ben paley & tab hunter

BEN and TAB have been playing together for long enough to know better, first in Brighton scratch-band the Aardvarks, later in the infamous bluegrass-rockers The Wild Turkey Brothers (who toured in support of The Levellers and Chumbawumba). Their duo work includes the launch of Evolving Traditions 2, Mrs Casey Music's compilation of the best of young British folk musicians, at the Barbican; working with Damon Albarn and Michael Nyman on the music for the Fox feature film Ravenous, and supplying incidental music for Channel 4's Grand Designs. They have impressed audiences at Fulbeck International Fiddle Festival, Broadstairs Folk Week and Brigg Fiddle Festival with sensitive interpretations of traditional tunes from the British Isles, Europe and America: their range of material reflects their shared love of all traditional music, and they play Irish, American, Swedish and Eastern-European tunes with equal measures of passion, skill and authenticity.

BEN (described by Folk Roots as "just about the best folk-fiddler of his generation") has been playing the fiddle music of the USA, Sweden and Ireland since he was six years old. He has toured widely with his father Tom (founder-member of the seminal New Lost City Ramblers) and recorded with Bing Lyle, Mandragora, The Saw Doctors, Murray Lachlan Young and The New Deal String Band. His collection of Swedish fiddle tunes (Swedish Fiddle Music, an Anthology published by Dragonfly Music) has become the standard work on the subject in this country.