by Rachel Quigley

If someone said the words 'Prison Love' to you, would seven guys playing a mixture of Bluegrass and Cajun music spring to your mind?

No, me neither. But if you get yourself down to the Alley on June 20 to get yourself a taste of Prison Love, this is exactly what you can expect.

The 'inmates of the Bluegrass Correctional Facility', as they refer to themselves, make up the popular band Prison Love, a bizarre musical party of blue-grass, old-time, Cajun, roots and gospel. Confused? You should be.

Speaking to the Chronicle last week, Hurricane Barry from the band gives us a 'Prison Love Guide for Dummies,' for those of us (including me) who can't tell their cajun spice from their cajun music.

"It's hard to really pinpoint what bluegrass music is all about. On the face of things, it might seem unusual, but it's a bit of everything really; Irish, French, Scottish and English folk music. People think they don't know it, but once you hear it, you'll recognise it. There is a mixture of all sorts but it pretty much has its roots in traditional Irish music, fiddle music and that kind of thing.

"People will probably recognise it from the Dukes of Hazzard or O Brother Where Art Thou soundtracks. It's that kind of stuff."

Ahhhh, suddenly it all becomes clearer.

The band have been together for five years and chose their obscure name simply from the type of music they play; "We are very conscious that the type of music we play kind of has a sinister past associated with it, so we thought, 'let's have a bit of fun with it' and we somehow came up with Prison Love. If anything people will remember the name", he laughs.

So with the name came the costumes and the props and everything else. The band come complete with prison uniforms and washboards, and actually resemble an identity parade, which is the type of look they are going for.

"We love wearing the costume, it's kind of what makes us, us. And of course it goes well with the name. We've always had a great reaction from the audience to our whole theme."

Prison Love has entertained audiences all over Ireland and in the States, where they've played festivals in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

"We get a great reaction from the Americans, they all love music with a bit of history, and of course they really go for live music. It's something different to chart music and when the Americans see us having a bit of craic on stage, it rubs off on them and we get great feedback from everyone."

The band have recently been confirmed to play Glastonbury on The Avalon Stage alongside the likes of Katie Melua, Will Young and The Proclaimers. The band, undoubtedly, are very excited about the gig, especially after they attended the auditions at the end of March. They were up against 7 or 8 other bands, all with very different sounds. Barry explains, "We were auditioning alongside full on ska bands and electro cowpunk, all of them were of a very high standard. We were the only acoustic group with no drum kit but all the bands auditioning had an acoustic, unplugged vibe to it. We were very impressed with the whole set up and can't wait for the gig."

So what can Strabane's population of music lovers expect from Prison Love's Alley gig? "We love playing to new crowds, because no one really knows what to expect and once we start, the look on their face is priceless, they just can't believe what they are seeing."

And what you will be seeing when the band take to the stage is; the fast pace and dynamism of El Nino's mandolin, Will N. Dowd's flat-picking guitar, with both guys making use of the banjo. When the wind is right - Dancing Pete's squeeze-box, European Sue's fiddle and X-Kon's bass fiddle. The vocal harmonies of Soapy Mahoney and Hurricane Barry complete the line-up.

That's quite a mouthful, so where exactly did the guys come up with

their names?

"It all started out with me I guess, it was my birthday one year and there was a hurricane, so they decided to call me Hurricane Barry.

"And we were trying to think of other Bluegrass type nicknames for everyone else and we just made them up from their personalities. We've got Lucky Charms, cuz he looks just like the cereal box guy.

And El Nino, well you'll know when you see him perform, he's just a tiny little ball of energy."

I am genuinely excited about this gig, as it sounds like something completely different from your run of the mill music gig and they have always received critical acclaim wherever they play.

According to The Irish Times theirs is a show of "spectacular musicianship and crowd cajoling enthusiasm" with Road Records calling them "quality" and "the real deal".

At the end of the interview, Hurricane Barry put in, "tell everyone to come and expect to get up and dance, this is gonna be a fast, frenetic and enjoyable show that will be like a fast train coming, right between the eyes."

You can find out more about the band from their fantastic website www.prisonlove.ie (don't type Prison Love into Google and hit search!)

Get your tickets from the Alley Theatre whilst you still can.

Tickets are priced at £10.