Last weekend was the annual meeting of "The Switchhead Sisterhood," also known as the Michigan Irish Music Festival! This was my 9th year at the festival, and this one just keeps getting better! The festival "house band" (Switchback) opened the fest on Friday afternoon, and it was nothin' but a party all weekend long! We always enjoy meeting old friends there in Muskegon, but what a great surprise when our dear friends David and Carmen Nelson made the trip from St. Joseph Island, Ontario! There are always countless funny and fun moments at this festival, but this time there were also many heartfelt thank yous to pass on to Marty about his beautiful story, "Dancing with Emily" and requests from other bands for pointers on how to organize Street Teams (that's us!). 
We had fun hobnobbing with the other bands - The Elders, Slide, Gaelic Storm, Leahy, Seamus Kennedy, Blackthorn and others. But I think we enjoyed the company of our Michigan and Canadian friends even more! Meeting Donna, a friend of Marty and Brian's from the Wailin' Banshees' days, and her lovely daughter Colleen was a treat! And when Colleen went onstage she wowed us with her fantastic Irish dancing! Our great friend Eric was there serving as the official festival photographer - he took some great shots of Switchback that will be posted online soon! The after-parties were great craic - everyone let their hair down, the joking and storytelling going on late into the night! The music, the stories, the shopping, and especially the community that form inside the gates bring us back to the shores of Lake Michigan year after year. I highly recommend saving the third weekend in September next year and heading to Muskegon for the Michigan Irish Music Festival!Until next time -
~ Chris
Click here to view a compilation video of Switchback songs from the Michigan Irish Music Festival
Click here to view video of Switchback's audience participation performance of "The Wild Rover"
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