Are you stuck in the post-festive doldrums, struggling with new year lethargy, sat staring into the freezing cold grip of January and can’t quite find the desire to get up and leave your house?
Well maybe a good ol’ dose of folk, roots and bluegrass is what you need.
The highly acclaimed, and rightfully lauded bluegrass band, The Southern Tenant Folk Union, is arriving on these shores next week for a concert on Friday, January 23, at the Villa Marina’s Promenade Suite.
They are being brought over by the tireless and heroic promoter Jonno Gollow, from JonnoPromotions, for their second visit to the Isle of Man, their first being almost exactly five years ago in 2010.
The Southern Tenant Folk Union are playing here as part of their UK-wide tour in support of their sixth album, ‘The Chuck Norris Project’, which is being officially released this month.
They have been widely featured on radio and television, especially since the release of their highly acclaimed fifth album, ‘Hello Cold, Goodbye Sun’.
This led to plenty of coverage across much of the music press, such as ‘Mojo’ and ‘Uncut’, and into the pages of the national newspapers, ‘the Guardian’, The Times’ and ‘The Independent’ to name but a few.
They have also graced the airwaves on radio stations, such as BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4 and across Irish radio too.
They even made an appearance on BBC 2’s ‘The Andrew Marr Show’.
In addition to that, they have also played at many of the top folk festivals in the UK and elsewhere, namely Glasgow’s ‘Celtic Connections’, ‘The Electric Picnic’ in Ireland and ‘The Orkney Folk Festival’ to name but a few.
All that media exposure has made the Southern Tenant Folk Union an act to look out for.
They were formed in 2006 by Irish/Liverpudlian banjo player Pat Garvey, and are based in Edinburgh.
The current line-up features award-winning Scottish singer/songwriter Rory Butler and fiddle player Kathryn Stewart, in amongst a band replete with fiddles, accordions and mandolins.
Basically, if you like your roots, folk and bluegrass, you know you are in good territory here!
Musically, the band are described as ‘...combining a rich blend of musical talent with a high octane Appalachian style’.
They take their influence from American Southern folk roots, as imagined at the time when Irish and Scots emigrants would take their music over the Atlantic and blend it with styles and influences that existed in America way back when, producing what we now know as Americana.
They are named after a ground breaking multi-racial tenant farmers collective from Depression-era America, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union.
Promotor Jonno Gollow is excited about bringing the band back to the Isle of Man again.
And he feels that the Manx audience are in for a genuine musical thrill.
‘Their last visit to the Isle of Man was in January 2010,’ Jonno said.
‘They’re looking forward to playing in the Villa Marina again.
‘Their live show is exciting, engaging and in their hands bluegrass can effortlessly be blended with other genres – folk, roots, Americana – to make a potent, timeless sound.
‘Come and blow away those January blues with some blooming brilliant bluegrass!’
Tickets cost £15 plus booking fee (or £12.50 concessions).
Under 16s are welcome accompanied by at least one responsible adult.
Tickets are on sale from the Villa Marina Box Office, and the Welcome Centre.
They can also be obtained from the hotline, on 600555. The concert is supported by the Isle Of Man Arts Council.