Tír na nÓg - a home for bluegrass

Finally (for today), to tie some Irish connections with bluegrass into a more-or-less neat knot: the Tír na nÓg bar at 218 S. Blount St., Raleigh, NC, which regularly hosts Irish traditional music and dance throughout the year, is also one of the main performance venues during IBMA's World of Bluegrass (IBMA WOB). In the five days, Tír na nÓg is presenting over forty hours of live bluegrass from six different countries.

Today, bands playing at Tír na nÓg include Cup O' Joe from Co. Armagh, who are the first (and so far the only) band from outside the US to perform on the IBMA WOB Youth Stage, according to the EBMA Facebook page. The Tír na nÓg schedule also includes Dublin's I Draw Slow and - as it happens - the Special Consensus (see this morning's post on their two IBMA awards).