Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival launches

TASTE OF WHAT’S TO COME UK bluegrass band The Vanguards.

The Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival organising committee has been working hard to produce the 13th edition of the festival, which will take place in Westport over the weekend of June 7-9. However, the festival will be officially launched this Saturday night, May 11, at McGing’s pub, High Street, Westport.
As is now tradition, the launch party takes place around a month before the festival itself, and the  full line-up and poster designs are revealed. On the night, there will also be number of short speeches and a quick rundown of the festival programme of events by the festival’s producer, Uri Kohen.
Music for the launch party will be provided by a five-piece bluegrass band from London, The Vanguards. The band were among the headline acts of the 2017 festival, and the organisers are delighted to welcome them back to Westport. The Vanguards take their musical inspiration from the originators of bluegrass music. Instrumentally, they seek to create a sound which blends the mandolin style of Bill Monroe, the banjo style of Ralph Stanley and the old-time style of fiddling that typified early bluegrass recordings and that continues to influence the sound of traditional bluegrass bands into the present day.