FROM folk to blues and alt-country, the sound of music will be ringing out across Farndale next month as The Band Room hosts three gigs.
On the bill on Sunday, May 5 is American folk legend Michael Hurley, whose has experienced an extraordinary resurgence in recent years.
His body of work is one of the most important in modern Americana, from 1964’s debut First Songs on Smithsonian Folkways, through 1971’s Armchair Boogie and 1976’s Have Moicy – which was proclaimed “the greatest folk album of the rock era” by The Village Voice and a Top 20 LP of the 1970s by Rolling Stone magazine – to his recent critically-acclaimed work on Devandra Banhart’s label, Gnomonsong.
On Friday, May 10, country blues singer Valerie June takes to the stage, described by The Band Room as “the missing link between Memphis Minnie and Tracy Chapman”, but whose fusion of blues, folk, gospel, soul, Appalachian and bluegrass has also been informed by the troubadour spirit of Woody Guthrie, Blind Willie McTell, Nina Simone, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones.
The Handsome Family have already sold out their gig on Friday, May 24. Direct from Albuquerque, New Mexico, they have been described as “The Beatles of the folk world” and “alt-country’s White Stripes”, and return to The Band Room for a fifth show. For further details of all concerts, visit www.thebandroom.co.uk
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