MUSIC Tumbling back to Mayo

NO BONES ABOUT IT?Tumbling Bones will play the first of four Mayo dates in McGing's, Westport, on Friday night.

Tumbling back to Mayo


US bluegrass trio Tumbling Bones are back in Mayo after their roof-raising concert in last year’s Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival. As part of the tour promoting their new album, released last week, ‘Loving a Fool’, the band will then play four free gigs around the county: McGing’s, Westport, this Friday night, April 11; Mannion’s, Balla, on Sunday night, April 13; The Sea Rod Inn, Doohoma, on Tuesday night, April 15, and Áras Inis Gluaire, on Wednesday afternoon, April 16.
This will be the band’s third trip from their home state of Maine to tour Ireland, which is fast becoming like a second home. It seems us Irish just cannot get enough of Tumbling Bones’ alternative, individual take on American traditional and roots music.
Drawing on bluegrass and pre-WWII folk, they make their music with nothing but acoustic instruments, tap shoes and most importantly, their voices. As Hot Press puts it: “Tumbling Bones are passionate about the heritage of American music and their honest, no frills take on it burns with a fire that’s all too often missing from the increasingly ubiquitous Americana-by-numbers.”
Recorded in an 18th-century farmhouse in Maine, ‘Loving a Fool’ features original songs as well as traditional numbers, ranging from a capella gospel-type tracks to an electrified rockabilly sound, all fused together with the trio’s no-frills, down-home approach.  
As Pete Winne (guitar, foot percussion) explains: “We made big sounds with nothing but three-part harmonies and traditional instruments. There’s no auto-tuning on the album, no computer-sequenced backing tracks, and no long cast of backing musicians. It sounds like something you would hear at a live show.”
Still, the live shows offer something the album just can’t: When the mood takes him, Pete indulges in some Appalachian clog dancing!
Just prior to their Ireland tour Tumbling Bones was selected for the presitigious ‘American Music Abroad’ program: In 2015 the US State Department will send the group to several developing nations as cultural ambassadors to perform and teach music as well as collaborate with local musicians.