God Bless the Irish

Back in 2003 or so I heard about a series being run on Irish television (RTE) called "Other Voices". The show, which was hosted in its first season by Glen Hansard of the Frames, was originally designed to showcase Irish musicians. When I learned that both The Frames and Damien Rice had performed sets during the show's first season, I wrote an email to RTE asking if they were selling DVDs of the series. Unfortunately, they weren't. That's when I pretty much forgot about the show.

Well, unbeknownst to me, it turns out that RTE has been archiving the show for the past couple of years. Even better, they've expanded their focus beyond Ireland and had a ton of great artists from around the world perform live. Here are a few of the cooler sets I've found so far:

Damien Rice
Jose Gonzalez
Josh Ritter
Laura Cantrell
Lisa Hannigan
Mark Lanegan
Peter, Bjorn & John
Stars
Steve Earle
Teenage Fanclub
The Waterboys

There's a bunch more to be found on RTE's site, so be sure to check it out.