Furnace Mountain
Furnace Mountain’s Fields of Fescue album (their fourth), established the band as one of the hottest on the circuit following its release at the end of 2009.
Legendary BBC Radio 2 DJ, ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris played tracks from the album week after week describing the band as “wonderful” and saying the CD was “gorgeous”.
Writing in The Herald, Rob Adams declared: “The American roots music
motherlode just keeps producing treasure, none more exciting than this quartet. Furnace Mountain sound like a marriage between Be-Good Tanyas and the best of Nickel Creek - except with true Appalachian soil caked onto their boots”.
Get set to have a great experience in the company of this fine band from the very heart of rural Virginia.
www.furnacemountain.com
Longway
Longway are one of Scotland’s best kept secrets, and that’s mostly because they are in such high demand all over the UK. Hugely respected on the European Bluegrass circuit, they have played all of the major festivals and are said by many in the business to be “as good as any of the big names” on the circuit.
Certainly, there are very few (if any) UK-based bluegrass units who can stop visiting musicians from America in their tracks and hold their attention and that has happened many times when Bob Stevenson (guitar and lead vocals), Robin Wallace (mandolin/banjo and backing vocals), Jim Hyndman (banjo/ mandolin/dobro and backing vocals), and Hugh Kelly (double bass) take the stage and start to turn on a very polished style.
Influenced by all the greats – from Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs to The Dillards - and with two albums to their credit, they play bluegrass that’s as “real deal” as it gets.
www.longway.org.uk
Raina Rose
Widely regarded as one of the rising stars of the American singer-songwriter circuit, Raina Rose first emerged out of Portland, Oregon, where she came to prominence in the funky folk duo, Gypsy Moths and is now based out of Austin, Texas.
With a voice as clear as crystal and honeysuckle sweet, she built a faithful fan base after releasing the debut solo album, Despite the Crushing Weight of Gravity, in 2005, and kept the momentum going with two follow-up releases and the highly-acclaimed new album, When May Came.
www.rainarose.com
“Americana doesn’t get much better than this” Maurice Hope, Maverick magazine