Survived Didmarton, Failed at Hitch-hiking

Nervous? Us?

Howdy!

Well we returned from playing at the Didmarton Bluegrass festival last weekend and had a blast whilst we were there.

Cool as a cucumber

We played on the Ogri stage Friday afternoon to a lovely crowd who were tapping along and smiling. It was a bit strange for us having separate mics as we usually like to huddle round the one mic and find safety in each other’s company. Going from that to having separate mics does make you feel a little more exposed.

Tim never let his knocked bass bridge affect his performance. He rose above it.

But the crowd was absolutely fantastic – it’s such an amazing atmosphere at Didmarton and whilst we were definitely more jittery than when playing our fondly familiar venues, this was still a whole heap of fun.

I’ve put up some pics, and you can catch the videos of the festival here if you look for the “Didmarton 2010” series of vids.

There were some amazing acts on over the weekend including The Peter Rowan Band, and the stunning Scoville Units.

I also enjoyed the lovely Lynne Butler’s performance (on her own – how brave). Lynne hosts a radio show on UK country Radio and you should definitely check it out (not just because she plays us on there )

The New Essex Bluegrass Band who I’m personally very very fond of were there on top form. As always they gave a tight performance with spinetingling harmonies. One of my favourite bands at the moment is The Biggin Hillbillies and I absolutely love Heather Bristow with her beautiful original songs.  And there was our good friend Mo Jackson playing with her partner Colin and Lucy Ray as the Lil Kitties with great clawhammer banjo, mandolin, guitar and sweet

Malc's excited face

harmonies.  Definitely check them all out if you can!

Oh, and the weekend wasn’t without a little drama. Just before we were about to go on stage Tim noticed the bridge on his bass had been knocked considerably.

He consulted Malc for some expert repair advice and Malc duly whacked it till it moved (almost) back in place.

Then, on the Sunday, after discovering that there were no taxis on the Sunday, Malc and I had to hot foot it through trees and along the verge frantically trying to hitch-hike the 2.3 miles (thanks Google maps) to the train station.

I'm desperately trying to remember the next chord / words

We failed miserably at the hitch-hiking, (something to do with carrying a banjo and mandolin?)  but as we arrived on the platform to see the train pulling away we yanked on all the door handles until it stopped… How the conductor laughed! (he didn’t – he was very angry…)

Hope to see you soon!

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