25 Years of Ties, the first entry

Quartet, Birkenried Bluegrass, Sep. 2010 / Quintet Kulturlabor Eberbach, Germany 28.1.11

Unbelievable, in 2011 Paul Stowe & Trevor Morriss have their 25th stage anniversary as "Matching Ties". The quality of the concerts and of the audiences has grown with us over the years. The people we have played for, the members who have come and gone, the members who remain, our fans, our families and our friends are all are part of an amazing history which has seen us play all around Europe and in the U.S. some 3000 plus times. We're not done yet. We're going to keep it going. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of, and who has helped and supported us. There will be some highlights in this anniversary year, Irish folk nights with many great bands and dancers, duo to quintet shows all over Germany and neighboring countries, culminating in our 25th anniversary show on Thurs. 13th of Oct. 2011 at the Kulturzentrum Neuperlach (http://www.kulturzentrum.neuperlach.info/). Be there or be square. Thanks again to all. Yours, Paul Stowe

Matching Ties Quintet Bardentreffen Nuernberg 2010

We had a great time returning to play 2 days 31.7. & 1.8.10 to the Bardentreffen (World music festival) in Nuremberg, Germany for the first time since 1999. We played in the beer garden of O'Shea's Irish Pub in the inofficial program as our "Irish" quintet with Colm on flutes and whistles, Georg on fiddle and Konrad Stock on bodhrán, whistles and bagpipes. The setting on the river in the old town in front of the Insel (Island) Schutt was lovely, the weather very cooperative (hot), and lots of people, including a lot of old friends and fans stopped by to listen. Special thanks to Konrad for coming up to Nuernberg to play with us, to Tom, Conor, Declan and all the lads at the pub for hiring us and for your hospitality, to Claudia and Roland for being incredibly great fans, and to my kind brother-in-law Hermann for putting us up. We can recommend O'Shea's and Finnegan's Harp Irish pubs if you visit Nuremberg for their historic location and architecture, good food and drink, and friendly service. I will be playing solo in Finnegan's on Thurs. 3.2.2011. See: http://www.finnegansirishpub.de/ & http://www.osheas.de/. Please click on "tour schedule" on our site for all our upcoming dates, festivals in the rest of the summer of 2010 and on into autumn and winter 2010-11.

News 1st 1/2 of 2010, Irish Folk Nights with friends

I'll try to catch you up on our many events of the last 1/2 year in this first blog entry in a long time. We continue to enjoy playing as a duo (Trevor Morriss and I will be together 24 years in October 2010), trio with our great fiddler Georg Baehr, quartet with extremely knowledgeable tune player Colm O'Tuama on tin whistles and Irish flute, very musical bass player Thomas Kaerner, and an increasing amout of shows with our new man, friendly doctor and great all-rounder on bodhrán, whistles, Highland and uilleann pipes Konrad Stock. My activities include the organization of an increasing number of "Irish Folk Nights" with Matching Ties and some of the better Germany based Irish and Celtic folk bands many of them with members from Ireland and Great Britain. Some of the great bands we've worked with so far include: "Cara" (http://www.caramusic.com/), "Bachelor's Walk" (http://www.b-walk.com/), "Pipeline" (http://www.pipeline-music.com/), "Woodpark" (http://www.woodpark.de/) , "The Paul Daly Band" (http://www.pauldalyband.de/), "The Burning Biscuit Band" (http://www.burningbiscuit.com/) and "Midnight Court" (http://www.midnightcourt.com/). Irish dance is also an integral part of the "Folk Nights". We've had the pleasure to accompany the local Brannenburg, Germany based Irish dance group "The Ivy Leaf" (http://www.hot-socks.de/ click left on "The Ivy Leaf") who we have worked up a nice set of pieces with live accompaniment (special thanks to director Sabine Schoettle and all the dancers). Highlights end of 09 and first half of 2010 were many, including the latest Irish Folk Nights and Festivals of which I have included some photos of in this entry including: Jan. 8-10 Amerang Castle "Winterfest" - a medieval festival where I had the pleasure of organizing the folk stage and playing with our quintet, Feb. 8 quartet concert at Cobbler's Irish Pub (best Celtic music venue in Munich area), a lovely trio tour to Italy in March to Piccola Trattoria in Premariacco near Udine (Folk Club Buttrio, special thanks to Marco Micone) and La Fontana in Avesa di Verona, the St. Patrick's Day "Week" Tour beginning with Planegg, Kupferhaus though the Kulturfoerderverein Würmtal on Mar 17 (we'll play St. Patrick's Day there again Thurs., Mar. 17, 2011), with further shows in Factory-In in Selb, Irish Folk Night in Stanglbraeu in Herrenwaldthann , and Buergersaal Stadtbergen, and further duo tours to Austria (Linz, Graz, Vienna), Dresden, Nordrhein-Westfalen (western Germany), Folkival Festival in Nuertingen, and many wonderful local shows and festivals in Bavaria. The calendar is filling up for the 2nd half of 2010 and into 2011 with some greats hows hopefully in your are, including some new Irish Folk Nights. Our tour schedule is always current with weblinks to the venues and further information about the individual concerts by clicking on "tour schedule". Please send me an e-mail if your wish to be included in our newsletter with tour schedule which I send out about every 2 months or with with any messages, greetings, any photos you may have taken of us in concert at: paulstowe@matchingties.com. Hope to see you or hear from you all soon.

Matching Ties Trio in Lauf, Germany

Here we are playing for the 5th time at the wonderful Dehnberger Hoftheater in the village of Dehnberg part of the town of Lauf, Germany(http://www.dehnbergerhoftheater.de/). After doing summer shows in the courtyard , we have done the last 2 shows in the theater, this time as a trio with our fiddler Georg Baehr, which is a very oldconverted old barn with sandstone walls which make a beautiful backdrop for a concert. There were lots of great acoustic music fans there. Special thanks to Marko Bittner for booking us and Hubert for doing the sound.

Summer Impressions 2009, Festivals Italy and Germany

We've had a great summer so far, some great concerts with our quintet, a 3 day engagement at the Folkest Festival in Friuli (NE) Italy and in Fiumeretta (Ameglia) Liguria, as well as 2 nights at Weingut Kloster Marienthal (Rheinland-Pfalz), Germany. Special thanks to Andrea del'Savero, the organizer of Folkest, Alessio Ambrosi from Armadillo Club in Sarzana, Italy and Friedhelm and MaryJo Pankowski (Marienthal engagement) for having us back to play for you. We're off Aug. 8-19 to play on the cruise ship MS Delphin to England, Ireland and Scotland. More news to come.

Pics from top to bottom and L to R:

1) Setting up at the castle Folkest Cassacco, Italy...what a place

2) On the stage at the mouth of the river opening up to the Med after the sound check Ameglia-Fiumeretta, Liguria, Italy

3) On stage in the church ruins at the beautiful Kloster Weingut (winery) Marienthal, Germany

(see also "News" archive on this blog from August 2007)

4) The last night at Folkest 09 in Latisana, Italy

Paul Stowe at the Freight & Salvage, Berkeley, CA

Here I am playing a short warm-up set for local singer Carol Denney & Band on June 3rd, 09 at the famous Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, California . I also had a little gig at the Ogden (Utah) Bluegrass and Acoustic Music Festival in Fort Buenaventura in Ogden on 7.6.09. It's great to play in my own country, and to touch base with old and new friends. Special thanks to Kerry and Barry Parker in San Francisco for your hospitality, to Carol and Kerry for getting me up on stage, and to Michelle Tanner from Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music for putting on great festival and having me as well. Hope to see you all again soon...Paul

Matching Ties Quartet 4.7.09 Thun, Switzerland

Here we are playing as a quartet on U.S. Independance Day (4th of July) at the Gruenderinseli Bluegrass Festival in Thun south of Bern, Switzerland. This was our 4th appearance at this wonderful festival on a little island in the Thunersee (lake) with the mountains of the Berner Oberland (some of the highest in Switzerland) behind it. The tent was full of enthusiastic fans, and the organization was great. Our friends "Bluegrass Stuff" from Milan, Italy and Kim Carson and band from the U.S. were there too. Special thanks to Peter Trachsel and all the people at Aare Valley Country Club for your loyalty, hospitality and hard work. We will miss Peter as the organizer of this festival. Thanks for your many years of service. Thanks also to our old friend Lilly Pavlak for sending us these pics. You can see more at the blog of EBMA.org website. See you all soon in Switzerland. ...Paul

Matching Ties-Duo Irish Folk Night, Senden, Germany

Here we are playing in Senden near Muenster, Nordrhein-Westfalen at the Irish Folk Night in the Steverhalle in front of about 500 listeners as the first group in a 3 group evening shared with "Connemara Stone Company" and the Dutch band "Rapaltje". With a fog machine going off behind us we played our acoustic folk, which seemed to be enjoyed by all. Thanks to Herr Melchers and Keith Bailey for the booking and organization, and to our friends Mathias and Sebastian and families for the lovely hospitality, and to Norbert Veith for the pic.