I went on line to look up the antonym of stage fright. I got a bunch of words like calm, cool, and collected. If you’ve ever seen Galway, Ireland-based We Banjo 3 live, you know two things. First, their behavior on stage is diametrically opposed to stage fright. Second, it is not calm, cool, and collected. It’s more like a barely-under-control house party where you know the cops are going to get called multiple times by the neighbors two blocks away. Comprised of two sets of brothers–Enda & Fergal Scahill and Martin & David Howley–the band is about to release their latest album, Open the Road.
The record doesn’t capture the enthusiasm of a We Banjo 3 performance because that would be the proverbial lightning in a bottle. It does, however, do an admirable job of capturing the band’s Irish jamgrass sound. Alive With You reflects that, in a celebration of the music festivals the brothers love so much where they remind you to “dance like nobody’s watching, laugh like our hearts are free.” Hummingbird laments that “staying in one place isn’t what you do” and was finished in lockdown when all they had was a room full of instruments, microphones, whiskey and coffee. The First Second Gentleman is an instrumental Irish jig with additional drums and percussion, inspired by the title of VP Harris’ husband.
Garden Song is a more traditional bluegrass arrangement featuring Abigail Washburn on clawhammer banjo and vocal harmonies. The title track gets more of a jamgrass treatment in a 7-minute instrumental. Although it was written to express the feeling the band had sitting on a beach in Okinawa, the live instantiation varies with every performance. Gift Of Life is probably the most genre-bending tune, with its mix of horns and banjo. It’s about finding your own path in life and asks the metaphorical question, “what if you threw away the compass, crumpled up the map?”
In case you hadn’t guessed from my opening paragraph, I heartily recommend seeing We Banjo 3 live, especially if you can catch them in a festival where they create a sense of intimacy in a field of 10,000 people. In the meantime, Open the Road showcases their musical mastery and provides a fun accompaniment to practically any summer activity.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.