New Essex Bluegrass BandContact Music History Members New gigs Past gigs Single mic BG memories Links
Since 1994, the New Essex Bluegrass Band has enjoyed over twelve years as perhaps the most traditional sounding of all the UK bluegrass bands. The material comes from the repertoires of the early bluegrass bands, Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Stanley Brothers, Reno & Smiley, and Jim & Jesse, as well as more modern bands who have created fresh new work in the same tradition. Banjo, mandolin and fiddle drive the faster songs, and provide subtle back-up to the authentic duet and trio vocal harmonies of the slower songs. 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. The New Essex Bluegrass Band have played nearly all of the UK festivals and have appeared three 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. With the addition of a fiddle player in 2005 they continued to delight UK festival audiences, from Guildtown in Scotland to Newquay in Cornwall and Llandudno in Wales, showing how authentic bluegrass should be performed. Last updated: Tuesday, 19th December, 2006, GPS |