Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Danu perform live at the Flying Saucer in Little Rock, Arkansas, hosted by the ACMS.
Wow. They had driven straight down from Boston to Little Rock, having arrived about 4:30 that same morning. They had to be past exhausted, and yet they played a vibrant, lively music, with so much energy and enthusiasm that it just lifted you up in to the music.
Seeing Tom Doorley on flute and Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh on flute and whistle was a special thrill. And her singing is excellent, sometimes tender, sometimes haunting, sometimes full of fire.
There was excellent puppeteer work as well including some fine “squeezebox” (actually, harmonica) playing by the “20 pound baby.” 
This will make no sense at all to you unless you’ve seen one of their performances. Also “Poor Ole’ Peggy” put in an appearance in the second half–the puppets and the “musical ventriloquism” added a lot of humor and playfulness to the concert.
After the concert I got to meet both Tom Doorley and Muireann. Tom Doorley had me play for him, and then we played a couple of tunes together (Richard Dwyer’s and Handsome Sally) which was a great fun and a great honor as well.
I had brought my Seery flute–I knew things were going to be chaotic and people were going to be packed very tightly, so I wanted an indestructable flute with me instead of my wonderful-but-fragile Hamilton. He asked what I was carrying (I was not going to break out a flute till invited!) and I handed it over…he was thrilled to see it was a Seery and asked if I’d mind if he played it as he had played one for many years.
I wish I could make any of my flutes sound as good as he sounded on my Seery!
He then wanted me to play him a tune so I played Richard Dwyer’s, which was the only reel I could think of in the “fluster of the moment.” He was very complimentary (more so than I felt I deserved), his eyes lit up and he ran to get his Olwell and we played that reel again together, talked a bit, and then played Handsome Sally together. I also tried his Olwell, which is a lovely flute, very reponsive with a very clean sound.
He is a thoroughly nice young man, and it was an honor to meet him.
While all of this was going on Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh was sitting on the couch beside him and Jennifer Felio came backstage and was talking to her. Jennifer had just gotten a lovely little Elfsong E whistle, which she got out. Muireann tried it and was just taken with it…she handed it over to Tom to try and if Sandy had seen his reaction I guess her prices might go up! 
“Oh my god!” he said, “Who made this…?!?” He said it was the best whistle he’d yet played. Both he and Muireann got absolutely enthusiastic about that little whistle. They both took turns playing some very nice tunes on it, their fingers flying so fast the eye could barely follow, even though the ear was delighted.
Sandy Jasper, you should be very proud of your work, and Jen F, you should be very proud of that little whistle…it’s a lovely thing!
Jennifer played a tune for them as well, she plays very well and they told her so.
Shannon and I then said our goodbyes and made our way home. It was a wonderful and exhausting day.
Few people play the music as well as Danu; I’m not sure that anyone plays it better. They were most welcome here, and they did a fine job and then some!
–James