Menia Bridge's Victoria Hotel hosts Bruce Molsky

Oct 1 2008 By Daniel Bissett

US musician Bruce Molsky has been exploring traditional music from an astonishingly broad range of cultures over the past two decades.

And this style can be seen and heard at the Victoria Hotel, Menai Bridge, on Friday, October 10.

While most identified with traditional American old-time music, Molsky’s influences range from Appalachian soul to Delta blues, from the haunting modal strains of Irish music to the rhythmically nimble music of Eastern Europe.

He is a commanding musician with a voracious appetite for traditional music styles and it’s easy to see why he has been dubbed "old-time music’s answer to Ry Cooder".

Hailing originally from the Bronx in New York, he is a highly respected banjo and fiddle player and singer with a worldwide reputation.

Molsky is always busy, with a string of critically acclaimed albums and collaborations under his belt and is also a member of the traditional supergroup Mozaik along with Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, Nicola Parov and Rens van der Zalm.

Making the old sound new, while retaining what makes it feel old in the first place, is a difficult line to walk, but Molsky seems to do it effortlessly.

Tickets are on sale now at Cob Records in Bangor and Porthmadog.