15-year-old Edward Bennett of Penzance has recently returned from the USA with prizes from three youth banjo competitions.
Edward has been playing clawhammer banjo for less than 3 years, but won first place at old-time music festivals in Morehead, Kentucky and Clifftop, West Virginia, as well as third place at Galax, Virginia.
As old-time music is his passion, Edward is particularly proud of his Clifftop first prize. Speaking of his experience at the festival he said, “They were so friendly and encouraging, no-one minded that I wasn’t American, they just enjoyed the music.” His winning performance is shown in the video below.
You can find out more about Edward and hear his music at his myspace and youtube channel.
This year’s event boasts a line-up including American headliners The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band and The Claire Lynch Band, whilst North Carolinian flatpicker Jack Lawrence performs with Richard Plank. There will be the usual array of British bluegrass musicians, along with plenty of old-time and other acoustic genres.
Thursday night sees a special concert from folk stars Show of Hands - this is a separately ticketed event.
Luthiers Tom Nechville and Phil Davidson will be in attendance, both of whom are contributing instruments as prizes for the festival raffle.
The festival takes place at Kemble Airfield, near Cirencester. All types of ticket will be available on the gate, including the Thursday night concert. Full details, ticket prices and concert schedules can be found at the Didmarton website.
Brother Mule start a 7 date tour of Britain on September 11th.
The trio, from Minnesota, Idaho and Colorado, play a mix of bluegrass, swing, old-time and acoustic funk. The members - Ben Winship (mandolin), Brian Wicklund (fiddle) and Eric Thorin (bass) - have all been regular visitors to the UK over the past few years in various bands or teaching at Sore Fingers.
The tour begins on the Isle of Man and takes in Manchester, Runcorn, Pembrokeshire, Bristol and London, as well as appearances at the Cornish Bluegrass Festival. They will be joined by Leon Hunt on banjo at all the gigs.
Beginning on the 2nd September, the old-time duo will play across England and Wales including a spot at the Cornish Bluegrass Festival (17th - 19th).
Together they play “just about anything with strings” and bring their “years of experience to the art of the duet—songs and tunes, old and new, done simply and with love”.
Full details and links can be found on our calendar pages.
Two bluegrass events take place on next week’s Bank Holiday Monday, August 30th.
Appleby Bluegrass Day will be held in the village of Appleby Magna, Leicestershire, and will feature workshops (for banjo, guitar, mandolin and fiddle), jam sessions and a concert. Bands appearing include Doghouse Central, Bluegrass Revue, Salmagundi and Phantom Horse.
The Kentucky to Kent UK festival, at St Julians Club in Sevenoaks, features a concert line-up of The New Essex Bluegrass Band, Grassroots, The Jolenes, The Biggin Hillbillies and The Kent Carters. There will also be workshops for banjo, guitar, fiddle and mandolin plus a barn dance and picking throughout the day.
Links to these and other upcoming events can be found on our calendar pages.
The two bands will play at the Open House Festival in Belfast, as well as concerts in Glasgow, Gateshead, Leeds and London.
OCMS will play three more gigs without their support band in Bristol, Cardiff and Brighton. They will then tour the continent in support of folk-rockers Mumford and Sons.
US act The Dixie Bee-Liners play their first concerts in the UK next week, with appearances at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention in Oxfordshire (13th), and at Cold Dog Soup’s alt.bluegrass mini-festival in Reading (14th).
We spoke to the band’s singer Brandi Hart about their upcoming visit and the group’s recent release Susanville.
The Portland-based band made their British debut last summer. This time they will be here for a month, playing throughout England and Northern Ireland, and will also be appearing on Mark Lamarr’s Radio 2 show.
The WTBBs play a hard-driving mix of old-time, bluegrass and country music and they have just released their first all-original album.
Full details of their upcoming tour can be found on their band page.
The line-up will feature around 35 bands over the course of 9 concerts, along with instrument and dance workshops and several open mic sessions.
Artists from the USA are the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band (pictured), the Claire Lynch Band and flatpicker Jack Lawrence, whilst British talent includes The Scoville Units, Thunderbridge Bluegrass Boys, Monroe’s Revenge and the New Essex Bluegrass Band.
Besides bluegrass there will be plenty of other acoustic music on offer including a special concert (separately ticketed) on the Thursday evening featuring folk stars Show of Hands.
The festival takes place at Kemble Airfield, near Cirencester from 2nd to 5th September. Full details and ticket booking forms can be found at the Didmarton website.
