Cowboy Celtic had a fabulous time in Elko, Nevada at the world's premiere cowboy festival hosted by the Western Folklife Centre. We were there from January 31st to February 4th and performed 3 times in the large capacity theatre. If you would like to see cybercasts of the shows go to www.westernfolklife.org.

So here is a bit of an Elko diary with a few photos - OK basically the only photos that I managed to take and none of them are from the actual "work" part ofthe trip. Figures!

The first night we arrived we headed to our favourite Elko watering hole, The Star. It's an old Saloon with a real ol' wooden fixtures and a cold cellar right behind the bar that is accessed by trap door. I thought the Picon punches were getting to me when I first saw one of the owners rise out of the floor!

It only holds a few dozen people and that night we were in for a treat because Armando Deferrari and Pablo Lozano (master rawhide braiders from Argentiana) sang us a few gaucho songs. It was like we were all instantly transported to a different time and place - it was completely surreal Their translator expained each song's meaning - but each was exactly about the same thing, horses and women!

So I couldn't resist getting my harp out! This is me at The Star - well past when they should have been closed (notice the chairs are up!) But the owners seemed to enjoy the free entertainment - they let me leave without paying my tab!

On Wednesday night we played our first show of the festival with the Quebe Sisters (3 talented young fiddlers that also sing in harmony just like the Andrews Sisters!) and the Renato Borghetti Quartet from Brazil who were AMAZING! I'm not sure if I've ever seen that much virtuosity in one band. I'm glad they went last!

On Friday night, February 3rd we headed over to Sarah Sweetwater's annual house party after we'd finished our show. We're always treated to fabulous food and wine at her place as long as we sing for our supper. The Argentines ended up singing again too and this time I managed to get a picture!

After Sarah's we were invited to join Michael Martin Murphy's show at the Stockman's Casino. He does some Irish flavoured numbers so we figured we would play a couple of tunes with him and then be able to rest but NO! we ended up playing almost 90 minutes. Luckily Murphy's band members were very helpful in telling us what key to play in. I think I even made up a harp part to "Wildfire!" Unfortuately I forgot to plan a washroom break BEFORE we got on stage - I never dreamed we would be up there for so long!

We hadn't seen the Murphey band for a few years so even though we were exhausted we stuck around to play a little more and put back a pint. Here's Joe playing with Murphey's fiddler, David Coe and Dave and Denise chatting with Paul his guitarist.