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It was a  Thursday night with a fine start – as Mike Jeanneau had finished up some work at Hideaway Studios and sauntered in for some tunes.

But not long after Mike had headed home, to avoid bringing ‘There’s Sure to Be a Row’ from song to reality, Steve Carrigan happened in.  He joined us a few songs – and then gave us a first – himself on guitar.

Steve”s obviously been holding out on us, being  pretty comfy and adept at his chords and accompaniment.  That gave us a nice finale to the night – and a nice scoop.

Many thanks  Steve.

Last night in April — we were lucky enough to have a few good friends drop for some tunes and songs.  Mike Jeanneau, of Boghat fame, was first,   traveling light with just a fiddle and banjo, but he lit things up as he’s known to do.

Then Greg Heppe,  who runs the General Store and great concerts at the Old White Church in Tuftonboro, NH, stopped in with flutes and whistles in hand.

And then — Mr. Bill Zecker arrived with bouzouki in hand — to help us sail through the rest of the night.

A good time was had by all.  I’ll post some sound clips ASAP.

Pete and I dropped into the first Monday session that Eamon Coyne and Mike Jeanneau are starting at  The Port Tavern, 84 State St. in Newburyport, MA.  It was a good and a lively group, as you might imagine, and they are rocking the place with a great mix of tunes and songs.

The session runs from 7-10PM every Monday.  They want to get the word out and invite all to drop by.

You know you’ll be in for some great music AND a bunch of laughs (what, when Mike plays the banjo, and all).

See how many folks you can identify in this collage of last nights group…
(click to enlarge)

Our good friend, and oft-times musical cohort, Susan Young gave a great performance and session-after at Blue in Portland last night.

Sue nicely built the momentum during the evening, starting a capella, playing some tunes with Chris Stevens, and then moving to songs (with yours truly and then Michel Jenneau) and more tunes, with most of Boghat (to be fair.. Jamie wasn’t there). 

She brought it around full circle to end with a pair of a capella songs.  The crowd, which happened to include Paddy Keenan, loved it.

We had a great session afterward, where, for a few fleeting moments, we all saw ‘another side of Tom Rota.’   Put the cash in a plain brown envelope, Tom.

We got a special treat at McMenemy’s on Saturday night when a few friends stopped in to play with us, including Eamon Coyne, his son Thomas, Mike Jeanneau, Bill Zecker, Kevin Sheehan and Emery Hutchins. It was great craic — a fun night of music that, luckily, Dave was able to capture on his little recorder.

If you weren’t able to make it Saturday, you can hear a few samples that we’ve posted on our website’s music player…the first five tracks are from Saturday’s session.