Buskers in Gallway, Ireland. The percussionist is at @KevinNearyMusic on twitter.
Whew! We were traveling in Europe and the UK for the last month. This was a family trip, so not really about music, but there was a lot of music involved. Everywhere we went there was music- on the streets of Paris, London, Edinburgh and Dublin, in a church in Paris, and a bunch of places in between.
I love street musicians. I think it’s pretty cool to walk into a public space and make music (or anything really, and create an audience, a venue, out of thin air). It’s not something I’ve done much of, but I know some folks who have done it a lot (especially my sister, Anne Stott, who played on the streets of Provincetown, MA for years). I always throw something in the hat. I think its a karma thing, but I have a lot of respect for what they do, and especially when they do it well (as you will see).
So here’s a walk through some of the street musicians we saw on our trip!
One night in Paris we turned a corner on the way home and found an entire side street blocked off. There were carpets down the middle of the street and everyone who lived in that neighborhood was at tables drinking, eating laughing and having a good time. On the steps of a building half-way down the street, a bunch of folks were throwing down some pretty solid Americana/Folk stuff for the revelers. It was awesome. We walked up and down the street several times just enjoying the scene.
Several nights later, my wife and I were walking home through the Latin Quarter and these guys were playing Willie Nelson in the doorway of a store. The sign says ‘you give us cash, we play Johnny Cash!”
Covering Willie is always a good bet. Even in #Paris. A video posted by Jay Stott (@jgstottmusic) on
This guy was sitting on the sidewalk in East London, in Shoreditch, where we spent an awesome afternoon in the markets.
Edinburgh, Scotland was full of music, I even got to an open mic one night. These three youngsters were playing on the Royal Mile (look it up), right down the street from Edinburgh Castle.
Street musicians in #Edinburgh #Scotland These kids were killing it. A video posted by Jay Stott (@jgstottmusic) on
Ireland. Oh Ireland. Music everywhere. This guy was working the pedestrian mall in Gallway, and gets bonus points for singing, playing and tightroping all at the same time.
Also in Gallway, these guys were throwing down the AC/DC pretty hard, AND they had a hula hooper to go with it all. If that’s not rock I don’t know what is. Especially since they didn’t miss a beat when it started pouring rain.
AC/DC and a hula hooper in #Gallway #Ireland They were rockin it.
A video posted by Jay Stott (@jgstottmusic) on
Finally, these guys were tearing it up in Temple Bar in Dublin. Thats a lot of sound for two guys.
Rockin pretty hard in the street in the Temple Bar neighborhood in #Dublin. #Ireland
A video posted by Jay Stott (@jgstottmusic) on
We saw a lot of other music as well. I could post more street performers, but that would be a long post. My wife went to a string quintet in the Church of St. Germain in Paris, I hit some of the pubs in Edinburgh, the bagpipers in Scotland, I even did a quick demo of a song with my wife’s uncle in Ireland (I’ll post that in a separate post).
But, we are happy to be back in Colorado, and I’m happy to be making music here. I have several shows in August and more on the way, and stay tuned for record release info- I’m hoping for a late October or early November shindig.
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