Bluegrass at French festival

[Christopher Howard-Williams]

We just had our biggest country music festival here in France (Craponne) where some fine bluegrass bands from the US have played in the past. This year we had two new ones who did great shows and were much appreciated: King Wilkie (who have been much discussed on here already) who did a great mix of contemporary bluegrass with traditional style and South Austin Jug Band (who I did not know) who were also great. Brian Beken on fiddle and mandolin (which is why we are here) was phenomenal: if Chris Thile didn't exist, this guy may be the one to fill the gap. James Hyland on vocals sounded like a mix of Dylan, Steve Earle and John Prine! Good bands, both, that I can highly recommend seeing.

[hellindc]

Hi, Chris. Greetings from Dan in St. Louis. I can tell the readers of this board that from my visit a year ago, I know that you guys know how to put on a great show -- whether you're featuring a band or playin' yourselves.

[Christopher Howard-Williams]

Hey Dan. Thanks for that. We sure had a ball up on the campsite. Hope all is well with you.
I was wondering if other board readers had seen South Austin Jug Band and what they thought of them - and the mandolin player Brian Beken. He knocked most of us out and even got the hard core country fans whooping and a hollering.

[Christopher Howard-Williams]

I just realised when preparing an article for the fbma magazine that the mandoline player of South Austin Jug Band is in fact Dennis Ludiker. My apologies to him and if you get a chance to hear him play - don't pass it up!
Bryan Beken plays fiddle (not bad at all) and also gets mandolin credit on the cd, which is where I went wrong!!