Brennen Leigh & Joshua Hedley
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Thu 6 Jun19:30Auditorium
Joshua Hedley is “a singing professor of country & western”. An ace fiddle player, a sharp guitarist, and a singer with a granite twang, he’s devoted his entire life to the study of this genre.
“When all my friends went off to college, I went to Nashville. I was 19 years old playing honkytonks and getting an education.”
His 2018 debut, Mr. Jukebox, released on Jack White's Third man label, showcased his deep knowledge of country’s history, in particular the beery ballads of the 1950s and ‘60s. His mentors were George Jones, Ray Price, and Glen Campbell, but his most remarkable accomplishment was putting his own spin on their style.
Programme
In this dream double bill, we pair Brennen & Joshua with the North East’s very own king of western swing, Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra.
The Tea Pad are ten years into a remarkable story that began with four friends studying at Newcastle University and now sees them playing venues and festivals across the UK and mainland Europe.
The Tea Pad sound draws on myriad influences – from Hank Williams to Django Reinhardt, Tom Waits to The Beatles – yet ultimately sounds like nobody else, that North Eastern Swing style that’s utterly their own and changing all the time.
The band tour the way bands should – widely and endlessly – winning friends and fans at each new show with notable performances at festivals like Glastonbury, Bestival, Wilderness and Cambridge Folk Festival. They’ve appeared three times on Radio 4’s Loose Ends, and had their music played by everyone from Marc Riley to Huey Morgan.
Amazing musicians who play with both passion and a sympathetic regard for the history of the genre.
