Lúnasa on the road and in fine form

Those of you who like live hard driving acoustic based music and haven't heard Lúnasa have missed out in a big way. Lúnasa have been together now since 1996 and after a year of getting the sound just right they released their eponymous first album. The album, as well as the band caused something of a sensation in the Irish music world and they haven't looked back since.

The various band members are all musical veterans from other bands and so are seen as something of a supergroup. Featuring players like Trevor Hutchinson who was a member of the Waterboys and later Sharon Shannon's band they have a pedigree that's hard to surpass in the music world.

The other band members are Seán Smyth on fiddle, Kevin Crawford on Flute, Donogh Hennessy on guitar and Cillian Vallely on uillean pipes and whistles. Together they push back musical boundaries and over the years have amazed audiences with their technical playing skills mixed with a feeling for the music that goes straight to the heart and then the feet.

Their fourth and latest album Redwood is available now.

But to hear the band live is best and the great news is that they are on tour in the UK all through December and January and even better news is that they are coming to the US in 2004

JigTime will be doing a full profile of the band soon but for now here are the up and coming live dates

The other great news is the band have a gorgeous new website where you can learn so much more than I can tell you here http://www.lunasa.ie