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CD & Festival Reports
	It's here, it's ready to roll !! Our new CD, New Roads, was recorded on 31st May and 1st June. It was done on the two hottest days of the year so far, at the beautiful location of Glenrothes Digital Studios. The studio is a converted coach-house on the banks of the River Leven, which runs out of Loch Leven to the sea. We recorded all of the tracks live, only overdubbing the harmonies and some mandolin rhythm "chops". 14 tracks of some of our favourite songs and instrumentals, swapping instruments and having a good time .
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Inside the Gates Old Town Hard Hearted Stories We Can Tell
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Inside the Gates Old Town Hard Hearted Stories We Can Tell
	Will Wood, the studio engineer, did a sterling job of capturing the liveliness and bounce the band generated. Despite the heat, we kept this up throughout the two sessions. Everyone is pretty pleased at the results. You can judge for yourself from the audio clips at the left. Here are a couple of pics from inside the studio......

Updates on our Festival dates:- North Wales Bluegrass Festival

Well, the weather held out, not a drop of rain from the time we pitched the Canvas Campus, our pair of tents. After a warm-up, we made our way to the town hall, where the main stage is. Undaunted by the fact that we were the final band on the Friday night, we took to the stage and launched straight into our first number. It went like a dream, so we decided to stay and play the rest of the set !! Great crowd, good applause and two encores. Back to the campsite where we sat until 2am having a chat and a drink with friends John Clarke and Bill, his brother-in-law, all the way down from Scotland as usual. Saturday morning, up to one of the marquees for Robin and Jim to present a mandolin workshop, backed up by Stevie. In the afternoon, we did another show in the town hall, standing in for a band who'd been unable to make the festival.

Then a visit round a bunch of old friends, meeting people and visiting the instrument vendors. After a quick bite, it was back down to the hall to watch some of the other bands before we went on. We were particularly impressed with the most recent edition of the Down County Boys, better than ever with their new mandolin player. Did our last set to thunderous applause, more encores, then off for a couple of drinks while watching the American band, Yeehaw Junction. A bit disappointed at the lack of jam sessions back at the campsite, so we had to make our own entertainment with a bottle of what made Tain famous and copious amounts of humour. Hugh is still sore from laughing at jokes about our flat-faced ornithological nocturnal visitor, a tawny owl in an elm tree above the tent. But we won't go into that, suffice to say we enjoyed our first outing to an appreciative Bluegrass crowd, and thanks to all those who bought the CD's. Most thanks go to John and Gill for having the forethought and faith to book us for the main event, solely based on the fact that they knew our individual talents, and knew we'd make a good combination. Cheers, but next year we hope the facilities for ablutions improve somewhat......

Then on to....the Yorkshire Dales:- This festival will be hard to top !!!

What can we say but thanks to Kevin Garratt for inviting us to play!! Pity the program had us down as "The Scottish Band" , which we thought was a clever Shakespearean reference meaning if they mentioned us by name, it would bring bad luck, namely, the RAIN. But we were assured that it meant THE Scottish Band. Ha ha, thangyewvermuch, you Yorkshire folks are toooo kind, shucks, blush. Anyways, the weather just couldn't have been better, sunny- with- a- slight- breeze all weekend. The Friday night concert went well, as we were more relaxed, but The Bounce and The Drive were right there in our fingers from the get-go. The main hall was a great venue, and the audience were really enjoying all of the bands, who were of a very high standard indeed. A good jam session followed outside the main bar.

On the Saturday, we spent the day again meeting new friends ( and selling them CD's ), catching up with old friends, Dave and Margaret Logan amongst them. Met up with Arthur Robinson, Dave Bresnen, Digger Dave, John Clarke again (John is a master banjo-maker and a true craftsman, who later had to attend to both Robin's Stelling Red Fox and Jim's old Gibson banjos for minor but tricky repairs, due to the abuse they suffered over the weekend)!! Robin almost bought yet another Martin guitar, a D35, but that's another story.....Anyway, had a great time jamming with Bill Forster at the Griffin banjo tent, with Jim clawhammering on a couple of the gorgeous Griffins while Bill picked his banjer.

Come Saturday night, we had a night free, so it was up to the main bar, watched a few of the brilliant bands, and kicked off another jam session, which started around 7pm and went continuously till 1:30 am. Old mates Kipper Tranter and John Weighells played for the first couple of hours, while we were joined by an ever-changing lineup of musicians and singers. Highlights had to be 4-fiddle versions of Wheel Hoss and Roanoke, with a fiery fiddler from the London area called Emily, and Gary Payne's super high harmonies on top of Jim and Stevie's on "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke" and "Workin' on a Building" ..incredible stuff !! Hugh's fingers actually started to burst as he thumped away on the bass, having to tape them up with insulating tape from Robin's tool kit. Oh, and Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike were pretty good too...

The next morning showed the jam had also taken it's toll on Stevie's fingers ! A blister on one of his fretting fingers meant a painful gig in the afternoon, but he troupered on. Another great gig, in which we were very pleased to see that much of the audience was made up of some of the top Bluegrass musicians in Britain, who had made the effort to come and see the band. Then back to a six-hour drive home, felling well pleased at being part of such a wonderful festival. And the ablutions were fine at this one.

Thanks again , Kevin for showing faith. Just get the bloody name right next year.