Seasons greetings to all, and health and happiness for 2011. I'm delighted to be able to announce that the Niall Toner Band are off to a flying start for the new year with the confirmation of NTBs exclusive new representation in the USA. As and from today, December the 28th, 2010, we will be booked out for American Bluegrass Festivals and all US Tours by Mountain Music Entertainment Inc., and I'm proud to say that we a sharing the roster with folks like Ralph Stanley The 2nd., Grasstowne and Karl Shiflett, to mention but a few. This signing signals a new chapter for the Niall Toner Band, and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with Steve Johnson and his team in Jonesboro.TN. Enquiries and Bookings for NTB for the 2011/2012 season in the US are already strong. Check them out at : www.mountainmusicentertainment.com
They say that one of the[very many!] keys to success in the music business is your personal contacts, and I could not agree more. I first met Steve Johnson of Mountain Music Entertainments, five years ago when we jammed together at the Bill Monroe homeplace in Rosine, Kenucky, right there on Bill's front porch ! Steve was playing Guitar, and I was using a Gibson F-5 Mandolin, loaned to me by the Gibson Company in Nashville for the duration of my visit to Kentucky and Tennessee. This was on the very day I took a walk in the woods on Jerusalem Ridge, and wrote the chorus to WSM, and new tribute song which will be on the next NTB CD, due for release to co-incide with Monroe's Centenery in 2011.
Niall, December 28, 2010.
