2017 starts with a bang for The Hollow Mountain String Band
Well that's 2017 started in style, with one gig in the bag, several to go and lots of other news from The Hollow Mountain.
The Oban Inn
Here's some evidence of Rab playing the fiddle in public - in the Oban Inn, Oban on Saturday 21st January, 2017, our first gig of the year! It was great to be back in this great old, REALLY OLD, (like around opened in 1790 type old) pub again after it had been closed for around ten years.
Well it's been given a good lick of paint and a new lease of life, with Rab and occasionally Ann attending the regular traditional session, plus The Hollow Mountain String Band helping to bring the good times back to the ole place.
The Oban Inn has been thought of over the years as a beating heart of the local traditional music scene, and it's great to be in there again having good times and sharing good tunes with good people.
The songs they are a-changing
As part part of our repertoire we played eight of our own compositions, and introduced several new twinfiddletastic sets, so now Rab has an even more ridiculous amount of instruments to set up and play, though you won't hear him complaining about that.
Over the past year our set has changed dramatically. Up to half of our full evening set has been overhauled with our own songs, plus our take on classic arrangements and tunes. We're well on the way to having half of our set as original numbers and that can only be a good, healthy thing.
Burns Night at The Barn
Next up we have a gig at our second home, the Barn Bar in Lerags, though we'll be asked to provide music for a Burns Supper to be held on Saturday the 28th of January. So we'll be dusting off our Love is Like a Red, Red Rose among other classics from The Bard, as well as adding some transatlantic flavour to the occasion.
Lord of the Isles
Also recently we have had two gigs confirmed in The Lord of the Isles in Craobh Haven on Saturday 15th April and Sun 30th July, with the latter gig being held as part of West Highland Yachting Week, a four day festival of messing about on the water, with wonderful settings and good parties thrown in, and we'll be providing some of that hospitality.
2017 is shaping up very nicely so stay tuned for more news!
