In the dying fits of summer, Belfast city uncorked the last of that wine bottle and got down and dirty for the annual Open House Festival, a glut of blues so rootsy you’d need a shovel to dig it out.

5 days of chilli and banjos nearly took its toll, but not before the kind people Bandwidth could muster the mustard to crawl backstage and down Jameson with Calgary’s finest The Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir where we also found, skulking away in a corner, a true dixie Mississippian William Elliott Whitmore.

The rest of it is all a little bit hazy. Fortunately I’d hit the record button at some point. I believe someone suggested the acoustics would sound best inside a tiny plastic shower cubicle. Maybe its the effect of having been on tour for 3 months. Either way, it was later concluded to be “second best thing that’s ever been done in a bathroom”, and that way it shall stay forever.

Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir (w. William Elliott Whitmore) – Nehemia’s Misfortune

Download for iPod (80.3 MB)

God damn it. After reaching the conclusion that stomping bluegrass is a state of mind, best appreciated by the enlightened, it was inevitable that the music would spill out onto the street. Where the punters were still drinking. Getting into taxis. Walking past on their way home. They were all innocent victims. Because music just cannot be stopped.

We the kind and civilised people of Bandwidth sneaked away some time after 1am, with the solemn promise to the Open House Festival that we would assure their act get a taxi back home that night to the hotel. Its not yet known what the bar bill was at the end of the night. Or if the band ever made it to Newcastle the next day. But there were about 20 people there who got the second best Agnostic Gospel Choir gig of their lives, and that way it shall stay forever.

At least until next time they’re here..

Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir – Oh Sorrow

Download for iPod (92.1 MB)

If you like what you see here, remember that William Elliott Whitmore will be back in town supporting The Pogues at St. George’s Market in Belfast on 2nd December. Redemption!!

Filmed by Will McConnell
in Belfast, September 2009

with thanks to the OPEN HOUSE FESTIVAL

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