Thinking of Connemara,

We fly out for Ireland Wednesday morning. By Wednesday night I'll be driving out of Dublin headed west. And it's the West I long to see. Dublin is a necessity this year because we're bringing friends with us this time. Friends who've said for years, "we want to see the Ireland you love."
     Usually, Maggie and I would be settling into a house in Murrisk at the foot of the Reek, overlooking Clew Bay, with a car full of guitars, suitcases and bags of groceries from Tesco to stock the kitchen. Our itinerary would be gigs almost every night from Galway to Sligo and places to stay along the way.
     This time, a friend with a pub is giving us his upstairs bed and breakfast in return for a gig downstairs. Only in Ireland. So, I'll be cooking breakfast for twelve every morning then shuttling people around County Mayo, one of the loveliest places on earth.
    It'll be a very unstructured tour, with options to stay in bed, or to wander around Westport, a beautiful little town with pubs that would rival any in the country, from Campbell's Pub in Murrisk, near the Famine Ship, to Matt Malloy's downtown.
     Those who want to go will see Cong, where the Quiet Man was filmed, or The Museum of Country Life in Castlebar and, of course, the breath taking views in the hills of Connemara. The screaming winds, icy breath that feels so good because you know you're going into a toasty little pub for a bowl of hot soup and a slice of brown bread washed down with a pint of Guinness. Butter, a yellow so deep it's almost orange. You notice things like that in County Mayo.
     We'll spend an afternoon at the Voya Seaweed Baths in Strandhill for a little luxury before an evening with Donal McLynn in his pub in Sligo and an evening of great music around the peat fire.
     I'll write on our return, with news from County Mayo.
     Mike McKinney
     Lucky Mud

Hello there!

      As a featured contributor to No Depression, I’m particularly keen on getting your feedback for the following – Please forgive the intrusion if you don’t have the time or inclination to reply.

      I’ve posted the following to the No Depression discussion board – you can either respond there or alternatively drop me a line at shatchsurvey1@yahoo.co.uk

Thanks very much for your time

Kind regards,

Steve

My name is Steve Hatch and I’m currently conducting research for my Master’s in Songwriting at Bath Spa University in Bath, England (though I happen to be an ex-pat Georgia boy).  I would be extremely grateful if you could find the time to listen to the track (link below) and answer the 2 accompanying questions.  The more detail, the better of course (more to say in my final analysis) – but all feedback will be useful and very much appreciated.

Sadly, as this is an academic pursuit, there is a deadline.  Please reply by May 20^th if at all possible so that I can have time to chew over your response and include it in my final write-up.

            The track: http://soundcloud.com/stevehatch

1)     Which artist/band(s) would you say the track is most similar to and why?

2)     Which genre(s) would you say the track belongs to and why?