Castlereagh Presbyterian Church - with Kenny Archer & The Colorado Band

As you'll see from the poster below, next Saturday night looks like it's going to be great crack! We're delighted to have been asked to share the evening with Kenny and The Colorado Band. Ticket information is below, and includes supper. The church hall is opposite the historic Castlereagh Presbyterian Church, set up in the hills with a superb view overlooking Belfast.

Cairnalbanagh cancelled tomorrow night

The event we were to play at tomorrow night in Cairnalbanagh Presbyterian Church has now been cancelled. Most of you will have seen the news coverage of the terrible snow conditions in that part of County Antrim. The church had widely advertised the event in their area, and we are all disappointed that it has been cancelled. Please pass this on to anyone you know know who may have been planning to attend.

People's Hall, Portavogie

We are pleased to have been asked back by David Boyd to help out at this year's Portavogie Bible Week, which is on from 8th - 12th April at 8pm nightly. David has done a good job with the posters and publicity and we'll scan a few and post them here soon. John has put in a tremendous amount of effort to distribute thousands of invitations around the district and we are more than happy to be able to assist on two of the nights. (Click the images to enlarge)

2013 so far

It's been a tremendous start to the year already for us, the most recent date being at Edengrove Presbyterian in Ballynahinch on Friday past, when we even managed to get the minister (Scott Woodburn) up for an encore of 'I'll Fly Away'. Taking part in the mission at 2nd Randalstown Presbyterian was a real joy as we'd never been there before. As usual, country folk seem to understand what we're about and we're always at our most relaxed playing in that kind of setting, whether it's a church, a community centre or an Orange hall, it's the same 'nuthin fancy' simple old fashioned stuff from us.

Our next few dates are at Ballygowan Mission Hall (near Hillsborough) then up to Carnalbanagh Presbyterian, and then two nights at the People's Hall in Portavogie. The days are getting longer and springtime is coming - maybe we'll get a breather in the summertime!

(Below is a poster by Clive Elliott which made us smile)

The Louvin Brothers - Joy to the World!

Thanks to everyone for 2012

It's been a great year with nearly 30 performances all over the country; we still haven't got the CD finished, but all in good time! Plenty of new (old) songs keep appearing and as usual we have a hard time trying to narrow them down. Hopefully we'll see you all somewhere in 2013. Meanwhile here are a few brilliant old hymns on the video clips below. Turn up the volume!

Newtownards last night

Thanks to everyone who invited us, and came to see us, taking part in the praise evening last night at Newtownards Orange Hall with Dr William McCrea MP and Karla Gregg. We were asked to add a bit of local flavour and Ulster-Scots music to the evening. We really enjoyed it, and would have enjoyed it better if the mandolins had stayed in tune - one of the hazards of travelling with stringed instruments in cold cars then being brought into warm buildings at this time of year!

Back to Bangor Abbey next Saturday night (13 October)

We're making our third visit to Bangor Abbey on Saturday evening to take part in an Ulster-Scots night to mark the opening of the new Parish Centre. Once again the Michelle Johnston Highland Dancers will be taking part with us. Starts at 8pm with supper provided, admission is just a fiver. You can't beat that!

Hymn Tunes for the Covenant Centenary

'Hymn tunes' have been getting a lot of publicity over the past few days (see UTV story here). Well, we play them all the time, as do tens of thousands (maybe even hundreds of thousands) of people in Northern Ireland all year round. And that's what we'll be doing later today at the Ulster Covenant Centenary event at Stormont Estate in Belfast. We're on stage from 11.30 - 12.15, so if you're there please come over and say hello to us! (see info on the BBC website here / also on the GoToBelfast website here )

Grand Folk & Gospel Concert tonight!

Killinchy Parish Church tonight at 8.00pm, £5 at the door, with the superb Stonewall. They've been advertising tonight as a "Grand Folk & Gospel Concert" on the posters. Hope to see you there - photos to follow later.

UPDATE - Pics below. Was a cracking night with our good friends Stonewall. They're way better than we are, but the mix of styles between us and them works really well - especially when we got up to play a few together at the close, and earlier when Colin borrowed one of our mandolins! Thanks to Tom, Stanley and everyone for the invitation and we hope to be back for next year's.

(thanks to Tom for the pics)