The 21st International Bluegrass Music and Dance Festival takes place this weekend, July 2nd - 5th, in Conwy, North Wales.
Highlights include the Carter Brothers Band from the US, Bononia Grass of Italy and a long list of British musicians including Down County Boys, Chill Until Blue, New Essex Bluegrass Band, The Off Chords and Chris Moreton.
More information about the event can be found at the festival’s website.
The High Lane Bluegrass and American Old-Time Music Venue, which usually runs on the first Friday of the month, will be taking a break in July.
The Stockport based club will be back on Friday 7th August with Jaywalkers, finalists in the 2009 BBC Young Folk Award. More information about that night’s gig will appear here nearer the time.
Lynne Butler will soon be hosting a monthly bluegrass show for UKCountryRadio.com, promoting UK and European bluegrass bands.
Lynne plans to feature a different band each month - playing several tracks from their album and talking a little about them too. Other bands will also be played, giving the listener a taste of what is to come. The show, Butler’s Boudoir Bluegrass, will begin sometime at the end of June, with the timeslot yet to be announced.
Any bands or songwriters who would like to be featured on the show can get in touch with Lynne on lynnebutler99@hotmail.com or via her myspace.
The Wilders return to Britain next month, playing gigs across the whole country.
The Missouri-based band are becoming regular visitors to these shores and were last seen here in January. They play “music as infectious, fun-loving and goodtime as you have heard, delivered by players who have burned up concert halls and festivals across the land.”
Their summer tour takes them to venues throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. For full details, see their listings page.
The American Museum in Bath will hold a mini music festival on June 27th and 28th.
The event, which runs alongside the city’s International Banjo Festival, is a two day celebration of traditional American music. The programme is made up of workshops, performances and demonstrations, with activities including a banjo master class, a singing workshop, Appalachian dancing, and performances by Stompin’ Dave Allen and Leon Hunt’s We Banjo 3.
This is the first music festival staged by the museum, but there are already plans for more should it prove to be a success.
Festival admission is included in the entrance fee to the museum. More details can be found at the American Museum’s website.
The Mounthoolies are marking their first ten years together with two special gigs in the coming weeks.
The south-east band play a lively range of Americana, including western swing classics, gems from the 1920s, and ancient and modern songs from folk, country and bluegrass.
Highlights of their decade together, which began in the pubs of Greenwich, include a couple of appearances at Didmarton Bluegrass Festival, where they claim the dubious honour of being the first group to sneak a trumpet into their set. For a couple of years they ran The Grand Old Ropey, an Americana club at London’s Cecil Sharp House. Their album, Down from Mounthooly, was released in 2003.
The two dates this summer are Friday 26th June at the Spice of Life in London, and Saturday 18th July at the Portland Arms, Cambridge. More details and links can be found on their band page.
The 13th East Anglian Bluegrass Festival takes place this weekend, June 19th - 21st, in the village of Steeple Morden.
The weekend will consist of jam sessions, workshops, scratch bands and concerts. The main concert on Saturday evening features The East Anglian Bluegrass Boys, The Off Chords and Grassroots. On the Sunday there will gospel music in the village church followed by picking until the festival closes at 4pm.
The event is held in the grounds of the village hall with camping on site. Food and drink, including a barbecue, will be available all weekend.
Full information can be found at the festival’s website.
This year’s Bluegrass by the Lake picking weekend will take place from June 19th to 21st at the Lakeside Caravan Park near Llangorse.
The park have provided a dedicated field for pickers, and there will be a marquee in case of bad weather. The on-site bar will also be available for sessions and refreshments.
There is no admission charge for the weekend (other than the camping charges) - just turn up and pick. Those planning to camp are strongly recommended to book a pitch with the site on (01874) 658226 or by email.
For more info about the site, see the Lakeside Caravan Park website. Further details about the weekend are available in this forum discussion.
Details for all this year’s festivals and events can be found in our festival guide and map.
A series of books teaching basic jam tunes for bluegrass instruments is now available.
The books, entitled First Jams, are aimed at children and beginners and teach simple versions of bluegrass and old-time jam standards.
The books are available for banjo
Tunes covered in the books include Cripple Creek, Old Joe Clark, Blackberry Blossom and Wildwood Flower. The books have melody lines in tab and notation plus back-up chords, and an accompanying CD is also included.
The First Jams series is published by Mel Bay and is available from Amazon.co.uk
The streets of Bath will be overrun with banjos between June 26th and 28th when the city’s annual banjo festival takes place.
The festival is a celebration of all things banjo and covers all musical styles. Highlights include performances from Leon Hunt’s new Irish-bluegrass band We Banjo 3, the showing of classic silent films with live banjo accompaniment and an all day jam at the city’s Little Theatre.
For full details about the event, see the Bath Banjo Festival website.