MUSIC Demolition String Band visits from US

ACCLAIMED FOLK SINGERS?Boo Reiners and Elena Skye of the Demolition String Band, who are playing in Westport and Balla this month.

Demolition String Band visits from US

Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival is bringing The Demolition String Band from the US to Ireland for a national tour this October. The acclaimed Americana band’s tour will include two Mayo dates, one in Westport and another in Balla, as well as gigs in Cork, Kerry, Sligo and Roscommon.  
Featuring Elena Skye (Chicago, Illinois) and Boo Reiners (Charlotte, North Carolina), the Demolition String Band merges the musical passions of both artists to create a heady mix of country, rock ‘n’ roll, bluegrass and mountain.
The pair, who are based in New York City and Hoboken, New Jersey, have thrilling audiences and critics for more than a decade now. With five albums under their belts, they’ve toured the US and Europe, sharing bills with acts like Ryan Adams, Joan Osborne, Ricky Skaggs, The Avett Brothers, Southern Culture On The Skids, Roger McGuinn, and many others.
Elena and Boo recently released a single, ‘Sailor Girl’, produced by Eric ‘Roscoe’ Ambel, with a rendition of the Stones song ‘Loving Cup’ on the flip side. Their latest album, ‘Gracious Days’, was recorded and produced by three-time Grammy winning producer and engineer Steve Rosenthal.
In 2011, Nora Guthrie, daughter of the legendary Woody Guthrie, offered Elena and Boo previously unpublished lyrics from The Woody Guthrie Archives to set to music. The resulting Guthrie/Skye collaboration ‘Go Coney Island, Roll In The Sand’ is part of a book and CD project about Woody’s 27 years as a resident of NYC – ‘My Name Is NYC’ – was released last month, on September 24, 2014.
As an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, Boo has moonlighted on tour with world music pioneers The Klezmatics and played on their Grammy-winning CD ‘Wonder Wheel: Lyrics by Woody Guthrie’. He’s also been a not-so-secret weapon for indie-rock heroes Dispatch, and has recently joined forces with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Phil Lesh of The Grateful Dead, contributing guitar, banjo and lead vocals to the legendary bass-man’s sonic celebrations of the Dead’s expansive songbook.
Elena, who studied with mandolin innovator Jethro Burns as a young teen, has had her songs in films and television and has lent her heartfelt vocals and mandolin stylings on a variety of projects.
Whether they are raising the roof over a sweaty dance floor with Demolition String Band or performing as a duo, Elena and Boo live to connect with fans old and new, everywhere they go. A real treat for Americana folk fans.

The Demolition String Band will perform in Matt Molloy’s Yard Bar at 7pm on Tuesday night, October 21 and Mannion’s Bar, Balla, on Saturday afternoon, October 25, as part of the four-day Balla Bluegrass Festival (See ‘Balla gears up for bluegrass festival’, by Henry McGlade).