I had a nice trio called Slán Abhaile, that consisted of fiddle, mandolin, bodhrán, assorted percussion and vocals (about half Irish and half English). Alas, Our fiddler moved leaving two-thirds of us to scramble for a fill-in every time we got called. My mandolinist just started his doctorate degree on top of holding down a job. This leaves him no time to play, which leaves me as an accompanist without a lead. I''ll be sticking with sessions and pick-up céilídhs for awhile. Just as well. I've always enjoyed playing sessions, and love playing for dancers, but as soon as it became a job, it became a job. All of a sudden, we found ourselves saying "we have to play at so-and-so." ON the other hand, I've been teaching bodhrán for a couple years, and that's a job Im really enjoy.

Slán agat,
Rich