A SEASON of live music performed by accomplished original artists kicks off in Barnard Castle this month.
Programmers at The Witham have lined up four concerts featuring a mix of Americana, cross over blues, folk and roots music.
First up, on Saturday, January 20, is Izzie Walsh a young Manchester-based singer songwriter whose sound blends country, bluegrass, folk and Americana.
She is a two-time British Country Music Association awards winner, an Indie Week UK award recipient and a former BBC Introducing artist of the week.
Second up is The Mark Harrison Band, who will be heading to Barney on Saturday, February 24.
Mark Harrison is an original songwriter, a master guitarist, and accomplished storyteller. Constantly touring and multi-awards-nominated, he is widely considered one of the top artists in UK roots music.
Mark’s band features Charles Benfield on double bass and Ben Welburn on drums and percussion, who form an acclaimed rhythm section.
On Saturday, March 9, singer-songwriter Ajay Srivastav will take to the stage with a genre-bending mix of Indian folk, blues and Americana with lyrics that explore issues of identity, loss and spirituality.
His latest album Powerless reached number 1 in the Amazon Blues chart and received rave reviews. He will be joined on stage with Vinod Kerai on tabla.
The final show in the series features Lancashire-based singer-songwriter Ian M Bailey.
Ian's is on a creative roll at the moment, thanks to a trio of critically acclaimed albums co-written with Glasgow tunesmith Daniel Wylie of the band Cosmic Rough Riders, the latest of which – We Live In Strange Times – was released in November.
Ian will perform material from his back catalogue up to current day, played stripped back to just acoustic guitar and voice when he takes to the stage on Saturday, March 30.
More information of all four performances, along with ticket details are available online at thewitham.org.uk.
