Feast of fiddlers at the Shire Hall

Published on 7th February 2008 in Ents

Howden Live presents one of the world's most admired fiddle players next Saturday.

Tom McConville, primarily known as The Newcastle Fiddle Player, is a virtuoso musician and fantastic singer. His rich and warm voice makes his interpretation of traditional and contemporary songs greatly admired by singers throughout the world. In great demand as a performer, session musician and teacher, playing the fiddle is his lifelong passion and he has achieved every player's dream of creating his own unique, instantly recognisable sound. His live performances combine a roller-coaster of musical delights from fast, rhythmic dance tunes through to beautiful slow airs and of course, great singing.

Renowned for his musical accompaniments, Tom has played on literally hundreds of albums. The list includes: Barbara Dixon, Richard Thompson, Allan Taylor and Lindisfarne. And although he has shared stages throughout the world with Stephan Grappelli, Sean McGuire, Mark O'Connor, Paul Brady and the Chieftains, Tom has never forgotten his roots and is as happy in the intimate atmosphere of a small folk club as he is at the largest festivals.

Dave Wood, from Derbyshire, is regarded as one of the leading guitarists on the folk scene today due to his innovative, rhythmical accompaniment style. He has performed alongside an impressive array of musicians including Catriona MacDonald, Claire Mann, Brian Conway and Bill Jones, and features in the powerhouse quintet CrossCurrent. He is also in demand as a bouzouki player and vocalist as well as a workshop leader and tutor. Tom was born on Tyneside where Dave now resides and a wealth of their material is drawn from this region, as well as the west coast of Ireland. They play with great power and passion and never fail to enthral audiences with their virtuoso playing and singing.

Supporting them will be The Hut People, an accordion and percussion duo. The accordionist is Sam Pirt, who plays with 422 and won the Radio 2 folk awards a few years back. Sam is a very experienced musician who is well established in the folk world. Gary Hammond is the percussionist, who for the past 12 years has recorded and toured with The Beautiful South. He has worked with Nina Simone and many other groups and set-ups within the world music and jazz/pop world. They both have a love of Scandinavian, English and European folk tunes which are played with an accordion/multi-percussion twist.

Tickets are £10 and are available from Touchwood Homecare, 2 Market Place, Howden on 01430 431535. They are also available at DT's Rockshop, 59 Pasture Road, Goole, on 01405 767282 or from www.digyorkshire.com Doors open at 7.30pm for an 8pm start.