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Matching Ties Trio in Lauf, Germany

Here we are playing for the 5th time at the wonderful Dehnberger Hoftheater in the village of Dehnberg part of the town of Lauf, Germany(http://www.dehnbergerhoftheater.de/). After doing summer shows in the courtyard , we have done the last 2 shows in the theater, this time as a trio with our fiddler Georg Baehr, which is a very oldconverted old barn with sandstone walls which make a beautiful backdrop for a concert. There were lots of great acoustic music fans there. Special thanks to Marko Bittner for booking us and Hubert for doing the sound.

Summer Impressions 2009, Festivals Italy and Germany

We've had a great summer so far, some great concerts with our quintet, a 3 day engagement at the Folkest Festival in Friuli (NE) Italy and in Fiumeretta (Ameglia) Liguria, as well as 2 nights at Weingut Kloster Marienthal (Rheinland-Pfalz), Germany. Special thanks to Andrea del'Savero, the organizer of Folkest, Alessio Ambrosi from Armadillo Club in Sarzana, Italy and Friedhelm and MaryJo Pankowski (Marienthal engagement) for having us back to play for you. We're off Aug. 8-19 to play on the cruise ship MS Delphin to England, Ireland and Scotland. More news to come.

Pics from top to bottom and L to R:

1) Setting up at the castle Folkest Cassacco, Italy...what a place

2) On the stage at the mouth of the river opening up to the Med after the sound check Ameglia-Fiumeretta, Liguria, Italy

3) On stage in the church ruins at the beautiful Kloster Weingut (winery) Marienthal, Germany

(see also "News" archive on this blog from August 2007)

4) The last night at Folkest 09 in Latisana, Italy

Paul Stowe at the Freight & Salvage, Berkeley, CA

Here I am playing a short warm-up set for local singer Carol Denney & Band on June 3rd, 09 at the famous Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, California . I also had a little gig at the Ogden (Utah) Bluegrass and Acoustic Music Festival in Fort Buenaventura in Ogden on 7.6.09. It's great to play in my own country, and to touch base with old and new friends. Special thanks to Kerry and Barry Parker in San Francisco for your hospitality, to Carol and Kerry for getting me up on stage, and to Michelle Tanner from Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music for putting on great festival and having me as well. Hope to see you all again soon...Paul

Matching Ties Quartet 4.7.09 Thun, Switzerland

Here we are playing as a quartet on U.S. Independance Day (4th of July) at the Gruenderinseli Bluegrass Festival in Thun south of Bern, Switzerland. This was our 4th appearance at this wonderful festival on a little island in the Thunersee (lake) with the mountains of the Berner Oberland (some of the highest in Switzerland) behind it. The tent was full of enthusiastic fans, and the organization was great. Our friends "Bluegrass Stuff" from Milan, Italy and Kim Carson and band from the U.S. were there too. Special thanks to Peter Trachsel and all the people at Aare Valley Country Club for your loyalty, hospitality and hard work. We will miss Peter as the organizer of this festival. Thanks for your many years of service. Thanks also to our old friend Lilly Pavlak for sending us these pics. You can see more at the blog of EBMA.org website. See you all soon in Switzerland. ...Paul

Matching Ties-Duo Irish Folk Night, Senden, Germany

Here we are playing in Senden near Muenster, Nordrhein-Westfalen at the Irish Folk Night in the Steverhalle in front of about 500 listeners as the first group in a 3 group evening shared with "Connemara Stone Company" and the Dutch band "Rapaltje". With a fog machine going off behind us we played our acoustic folk, which seemed to be enjoyed by all. Thanks to Herr Melchers and Keith Bailey for the booking and organization, and to our friends Mathias and Sebastian and families for the lovely hospitality, and to Norbert Veith for the pic.

Matching Ties U.S. Northwest Tour Oct.-Nov. 2008

Lapwai Lane Shredders Club, Darby, Montana

Yellowstone Brewery, Billings, Montana

Di Luna's Cafe, Sandpoint, Idaho

On the road, Montana Rockies

Jam with Paul's 1st music partner Gary Sloane, Salt Lake City

It's hard to put in just a few words the enjoyment we had and experiences we gathered on our latest Matching Ties-Duo tour in the U.S. Our music was very well received everywhere we went. Audiences were surprised and delighted to hear a Germany based duo play folk music at our level. Old friendships were revived and new friendships were made. The tour took us to Enterprise and the culturally vibrant town of Portland in Oregon, Sandpoint in Northern Idaho (see photo), Moscow, a university town in Idaho (not Russia, see photo), house concert at the home of my ex-partner and friend Jay Toups (http://concerts.jaytoups.com/) in Darby Montana, Billings Montana (see photo, yes there is lots of good beer in America), Logan and Salt Lake City in Utah (Paul's home town).

The scenery in the American West was breathtaking, taking us through the Rocky Mountains, down the Columbia River Gorge through wide open spaces, beautiful river valleys, forest and desert lands; an odyssey that covered over 7000 km with some 9 concerts in 2 1/2 weeks. Special thanks to all who helped and supported us, too numerous to name, but most importantly: Dave Lindsey, Gwen Alley, Janet Julian, Ed Byrnes, Jay Toups, Guy Benson, Trent Indreland, Beth Pederson, Janis Carper, Stevie G, Gary Sloane, Tad Anderson, Robyn Hoffman, my mother Dorothy Stowe and sister Martine Geddes. Though Paul and Trevor know the Western States, it was great to get back there again to present our music. It won't be the last time. We'll be back asap. Our love to all.

Yours truly,
Paul

Matching Ties on a cruise ship to Scotland, Ireland and England

From July 22nd to August 3rd 2008 we played as a duo on a cruise ship, the MS Columbus from Hapag-Lloyd cruises with 5 shows on board. It was luxury and beautiful scenery with great service and friendly people both guests and crew. We helped translate Scottish, Irish and Cornwallian dialects on some of the tour buses, ate, drank (great Scottish ales) and were merry...and uh ...also played music, which was enjoyed by all . The weather was fantastic, most of the time as we rounded Scotland from Edinburgh, Lochness, the Orkney Islands, The Hebrides (of which Skye was absolutely breathtaking), to Dublin, Cornwall and London. Lot's of inspiratuion for the music we play too. We will probably do the same tour 8.8.-19.8.09 with Delphin Kreuzfahrten: http://www.delphin-kreuzfahrten.de/ so start making reservations.

Matching Ties-Trio 12.06.08, Folk im Schlosshof, Bonfeld, Germany

Here we are at one of Germany's best Celtic folk festivals, Folk im Schlosshof (in a castle courtyard) in Bonfeld, near Heilbronn, Germany (website: http://www.folk-im-schlosshof.de/). Despite a heavy rain before we started, we had a great time playing here at this very well organized festival. Thanks to Franz and his team for the kind hospitality, and thank you Tobias Bumm for the photo and for being a great fan.