Yeah, I saw his gig at the Royal Festival Hall last week.

It was hugely enjoyable. He was genuinely funny and, it goes without saying, a very good banjo player. I was expecting it to be a bit mawkish and twee - I'm not a fan of his Crow album because there's too much of that cutesy stuff on it, and I also think it's a bit too polished-sounding. But the live experience was so much better.

I guess cos it was mainly instrumental, with v funny between-song patter. And he let his band, the Steep Canyon Rangers do a few of their own songs. They are fantastic harmony singers. All in all, it followed the sort of 'bluegrass revue' model in many ways (eg A Prairie Home Companion), giving everyone a chance to shine, with everyone taking part in the trad corny routines (like Fiddlin John and Kate) and did so very well.

There's one instrumental on the album that is really really beautiful though. about three quarters of the way through. Can't remember what it's called, but it's definitely on my download list. He's very good at writing authentic-soundin Irish fiddle tunes.