San Diego’s finest country singer Eve Selis and Marc "Twang" Intravaia (Eve's songwriting partner) plus special guest - Brooklyn based songwriter Lucy Wainwright Roche, (Daughter of Loudon Wainwright & Suzy Roche -The Roches, + half-sister to Martha Wainwright and Rufus Wainwright ) offer an intimate evening concert .

Soul & Rhythm & Blues is the teacher. Garage Punk is the preacher !! It’s all about emotion and energy, experience and raw talent, spirit and intellect. Exciting things happen when these things collide… AND Bob and Lisa made the BellRays happen in 1991. So they took everything they knew about The Ramones, Billie Holiday, Lou Rawls, Hank Williams, the DB’s, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Reed, Led Zeppelin, to name a very few and pressed it into service. With The Bellrays there was no conscious effort to ‘combine’ rock and soul because they didn’t see them as divided in the first place. Blues was teaching. Punk was preaching. The Bellrays were always listening.

A quick return after supporting Kathy Mattea @ Sage Gateshead.. The Wilders, from Kansas City, Missouri, the “hillbilly hurricanes” stop off for a club gig in between UK Festivals. Reviews are every bit as whiz-bang as the band themselves.” This is a riveting, intense 20-song tribunal laced with classic country, introspective ballads, fiery instrumentals and kick-ass bluegrass." Country Standard. Support from Leeds based young authentic folk- bluesman Serious Sam.

Sat 25th July

- Hot Club Of Cowtown (The Jazzy - Western Swing Trio from Austin TX headline )

- Eliza Gilkyson & Friends ( Acclaimed US Folk Singer-Songwriter first time with own Texas band)
- Phantom Limb ( Soul/Gospel /Roots troupe with new Massive Attack singer - last here supporting Candi Staton)

- Two Fingers Of Firewater ( Young five-piece Alt-Country/Americana band from down south )
- The Fortunate Sons (Rhythm & Blues, Country Roots, red hot band )
- The Barker Band ( Young West-London combo with Pop -Bluegrass feel )
12.00 midday - Special Guest.....

Sun 26th July

- Hank Wangford And The Lost Cowboys (Hard Country from zany doc & top range country musician’s )
- Paul Lamb/Johnny Dickinson ( New Rural Blues supagroup/Duo – playing Sonny Terry/Brownie MacGee style)
- The Midnight Ramblers Bluegrass Band ( Debut in UK for young Acoustic Bluegrass quartet from Virginia )
– Moriarty (New York/ Paris - Folk, Country, Blues, Jazz and Cabaret Septet –with theatrical bent, A big hit @ SXSW 09 )
– The Lost Bros ( Folk - Country Duo - Superb Everly Bros style harmonies )
– Shipcote with Mothers Ruin (Geordie Country Swing)
12.00 midday - Special Guest .........

Fri 24th July ............

Taj Mahal Trio + Babygramps - ( Hall 1 ) 7.30pm: Tickets 19.50 + £7.00

A very rare oversea's appearance from Blues legend Taj Mahal celebrating 40 years of music making.

Gary Louris & Mark Olsen (The Jayhawks) - ( Hall 2 ) 8pm : Tickets £16.50 + £7.00

Leaders of famed US alt country rock band The Jayhawks, strippen down to fingerpickin guitars and fine vocal harmonies

Sat 25th July ...................

Farmer Jason family show - ( Hall 2 ) 11am: Tickets £8 & £4

A fantastic & fun family show with farmer Jason, the brainchild of cowpunk legend Jason Rindenberg (Jason & The Scorchers )

Babygramps + Lisa Mills - ( Hall 2 ) 2pm : Tickets £8.00

Babygramps is an old school bluesman,steel guitar,gravelly voice & tales of years on the road. Lisa Mills has Mississippi roots & is a gifted songwriter/blues guitarist.

Lucinda Williams & Buick 6 + Devon Sproule - (Hall 1 ) 7.30pm : Tickets £24.50 & £7.00

The famous bad ass country singer - songwriter & rock chic headline's Summertyne Americana Festival.She virtually oblitirates the lines between country, rock & blues & brings her regular band over for this special event.

James Hunter Band + Ryan Shaw - (Hall 2 ) 8pm : Tickets £16.50

50's rock n roll meets early soul & R&B from James Hunter & his Jokers.Quite a regular at the J"hot Club over the years, James Hunter has now found a big fan base in USA.

Sun 26th July ..............

Diane Jones + Mothers Ruin - (Hall 2) 2pm : Tickets £8.00

Diane Jones draws on her affinity with old time appalachian tunes & old mountain songs. She has been compared to Gillian Welch & featured on BBC 4's Folk America series.

The Flatlanders + Rodney Crowell ( & Will Kimbrough ) - ( Hall 1 ) 7.30pm : £19.50 + £7.00

A killer double bill of Country music with the three famous Texas pandhandlers -solo songster's - Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore & Butch Hancock (The Flatlanders) plus Nashville based songwriter- ex Emmylou Harris Hot Band guitarist, Rodney Crowell.

Devon Spoule + Woodpigeon - ( Hall 2 ) 8pm: Tickets £12.50 + £7.00

The wonderfully zany, young jazz country songstress Devon Spoule plus Canadian lush folk pop collective Woodpigeon.

A very rare & his only solo performance on this European tour from African American acoustic bluesman-songsmith Alvin Youngbloood Hart. Hart plays acoustic and electric guitar as well as banjo and sometimes the mandolin. Bluesman Taj Mahal once said about Hart that "The boy has got thunder in his hands." In 1996 he made a powerful and individual album debut, Big Mama's Door, playing street, slide and standard guitars and banjo on a mixture of dug-up and new-grown blues. In 2003, Alvin gained a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. 2005, he received a Grammy Award for his contribution to Beautiful Dreamer - The Songs of Stephen Foster. Hart was also featured in the Wim Wenders film "The Soul of a Man," which was featured in Martin Scorsese's film series "The Blues". The Summer of ’07 saw Alvin hit the big screen as a juke joint musician in the Denzel Washington directed film The Great Debaters. He featured in the documentary "Last of the Mississippi Jukes’ & recently attributed on BBC4 blues evening programme with an acoustic blues for Jools Holland’s “Later” show.

Once a member of the heralded old-time-Appalachian revivalist outfit Reeltime Travelers — featured on the soundtrack to the movie Cold Mountain — Minnesota based songstress Martha Scanlan makes her Newcastle debut @ the acoustic confines of Cluny2 amphitheatre. Conjuring sounds of old-time mountain music, bluegrass, gospel and Appalachian blues, Scanlan's songs & sound provides a modern update of traditional sounds. Scanlan is joined here by Byron Isaac.

Athens, Georgia songwriter Adam Klein demonstrates formidable skills at blending the finest elements of folk, Americana, and country in imaginative, engaging songs. He has the soul and voice of a poet squarely in the storytelling tradition of such gifted writers as Townes Van Zandt and David Olney.

From based in Florida USA Veteran singer-songwriter Bob Lind makes his debut in the North & this is only the second time in UK since 1966. Lind is best known for his transatlantic chart single, "Elusive Butterfly", which was a massive hit in 1960s. A whole host of famous artists-- including Cher, Glen Campbell, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Eric Clapton, Nancy Sinatra, The Four Tops & Richie Havens, have covered songs written by Bob Lind, but as a recording artist, he remains a one-hit wonder. His celebrity fans include Richard Hawley and Jarvis Cocker, indeed Pulp recorded a song named after him: "Bob Lind (The Only Way Is Down)" & in turn Bob recorded 'Cool Summer' for a compilation 'The Trip', compiled by Jarvis Cocker. He is also the author of five novels.

"He truly has his own vocal style with traces of no one, something that can be said of few artists" L.A. Times

Portland, Oregon’s Richmond Fontaine need little introduction to fans of the Americana genre. Formed by Willy Vlautin (vocals, guitar) and Dave Harding (bass) in 1994, They began as rough and ready cow-punk & slowly evolved into a complex tapestry woven around Vlautin's brooding narrative folk songs. After ten years or so touring the USA, they received favorable press in the UK, coming to most people’s attention following 2004s Americana classic “Post To Wire” and 2005s “The Fitzgerald” a sparser, more low key affair. 2007’s Thirteen Cities, their seventh album, was recorded, in the dry desert climate of Tucson, Arizona with Calexico and Giant Sand members contributed & exploring the blurred edges of society, while adding a diverse array of instrumentation and arrangements. Songwriter Willy Vlautin has also published two novels, The band are currently working on their eighth full length studio album, set to be released for this tour.

A Jhot club favorite- the now Devon based songsmith Peter Bruntnell, a understated country-folk-rock balladeer with the aching voice and an ear for a melody supports.

Last year, Bob Harris told listeners to his Radio 2 show that Austin Texas songwriter Sam Baker's “Pretty World” was "magnificent – one of the GREAT albums of 2008". Baker's songs are pictures sketched in short, spare lines and lay bare the honest truths and simple details of life. Within weeks, the CD had jumped straight to the No 1 slot on the Americana Chart. Australia is the latest new land to get excited about Mr Baker. Their highly regarded roots music mag “Rhythm” said: "Sam Baker has delivered two of the most vital singer-songwriter records of the decade. Do not pass him by. This will be Sam's third appearance here & its greatly anticipated.

Madison Violet (formerly Madviolet), are a Toronto based country –folk duo featuring songstresses Brenley MacEachern on vocals, guitar & banjo, and Lisa MacIsaac on vocals, guitar & fiddle. Fans of The Wailin’ Jennys & The Be Good Tanyas will love Madison Violet. They were the best act we saw at ECMA in Canada Feb 09 !

From New York comes a new collaboration The Duke & The King featuring two very fine singer songwriters, Simon Felice from The Felice Brothers, and George Clinton collaborator, Robert 'Chicken' Burke. It's a kind of cracked country soul thing, with a dash of psychedelia, and at the heart of it are Simone's songs which are, lovingly touching the hem of Dylan by way of Gordon Lightfoot.

Lucas Renney is the former leader-songwriter of local favourites the Golden Virgins.His new solo album is produced by Simon Raymonde- Bella Union.

Its the third time Bob Log III has played our shores in recent times & seeing him is an unbelievable musical experience,simply not to be missed…the One Man Band - slide guitar bluesman, plays old silvertone archtop guitars, wears a full body cannonball man suit, and a helmet wired to a telephone which allows him to devote his hands and feet to guitar and drums. The spectacle has been described as a blues garage party. Oh & he ROCKKKS like hell.

Witness the sonic brutality of London’s garage rock n roll kings - The Jim Jones Revue for the first time here in Newcastle. The JJR are an unholy amalgam of influences; Jerry Lee, Hasil Adkins, The Sonics, MC5, Elvis P, with Jones screaming and a-hollerin like Gerry Rosalie one minute and Lux Interior the next, over songs straight out of the Sun, Chess and Specialty stables. Here’s some comments about there stunning debut album....

“The JJR positively redefine raw, untamed, born-with-a-tail rock ‘n’ roll” 
“Like The Killer smoking the bones of Link Wray” 
“ If Little Richard had written this, he’d still be boasting about it today”

They have attracted wide spread radio support too from Radio One, Radio Two & Six music with spins by Steve Lamacq, Mark Lamarr,& Tom Robinson,among many other DJs.

Real juke joint blues, played the way of another age by the baseball capped storytelling troubadour punk of 88 years from the Mississippi delta USA T Model Ford…..This is his first ever appearance in the north, so move over Seasick Steve etc , the fat possum recording artist nicknamed “The Taildragger” is coming your way !!!
Crosby Tyler will open - "A guitar and harmonica rack aside, the red nose is Tyler's only prop in a show that reveals the soft-hatted, careworn voiced Los Angeleno to be as much theatre director as troubadour”.

If indie songbird’s like Cat Power, Fiest or Beth Orton are your thing, with a little bit of White Stripes for good measure then you’ll love Montreal based Canadian songstress Julie Doiron., After fronting Eric’s Trip who had 3 album’s on Sub-Pop, In 1999 she recorded an album with the Ottawa band Wooden Stars, which was honoured with a Juno Award. She then immediately went solo ! She has appeared as a guest musician on album's by The Tragically Hip and Herman Dune. She has also released a split record co-credited to the Austin band Okkervil River. Her 2007 album “Woke Myself Up” was short listed for the Polaris Music Prize (Canada’s Mercury Prize). She will be touring her 9th solo album “I Can Wonder What You Did with Your Day “ which has just been released and been described as happy, positive, hopeful & especially rocking. It’s already garnered radio play on both BBC Radio 2 and Radio 6. She’ll be accompanied by her longtime drummer Dick Morello.
"Tender and utterly unaffected singing that chimes with the deceptively direct lyrics. Short sour-sweet and a near perfect album for springtime " Tourdates.co.uk
"She enunciates with a child's relish, tonguing vowels as though they're glazed in jam. Her voice is apple blossom rich,& the melody capacious" Plan B mag
" It's a blissful record from a contented soul." The Culture

Singer songwriter/guitarist/good guy - Chuck Prophet has being playing for us regularly over the last decade bringing with him his wonderful roots rock- soul groove music & San Francisco based band The Mission Express with his "better half" (Stephanie Finch) on keyboards and background vocals . But he’s been in the rock n roll business for well over 20 years.( A longtime member of LA’s Green On Red etc). We love how Prophet plays his trusted Telecaster guitar and delivers his lyrics deadpan. With a steady stream of critically acclaimed albums to his name , last year he co –wrote with Alejandro Escovedo for Al’s big hit album “Real Animal”. Since then he’s been to Mexico City to record, so look out for his own brand new rock n roll album !

Wayne Taylor & Appaloosa are a hot new Bluegrass band from Washington DC featuring Banjo, Mandolin, Dobro, Upright Bass & Wayne Taylor (Guitar) with fantastic credentials. Between them, these guys have years of experience playing in famous line-up’s including Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys, Bill Emerson & Sweet Dixie & Country Current & indeed Taylor has performed on bills alongside Bill Monroe, John Hartford, & Rhonda Vincent,. Their sound is reminiscent of bands like The Country Gentlemen and Seldom Scene, & this is their first Uk tour & an honour to have them.

Local fab folk-bluegrass foursome Mothers Ruin support

Making a quick return while on the road to a big European Fest the immensely popular Austin-based quintet, The Band of Heathens. They have drawn comparisons to Little Feat, the Band, Gram Parsons, and the Black Crowes, and are considered by some to be the ambassadors of Austin’s thriving music scene. Northern Echo remarked on their recent debut here that “On a night few genuinely did not want to end I had the feeling that here we had a band destined for greater things, They don’t bring a set list, they don’t have a front man, But with so much going on, and each and every musician offering something special it was hard to take it all in”. They bring their Country hued Roots Rock ‘n’ Soul Revival to 240+ shows per year

The name may have changed but everything else is the same, their signature sound, combining the virtuosic soloing and tightness of bluegrass, the band-driven rhythm of old time country, the jerky bounce of jug band - ragtime, and the swagger of good old rock and roll, remaining solidly intact. Described as “bonkers but brilliant” by Maverick, the band had been together for seven years, before graduating on to the US festivals circuit, fine-tuning their skills on the redneck bars and college clubs circuit where they experimented with a suitcase-full of assorted toys to supplement the guitar/ mandolin/ banjo/ fiddle/ upright bass line-up, employing everything from kazoo and jaw harp to washboard, tin can percussion and Chinese blocks.
Last August, as Special Ed & The Shortbus, this white-hot five-piece from Virginia, (Half Hackensaw Boys - half Old Crow Medicine Show) caused a sensation at Edinburgh Festival when they carried off the Herald Angel. The paper’s arts editor described them as “sensational”. They also won a clutch of five-star review’s, a “fave rave” at the Summer Sundae Festival in Leicester – and won an invitation to return for their own headline show at Celtic Connections Festival 09 and got a standing ovation..

Texas based Eric Taylor has been one of the finest southern - songwriters for more than three decades now. He has his own voice and his own vision & his fans range from Steve Earle – “He’s the real deal. Eric Taylor was one my heroes and teachers” to Lyle Lovett – “I’m always the opening act when I’m around Eric. I love his voice, and he has a great narrative quality and sense of detail” .Steve Givens-famous USA promoter of High Valley House Concerts quotes "An Eric Taylor concert is more than a sampling of his substantial repertoire with a few pithy intros and stories thrown in for good measure. It's a seamless performance and a piece of musical theater in which you sometimes don't realize where the stories end and the songs begin. It's a masterful, highly evocative, and riveting piece of art."

With roots in bluegrass, the folk blues, and old-time country, young New England singer/songwriter Naomi Sommers brings a unique and compelling voice to the acoustic music scene., Naomi has released three CDs of original songs on her father's (bluegrass musician and and record producer Phil Rosenthal) independent label. In 2008 Naomi released an album called Gentle As The Sun, recorded in Nashville, and produced by the acclaimed musician/producer Jim Rooney (John Prine, Iris Dement, Nanci Griffith, Bonnie Raitt).

David "Honeyboy" Edwards is literally a living piece of Delta blues history. He was among a group of pre-war itinerant Mississippi Delta blues musicians who wrote the blues template in the 1930's. Born 1915 in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Honeyboy was a disciple of Delta bluesman Big Joe Williams and followed him hopping and hoboing the freight trains of blues folk lore such as the Pea Vine. During the mid-1930s- early 1940’s he worked both as a solo player and with his brother in law Robert Johnson, also Tommy Johnson, Tommy McClellan & The Memphis Jug Band. He & harmonica legend Big Walter Horton travelled throughout Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas too. In 1942 Library of Congress folklorist Alan Lomax recorded 15 of his stories and songs. Honeyboy brought a teenaged Little Walter to Chicago and together they played at that city's famous Maxwell Street Market. Eventually the blues led Honeyboy to Texas and Deep Ellum in Dallas. He recorded for Sam Phillips in Memphis, and then came to Chicago to record for Chess Records. For the last five decades, Honeyboy has continued to record and perform worldwide.  After being  featured in countless books  including Robert Palmer's "Deep Blues" and Peter Guralnick's "Searching for Robert Johnson". Honeyboy put the record straight with his own biography "The World Don't Owe Me Nothing"  published in 1997.  Honeyboy was awarded a Grammy this year aged 93 years old.

A quick return after a hugely successful first ever tour of UK in February for mesmerizing and groovy American roots rock icon James McMurtry (son of famous writer Larry McMurtry) & his Roadhouse Texas Band. McMurtry was discovered early on by John 'Cougar' Mellencamp, who produced his debut album. His voice is hypnotizing he’s a noir-ish story spinner with powerful in your face lyrics (reminding of the raw side of Johnny Cash) all carried out by ultra fine southern rock guitar. The songs are about politics, poverty, injustice and the beauty of Southern swamps & the music is simply fierce…

“McMurtry might be the best topical writer performing right now”- Patterson Hood, Drive-By Truckers

. “Brilliant character sketches...steamy Texas roadhouse rumble” – Dallas Weekly “Sensitive brilliance as a chronicler of quiet desperation.”-Paste

“Texastentialist panorama of gray-sky lucidity and neon highway jungles.” –Village Voice “McMurtry plows the dark, bluesy side of the country field.” —Philadelphia Daily News

Boise-born and Boston-based, young songstress Eilen Jewell has quickly distinguished herself as one of the rising stars of a new generation of roots musicians. Her first two albums,were astonishingly assured efforts, which matched Jewell’s understated yet insightful songs with a rugged blend of Americana styles. Jewell and her longtime band of Jason Beek (drums, harmony vocals), Jerry Miller (electric, acoustic, and steel guitars), and Johnny Sciascia (upright bass) weld elegantly unflinching songwriting with a rustic, pre-60s swagger that encapsulates vintage R&B, Midwestern garage rock, Chicago blues, Western swing and early rocknroll and rockabilly, while maintaining the haunting, jazz folk-inspired purity that first made her an artist to watch. She evokes the same knowingly dolorous spirit as contemporaries Madeleine Peyroux or Jolie Holland as well as her obvious vocal influences Billie Holiday & Loretta Lynn.

“Jewell’s languid vocal is icily sexy. This music is where rockabilly, Chicago blues, café jazz, country, ands swing collide and create a whole new musical galaxy” - Uncut

Crooked Still perform one of the most compelling forms of alternative bluegrass and string band music today. This Boston based quintet led by lead vocalist Aoife O'Donovan with Dr.Gregory Liszt: banjo (Bruce Springsteen’s acoustic band) Corey DiMario: Double bass, tenor guitar, Brittany Haas: Fiddle and cellist Tristan Clarridge were describes as "the most important folk group to emerge from Boston since the early 60's"(Boston Globe), After original cellist Rushad Eggleston left the group in late 07 the solid foundation they built as a group earned them invitations from huge events like the historic Newport and Telluride Festivals. Crooked Still are now on the cusp of a new musical chapter. And the genre-bending sound this young band create will be explosive.
"Crooked Still's vision of string band and bluegrass music sounds like nobody else's... they play their instruments gorgeously, radiating warmth and [a] deep love of the music and songs they play. Aoife O'Donovan has a voice of rare, stunning purity and clarity." - Sing Out!

Earl Gaines the Alabama Soul Blues legend with the voice as good as Mr Bobby Bland finally makes his UK debut. Earl Gaines is one of the many figures whose star just didn't shine as brightly as it should have in the history of soul music. Earl had one major hit "It's Love Baby (24 Hours a Day)," on which he fronted Louis Brooks & His Hi-Toppers, and two other hits later in his career. Over the next two decades he recorded plenty other great material for several labels, However in the '90s, Gaines hooked up with Fred James and returned to the studio to release what has been a satisfying string of soul-blues albums as well as appearing solo and as part of the Excello All-Stars.

“Gaines is truly a Renaissance Man. He is a blues singer who transcends time with his emotional voice and meaningful interpretation of the lyrics” CD Baby

Rob Lutes is a soulful folk blues singer-songwriter from Montreal. He has invited comparisons with several legends in the roots genre from John Hiatt to Chris Smither

The annual visit of Iowa’s top secret….Delta-Country Blues & bottleneck slide guitarist extraordinaire Catfish Keith, Whether wielding a National steel or ‘little bitty’ acoustic guitar , Mr Catfish will always cause your toes to tap & your face to smile. He’s been coming here since the early 90’s & that indeed is a feat in itself. Catfish's innovative style of foot-stomping, deep delta blues and American roots music has kept us spellbound for all those years. Long may he reign !.

Slaid Cleaves is one of Austin's most gifted singer-songwriters. His career blossomed in 2000 with the release of his literate, sepia-toned Americana songs on “Broke Down" and hit a new plateau with "Wishbones" in 2004. It’s been a few years since his last album & indeed a Newcastle appearance. So he journeys over the pond with a new cd “Everything You Love” which was produced by Gurf Morlix & the 1930’s, old-fashioned Little Theatre in Gateshead should be a perfect place for his dusty new tunes.

“Slaid Cleaves has a fantastic voice for carrying bittersweet philosophies couched in a vibrato’ed, bass-rich sonic soundscape of American folk forms. There’s plenty of gold to be panned from these new songs” - The Independent

Lucinda Williams once called her "a folk Nina Simone." But songstress Ana Egge is more country than that. Rose by hippies who grew wheat in North Dakota, the Brooklyn singer–songwriter crafts homespun hymns to sing with your bare feet on the dashboard. Egge's rootsy pedal–steel pop recalls singers like Shawn Colvin, but her sharply observed tales of the overlooked and underpaid feel utterly of the moment.

From New Mexico Nels Andrews sparsely arranged, slyly intelligent country-folk music is stuffed with juniper winds, Juarez jails and long women in short dresses, all delivered with all the gruff urgency of Tom Waits over steel and ruptured guitar. BBC2’s legendary DJ Bob Harris deemed “Sunday Shoes” - Nels first album as his “Album of the Year”. He’s here to promote the follow up “Off Track Betting”