PROOF, if it were needed, that talent knows no geographical or musical boundaries, came in the shape of Tim O'Brien and The Crossing at The Anvil, Basingstoke, on Sunday night.
The Crossing, an ever-changing line-up of talent with Celtic and Bluegrass roots, this time featured singer Karan Casey, guitarist extraordinaire Steve Cooney, accordionist Martin O'Connor, fiddler Kevin Burke and bass guitarist and banjo player Dirk Powell.
To say that each is uniquely talented sells the musicians short.
Karan Casey has a voice to knock Enya off her ethnic perch; bell-like clarity and power in abundance.
"Mr Smooth" fiddler Kevin Burke, from Portland, Oregon, out of Sligo, effortlessly poured out the reels as smoothly and powerfully as the black stuff itself.
From Galway came accordionist Martin O'Connor with a smile as all-encompassing as his skill. From Australia via Donegal came the multi-pigtailed, barefoot guitarist Steve Cooney. He may look like an ageing hippie but he played like an angel.
Dirk Powell, aka top Cajun musician from SW Louisiana, provided the bass line on an extraordinary black guitar and demonstrated nimble fingering on banjo. And there was his evocative French vocal on Deux Voyages, written with his wife Christine, a daughter of the famous Balfa family.
Not only a multi-faceted musician and songwriter, Dirk is currently working on the score for the new film, Stevie. His talents also appear on the soundtrack to the movie Ride With the Devil.
Tim O'Brien, currently the second president of the Bluegrass Association, is a self-taught fiddler, mandolin player , songwriter and vocalist with a huge range of musical tastes and an ear for the authentic sound.
Perhaps to the disappointment of some the eager bluegrass fans, the emphasis was very much on the Irish with a hint of Cajun.
However, the songs ranged from Woody Guthrie's Pastures of Plenty via the Calvinist morality of Demon Lover, to the frankly funny and autobiographical, Me and Dirk's Trip to Ireland, in which they "drank a lot of grog, stepped in bog". And for good measure, Lennon and McCartney's Norwegian Wood had Irish folk echoes.
Martin O'Connor's breathless accordion in The Road West, based on his hasty journey from Galway along the twisty lanes to Connemara, had echoes of that famous speeded-up rail London -Brighton rail journey.
An evening of good humoured and seemingly effortless entertainment of the highest calibre.
Sandy Baker