Transatlantic Sessions

I thought for a change from fabric designs, knitting and stitch and wallpaper I would share some musical delights with you. 

The Sage, Gateshead

In February Paul and I met up again with good friends John and Eileen from Tadcaster. Eileen and I were at university together in the late 60s and our husbands John and Paul share a passion for music, often of the folk variety. They both play guitars and recently Paul has been learning to play the banjo so when they suggested  last year that we joined them at a Transatlantic Sessions' concert at the Sage Gateshead we thought it sounded like a good idea. Quite frankly I liked the thought of the venue and a meal with friends on the quayside, as this is one of my favourite places, more than a concert by musicians I hadn't heard of but as it turned out it was truly amazing.

A group of extremely talented musicians centred around Aly Bain, Jerry Douglas, John McCusker, Tim O'Brien and a host of other equally talented musicians and singers, from both sides of the Atlantic, meet up annually in a cottage in Scotland to record a television series for BBC 4 (which is being shown at the moment at 8.30pm on Fridays). These and other performers then take some their performances on tour including the Sage, Gateshead.
This is the fifth year they have done this and so we decided to go and see them for a second time. This year I loved hearing a familiar voice, but out of context, and that was Raul Malo who was the lead singer of the Mavericks whose song Just Want to Dance the Night Away was a firm favourite back in 1998.

We also discovered a great young Irish singer Declan O'Rourke who sang Galileo  from his debut album in 2004 Kyabram (which has since has been covered by other artists including Josh Groban) and who it turns out has toured with other artists I enjoy listening to such as Snow Patrol and Paulo Nutini. His rendition of Time Machine  is to be heard most days in our house at the moment.