it in time for the concert, but we had a great night anyway, with a big crowd including many of the folks who heard us record some of the album the on Whidbey the year before. Many thanks to Gary and Beth Smith and the crew at Mukilteo Coffee Roasters for making it a success.

FINGAL was at the Catskills Irish Music Week in East Durham, New York again this year, with Daithi and me there all week teaching and then James arriving at the weekend for our festival performances. Again, I was delighted with my classes, a bunch of fiddle nutcases like me so we had plenty to talk about. One of the things I love about the Catskills is the opportunity to see many old and new friends from Ireland who wouldn't normally be over here on tour because they don't play in touring bands. Kudos to Paul Keating and the CIAW staff who went to great lengths to assemble this incredible community of musicians in one place. Besides playing with FINGAL, one of the high points (if nerve-wracking) was performing a concert with my good friend Gearoid O'hAllmhurain, who played his low pitched concertina (in C), requiring me to transpose all the tunes down a whole step in front of a large crowd of savvy trad music listeners. We were also joined by Eileen Gannon on harp and the inimitable Myron Bretholz on bodhran, and despite the unusual instrumentation and the instant transposition the music was lovely.

July Fourth weekend I was in beautiful downtown Oysterville, Washington, with my family, where I played for my 14th or 15th or possibly 16th Vespers benefit concert in the historic Oysterville Church. We stayed as always with our good friends Sydney and Nyel Stevens and got to see the firing of the Oysterville Cannon. Oysterville is a pearl of a place and I'm always eager to get back there. You can see Sydney and Nyel's beautiful old house on the cover of my CD with Roger Landes, "House to House". We recorded part of that album in the house.

Speaking of Roger Landes, this year's Zoukfest music camp was a great success, a fantastic event in beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico. Except for a bout of altitude sickness that took me by surprise, I had a lovely time teaching, performing and hanging out with a bunch of great folks. Before Zoukfest I did two very enjoyable and well-attended house concerts, in Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona. Many thanks to Sharon Goldwasser and Ruth Christensen for getting those organized.

A busy month! Daithi came out for some very enjoyable concerts here in the Northwest, starting out at one of my favorite music clubs anywhere, Traditions in Olympia, Washington. I was happy to reconnect with some old friends in Portland when Daithi and I played Sam and Aine's lovely house concert series in Tualatin, and I gave a fiddle workshop in Portland. (read a nice review of the workshop by Nancy Jarrell here)

The following weekend found me in South Carolina and Georgia, where I thoroughly enjoyed working with Davey Mathias, a great guitarist from that area who plays in the group "Corner House" with his partner, fiddler Andi Hearn.

And the Saturday after Thanksgiving is (almost) always when I give a workshop and concert at Jenny Thompson's place in Indianapolis. This is a wonderful bunch of fiddle fanatics who know how to have a good time. Thanks to Kate Smith and family too!