A high-energy and eclectic eight-piece, combining fiddle, banjo, mandolin, accordian and guitars with knockout four-part harmonies. You could call it Americana, country-folk, folk-pop or even urban bluegrass, but it’s difficult to do justice to the sheer range of styles this band is willing to take on and, if necessary, transform.

The band formed in 2009, a loose collection of friends who over the years had written and performed in a variety of guises and came together anew out of a simple desire to make music again. Life had intervened in the shape of day jobs and families – banjo player Tim Dowling is a much-loved columnist for The Guardian, singer James Studholme runs the Blink production company, responsible, among other things, for the John Lewis Christmas ads. So when the new musical adventure began it was with no thought other than to write songs, play for pleasure, and to have plenty of fun on the way.

However, what started as a hobby, albeit one that was passionately and wholeheartedly indulged, began to take on a life and momentum of its own.

The band have worked with top-name producers – first Eliot James (of Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, Noah and the Whale, and Two Door Cinema Club fame), who crafted the band’s second CD, From the Land of Miracles, and Al Scott (Seth Lakeman, Oysterband, The Levellers, Asian Dub Foundation), who oversaw the third album, Westward Ho! and is currently producing the band’s fourth album.

www.exeterphoenix.org.uk