Another calendar year on my Irish adventure has ended. And as I look forward to the next 12 months it is also a good time to look back. Although hamstrung for the last four months due to my visa and driving licence problems I have still managed to take in an enormous amount of music. I posted a collage the other day on Facebook with a selection of my photos of musicians from the past year. I thought I would repost it here for my blog followers who are not on Facebook. These are people I saw in concert or played with in sessions. To many of my readers there will be a lot of familiar faces and I got great joy from seeing and playing with them as I did with the lesser known but often equally talented musicians I came across every day.
I thought it would also be an interesting exercise to plot the locations of the pubs where I have played in sessions since I have been here. Unfortunately a few have escaped my memory but the accompanying map shows 144 pubs. Not a bad sample. I surprised myself with the spread across Ireland but also with the gaps. I still have plenty of Ireland to discover.
What hits the eye though is the obvious concentration in County Clare. This is of course partly an artefact given that I live in Clare and visit a pub every night but it is also a reflection of the reality that there is music everywhere in the county. In the tiniest village or the largest towns. I didn’t see this elsewhere. If you look closer though it is West and North Clare. Session pubs are thin on the ground in East Clare. If its music you want come to Clare.
I have put some screenshots here
and a link to the Google map
where you can zoom in and see the names of the pubs.
I would like to take the opportunity to wish all my followers a Happy New Year and may it be filled with new experiences, new joys and new music.
Singersong Blog 
Happy New Year to you too!
Thank you Bob for your wonderful reports, beautiful writing, fantastic photos and photo essays, generous gifts to worlds near and far. Hope to meet you, maybe this year sometime in Ireland!
With all best wishes,
Laura, in Minnesota
(PS – love the pub mapping)
Thank you Laura. I am so glad you enjoy what I do. It’s messages like yours that keep me going. I hope a little bit of the magic of this country, its people and its culture comes through in my words and pictures. If you ever come to Clare let me know. I’ll show you the craic.
Another new beginning! Happy new year Bob,was laid up for xmas..which actually was quite nice:) voice not right..even after a month.will be down soon. BRIDGE:)