FOLK and bluegrass band The Southern Tenant Folk Union will be playing at the Promenade Suite at the Villa Marina, Douglas, early next year.
The Edinburgh-based band – formed by Belfast-born five-string banjo player Pat McGarvey – are being brought to the Island by Jonno Gollow of JonnoPromotions on Saturday, January 30.
Tickets for the gig go on sale tomorrow (Saturday).
They tak
e their name from the groundbreaking multi-racial union of sharecroppers and non-landowning tenant farmers founded in Arkansas in the 1930s.
Writing and performing their own unique brand of Old-Time, Bluegrass, Gospel and Celtic Folk, The Southern Tenant Folk Union appropriate themes from traditional folk songs and 20th century Americana music to document and reflect modern life through styles made popular by musicians such as The Carter Family, Roscoe Holcomb, The Incredible String Band, Steve Earle and The Dillards.
Pat McGarvey served his musical apprenticeship touring the world and recording a number of albums with UK/US Americana band The Coal Porters. That grounding plus countless other collaborations with key Americana acts including Peter Case, The Arlenes, Tandy, Amy Rigby, Rosie Flores, Jason McNiff and Bob Neuwirth gave him the real experience he needed to fuse the band's American folk sound and British roots with his own Celtic heritage.
Keen to find a more personal outlet for his writing, in early 2006, McGarvey gathered a collective of like-minded musicians that share his love of traditional music, each with their own individual take on such tradition.
Musicians like Roddy Neilson (fiddle and vocals) with a background in Scottish Folk, singer-songwriter and percussionist John Langan (Danny Kyle Award winner at Celtic Connections 2008), acclaimed mandolinist Adam Bulley, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Chris Purcell from the Edinburgh music scene along with Silas Child on upright bass and vocals.
John Langan will not be appearing at the Isle of Man gig due to another engagement.
Once up and running, The Southern Tenant Folk Union released their eponymous debut album of original material in January 2007 to acclaim, positive reviews and national radio play.
The rest of the year saw them playing festivals, arts centres and clubs around the UK and Ireland and, a little more than 12 months later, a follow-up album, Revivals, Rituals & Union Songs, was released.
The band have been touring extensively in the UK and Europe and their third album is due for release in April 2010.
Pat McGarvey said: 'People are always amazed at how energetic the up-tempo tunes are and how soulful the slower introspective songs sound.
'It's still unusual to see a band that don't hide behind drums or walls of volume, and can sing and play great original songs in an emotionally engaging manner whilst obviously having a good time doing it.'
Their exciting live show brings the full all-acoustic sound of banjo, fiddle, lots of harmony and gospel-influenced vocals and has earned them excellent reviews in Mojo, Uncut, The Irish Times and Maverick Magazine. Plus they've had airplay from BBC Radio 2 (Mark Lamarr and Steve Lamacq), BBC 6 Music (Tom Robinson and Gideon Coe), BBC Scotland (Iain Anderson, Global Gathering) plus many other shows in the UK and further afield.
Tickets for the Promenade Suite show, priced £12 (£10 concessions) are available from tomorrow from the Welcome Centre at the Sea Terminal, Douglas, the Villa Marina box office, by ringing the ticket hotline on 600555 and online at www.villagaiety.com.
Local support to be confirmed.
www.jonnopromotions.com www.myspace.com/southerntenantfolkunion