29th August 2010 - August Acoustic festival
This will be our first one day event and will feature 4 sensational acts covering a wide spectrum of music. From Richard Shindell, a singer songwriter with an amazing repertoire to Megson - nominees in the BBC folk duo of the year 2009 and 2010. The New Essex Bluegrass Band are generally acknowledged to be one of the best in the country - (check out the stunning u-tube clip) and Cherry Lee Mewis has one of the best acoustic blues voices around!
We plan to start at about 2.00pm and finish at around 11.00pm and there will be a full bar! A Hog Roast is included in the ticket price - it should be a great day!
Ticket price (bookable in advance)is £21.00. To book call 01223 208937 during office hours or write or e-mail. We accept most credit cards as well as cheques made payable to Minstrel Court.
Richard Shindell
In March 2009 whilst staying at a friends house we heard a couple of tracks by an American artist we had never heard of called Richard Shindell and were immediately captivated. The next thing we knew we were driving to Holland to watch him perform and it was then we decided to create our events venue at Minstrel Court from scratch and one day ask him back! He supported Joan Baez on her recent UK tour and she used three of his songs on her last album. They are amazingly crafted from beautiful ballads to up tempo country, all accompanied by stunning plectrum work.
The u-tube clip is about a Civil War bride waiting for the return of her husband.
Megson
We found out about Megson when we were talking about music with a friend who repairs our computers and she mentioned a band local to us who had been nominated for Best Duo in the 2009 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards (they have been nominated again this year) and gave us a CD to listen to. As well as doing new takes on traditional folk they have written some great songs themselves and as soon as we saw them live we felt that they would be perfect at Minstrel Court!
New Essex Bluegrass Band
Another band who came to our attention after someone suggested a utube clip. It simply took our breath away and we had to find out more!
Since 1994, the New Essex Bluegrass Band has enjoyed over fifteen years as perhaps the most traditional sounding of all the UK bluegrass bands.
From the outset the band adopted the single microphone as the most appropriate form of stage sound, and have inspired many of the other British bands to do the same.
They have played nearly all of the UK festivals and have appeared four times at the European World of Bluegrass in Holland. At Didmarton in 2002 they closed the Saturday evening concert with no less than eight encores, and received four encores at the 2003 A1 Festival. Last year they added Lithuania to their list of European festivals, and at the La Roche Bluegrass Festival in France they took second place in the Best European Band contest.
Scroll through the first 30% of the attached clip and just smile!!
Cherry Lee Mewis
We first met local virtuoso guitarist Max Milligan thirty years ago when we had our own recording studio and his recent teaming with Cherry Lee Mewis (yes - that is her real name!) is one of the best ever! Performing a huge array of material from powerful blues to soulful ballads she can cover virtually every branch of acoustic music - not to be missed!