Shack Session

Shack Session in Athlone

A lull in the storm hit us on Tuesday night and Angel, the bean and I made our weary way across the town toward the Shack. Upon entering, we found the place all decked out for Christmas. Somewhere among all the odds and ends dangling from every imagineable corner, beam and hook the people at The Shack Pub had found still more places to hang all the christmas decorations; holly, fairy lights, bows and loads of pine branches (which, I know, are probably plastic). The pots, pans, old instruments and various odds and ends looked like strange ornaments amongst the all the pine in the Shack’s rafters.

A large crowd of strangers gathered around the table we usually sit at. The bean and Angel slid into a nearby table just as hardy arrived.

“Well, says he, “I guess they’ll either be staying or going.”

Not long after the first few tunes, des, the fingerpicker, and ze germanz arrived followed soon by munty, much to our delight and surprise. It was a quiet night, but a long one. As it turns out, our new friends did stay - we mustn’t have been feisty or out of tune enough to frighten them away. Toward the end even lorcan put the head in and sang us some Frames.

This week’s mp3 is of des singing one of Paul Simon’s loveliest melodies.