Link to World Music Winter/Spring - Various Boston locations. includes various Irish concerts i.e. Johnny Cunningham Tribute; Lunasa; Solas; etc. http://www.worldmusic.org/
Narrows - Link to Narrows - Fall River, MA, frequent folk concerts, some Irish i.e. 2/5 Teada http://www.ncfta.org/
Central MA seems to have a disturbing lack of sessions. The ‘session’ in Ayer is more of a performance, really. There’s a listing for Ashland over on www.coolbawnroad.com, but I’ve never been there. It says:
‘Weekly: Stone’s Public House179 Main Street Ashland, MA 508.881.1778 Every Tuesday about 7:00pm traditional Irish tunes (instrumental) in the bar area (smoking not permitted at seisiun table)’
I might try to at least go listen in next week. Close in to Boston, of course, has plenty of sessions, and Western Mass seems to have a few also. Depending on how far north or
south you are, neighboring states may be better. It’s a shorter drive for me to reach Manchester than to reach Boston.
I’m in Worcester - I noticed you list “central MA” as well - Do you have links for NH? Or Western MA? I don’t mind making a drive, I just wanted to find as many options as possible - Central MA seems to be devoid of just about everything
There is, or was, a slow session in Salem on Sundays, which is a bit further from you than
from me (I’m up in Ayer). That’s Sundays at O’Neills on Washington Street. I hope it’s still running, I’d like to start going again. Of course, Salem’s more northshore than central,
but still, it’s mostly highway to get there from here. Hmm. And apparently a ‘regular’ session some nights of the week.
The coolbawnroad site is supposedly dedicated to irish music in central mass, and they have a
sessions listing, but I can’t speak to the nature, quality, or existence of those sessions.
If I find out more, I"ll certainly let you know!
The Salem Slow Session -was- at O’Neill’s pub, on Washington Street, in downtown Salem.
It took place at noon on Sundays.
I haven’t been in over a year, though I’d like to start going again, but the point is, things
may have changed. It’s a nice little corner of Salem though, so if it’s not a far drive, it’s
not a bad place to end up even if the session isn’t when it was.
Thanks, ChrisA. I didn’t read your posting right–I was thinking that O’Neill’s was in Ayer. In any event, unfortunately, Sundays at noon conflicts with the church schedule, so I’ll have to find another slow session.
There is a session of sorts at O’Neills later in the day on Sundays. 4:00PM I think. Hosted by Larry Young & Friends (nice enough people), the core musicians play through a sound system. So if there is not a mic free you cannot hear yourself very well if at all. Not exactly the kind of session I’m looking for. Been a couple of times and will probably attend now and again until something more acoustic comes along.
Right, about the Ashland session, it does exist. They’re all nice folks, and play one
or more instruments quite well. They’ve got three fiddles, a flute, a whistle, a concertina,
a button accordian, an irish harp, and a hammered dulcimer, a guitar, a banjo and a bodhran…
but not all at the same time - several players play more than one instrument.
I managed to tootle along with a handful of tunes, but it may take a bit to catch up
with all the tunes they know.
Sorry to arrive late at the party with news that there is a great session in Central Mass at Mulligan’s in Westborough.
Thursday nights, beginning at 7:30, all your usual instruments as well as singers and “just listeners” gather for a few hours. There are many levels of expertise and a welcoming atmosphere for all.
Most of the ones I listed above are ongoing. Sean O’Toole’s has closed and the Sat evening session has moved to Jenney Grist Mill. You can get to the Greenbriar by subway from Quincy (about 45 minutes) For the other places you’d want a car. I think there’s a Sunday afternoon session in Quincy. I’ll see if I can find out where.
Quincy is spitting distance from Boston, so using the MBTA you should be able to get to just about any of the Boston/Summerville area sessions with no problem.
Here’s the trip planning page of the MBTA website: http://trip.mbta.com/cgi-bin/itin_page_dhtml.pl Simply type in the address of the place you’ll be staying, and then type in the address of the session you want to attend. The website will give you complete directions on which buses/subways to take, and it will even provide walking directions on how to get to/from the subway and bus stops.
