Sean Cummings is hosting a session at the Firkin and Fox every Wednesday at 7:00 PM.   The Firkin and Fox is on US 395 across from the Nevada State Legislature and on the same block as Comma Coffee. All players of Irish music welcome.

Yet another KVMR Celtic Festival has come and gone. Wow…beautiful autumn days, but the term “sweater weather” was an understatement. As a member of the band mentioned, “It’s perfect football weather!”

What made this year’s festival unique was the death of our guitarist, Murray Donaldson. Murray was also an integral part of the Celtic music scene in Nevada County, and his passing affected many people throughout the Sierras. Our sincere thanks to all the folks from the KVMR, Nevada County Kitchen Sessions, and all the other fantastic local musicians; we had a great time, and it was a testament to Murray’s influence that we were all able to come together at the end of the day to dedicate the festival’s new Session Deck to Murray. We’re also indebted to Ragged Rogues’ founding member Wyatt Troxel who jumped back in during the last couple of weeks to play rhythm guitar.

I wanted to let you all know that our friend and fellow “Ragged Rogue” Murray Donaldson passed away yesterday afternoon with Tracy and his daughter Skye at his bedside.  We were fortunate to have had a chance to visit with him last Wednesday for a couple of hours when he was still coherent and able to talk and even laugh a little with us.  Peter, Bentley and I went there yesterday and although he was asleep most of the time, we know he was aware that we were there and clutched our hands tightly.  We played for several hours and felt very fortunate to be able to help him in his passing.  Peter played on Murray’s grandfather’s fiddle, which Murray had given to him recently.  His best friend since childhood, Linus, and his brother Jim, both had flown down from Canada and were there along with Murray’s other daughter Jesse. His sister and her husband and niece had spent time with him and had left back for Canada that morning.  He had many of his friends there the last week and some of the musicians played for him. Peter was the last one to play with Murray when he was still able to do so.

Tracy felt like this past week couldn’t have been a better send-off party, which is what Murray wanted.  He requested his ashes be scattered off a ferry somewhere up in Canada with a big party. There are some tunes we’ll never play without thinking of Murray — especially his favorite — Canadian tunes!  He recorded a CD of himself playing his favorite songs recently, so let us know if you would like a copy.

Our thanks to all the folks who turned out to see us at the Bowers Mansion Bluegrass Festival and the MADD benefit in Minden Town Park. We enjoyed playing both events, and at both shows the crowds were appreciative, even though the turnout wasn’t as high in Minden as hoped. A big tip o’ the hat to Revel Records artist, singer/songwriter Vanessa Littrell who kindly shared her sound system with us.