My love affair with traditional music, and the uilleann pipes in particular, continues.  Like all relationships, it’s had many highs and a good few lows…

“Aye we’ve 5 seasons in East Belfast”  I explained to a tourist who’d come here for the Hearth session: “Summer, winter, autumn, spring…and the Marching Season.”…

“Sing us a wee song Jack, would ye?” I asked Jack Warnock, a fantastic young traditional musician who’d joined us for the Hearth session.  “No problem, what were you thinking?” …

“That was a wee moment in history David!” said my mate.  “You’re gonna have to start charging an entry fee!” said another.  I was both delighted and emotional…

“That was brilliant David!” said my mate Phil Hart (who’s a fantastic finger picking guitarist).  I’m not a proper singer, but I’d just got up and sung “Will ye go lassie go?”…

I’d plucked up the courage to step into the Garrick with my pipes on a bustling Friday evening.  The Garrick’s a wonderful old Belfast bar with a great reputation for serious, quality, high-end trad…

Traditional music has also always been one of my great loves, but I only started trying to play it relatively recently. I made the mistake of falling in love a while ago with the uilleann pipes and I’m still trying to wrestle them to the ground…

When we started The Hearth session in October ‘23, I wasn’t sure how it would go.  Turns out, it’s landed well: 10-20 musicians…