On April 5th Screamin’ Miss Jackson will be working through a variety of material, drawing influence from such diverse players such as early bluesman Casey Bill Weldon, Tampa Red and the wonderful Memphis Minnie, 20’s and 30’s Jazz singers like Georgia White, Anita Carter or Lil Hadin, the western swing feel of The Texas Playboys and finally mixing all that up with the country folk of Doc Watson.

The band will be releasing their first album this year with an extensive UK tour before a return to the fields for the summer festival season.

Supporting will be Chris Tye, a singer-songwriter who makes beautiful harmonic pop music with roots in a folk and jazz tradition. which at times recalls such important musical influences as Nick Drake, John Martyn, Grizzly Bear, the Beatles and Paul Simon.

Then comes From Psychedelia to Sonnets – a life in words and music – the remarkable journey of Ashley Hutchings on March 20th. Ashley Hutchings is renowned as the founder of Fairport Convention and other successful folk rock bands including Steeleye Span and the Albion Band. What is less well known is his talent as a wordsmith. In 2014 he published his first book Words Words Words, a personal selection of song lyrics, poems, sonnets and other writings that both span his entire career and tell his story.

An evening in Ashley’s company is an opportunity to listen to him tell the stories behind the writings, add detail to the history of the bands he has created and describe some of the many projects he has brought to fruition.

To set the scene for some of the stories, Ashley has invited talented singer/multi-instrumentalist Ruth Angell to create an atmospheric background. She will also read the female parts of several of the pieces that Ashley will talk about and accompany him on acoustic guitar, violin and harmonium on others