Bluegrass at The Spinnaker Bar, Dunmore East

Bending the Strings performing Salt Creek and Old Joe Clarke — two of the great American bluegrass fiddle tunes — live at The Spinnaker Bar, Dunmore East, in 2011. Bluegrass has always had a home on this harbour.

Salt Creek and Old Joe Clarke at The Spinnaker

Salt Creek and Old Joe Clarke are two of the most recognised and best-loved tunes in the American bluegrass and old-time tradition. Salt Creek — an uptempo fiddle tune in A that drives hard and fast when played by musicians who know it — is a staple of bluegrass jam sessions from Kentucky to Cork. Old Joe Clarke, with its distinctive modal feel and driving rhythm, is just as foundational. Together, they are the kind of double that gets feet moving and hands clapping in any room in the world.

In 2011, Bending the Strings played both of these tunes live at The Spinnaker Bar in Dunmore East. The recording above captures that performance. Watch it and you'll hear why a harbour pub in Co. Waterford is a natural home for this music — the acoustic warmth of the room, the close-packed energy, the response of a crowd that knows it's hearing something good.

Why Bluegrass Works in an Irish Harbour Pub

Bluegrass music has its roots in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States, but its ancestry is largely Irish, Scots and English. The Scots-Irish settlers who poured through Pennsylvania and down into the hills of Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina brought their fiddles and their reels and their ballads with them. They mixed those traditions with African-American banjo music and the shape-note singing of the Protestant church, and out came something new — bluegrass. Tight, driving, acoustic, rooted in string instruments and close harmonies.

When you hear Salt Creek played at full tempo by a tight fiddle-and-banjo outfit in a pub like The Spinnaker, you are hearing the circle complete itself. The music came from here — from Irish and Scottish pub culture, from the kind of informal instrumental traditions that are still alive in sessions all over Ireland. It went to America, transformed, and came back. At The Spinnaker, sitting on Dunmore East harbour in Co. Waterford, that return journey feels entirely natural.

The Spinnaker Bar has always been willing to programme music that is genuinely varied. Not just the expected trad sessions and rock covers — though both have their place — but acts with real craft and a distinct identity. Bending the Strings bringing Salt Creek and Old Joe Clarke to Dunmore East in 2011 is a perfect example of what that looks like in practice.

Bending the Strings at The Spinnaker

Bending the Strings are a Waterford-connected folk and bluegrass outfit whose approach centres on acoustic string instruments and a repertoire that spans traditional Irish, American bluegrass, and old-time music. Their performance at The Spinnaker in 2011 remains one of the most talked-about nights among regulars who were there. The combination of technical precision and genuine feel — the mark of musicians who have lived with this music for years — made for a night that stuck.

Salt Creek opened the set with a statement of intent: this was not a casual folk night. The tempo was serious, the picking was tight, and The Spinnaker crowd responded immediately. By Old Joe Clarke they had the room. That is what good bluegrass does in the right setting — it takes hold quickly and does not let go.

Live Music at The Spinnaker — The Full Programme

Bluegrass is one thread in The Spinnaker's live music tapestry. The bar also regularly hosts trad sessions, singer-songwriters, acoustic duos on the harbour deck, full bands on bigger nights, and everything in between. The music programme reflects the character of the bar: genuinely curious, serious about quality, and committed to making every night feel like a proper event.

For upcoming music nights at The Spinnaker, see the live music page and follow the bar on Facebook for weekly updates. Or ring the bar on (051) 383 133 — the team will tell you what is coming up and can take a booking at the same time.

If you have not been to Dunmore East before, make this the summer you go. The village, the harbour, the food at The Spinnaker, and the music that fills the bar on a summer night — it is the kind of combination that makes you understand why people plan holidays around Irish coastal villages. Come and see for yourself.