Lewes Guitar Festival - The Mighty Hoedown

If you’re unfamiliar with Hayseed Dixie, then the idea that they sing AC/DC covers in a hillbilly, mountain/bluegrass fashion might sound a bit weird. But it’s the truth, they do. Not only that, once their first album ‘A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC’ flew off the shelves they decided to do more of the same and came up with a new music genre ‘rockgrass’. Rockgrass is literally classic rock songs played at double the speed on banjo, mandolin, fiddle and guitar. Their second album ‘A Hillbilly Tribute to Mountain Love’ featured more pop rock classics like Centerfold, Fat Bottom Girls and I Love Rock & Roll and their third, ‘Kiss My Grass’ was a tribute to rock gods, Kiss. The Dixies stop off in Lewes on Friday as part of their UK tour, their superfast, foot-stomping music has taken the UK by storm, so dust off your dungarees and get down to the Big Top.

Also on the bill are The Curst Sons, who play a rich and raw mix of American roots music, with lots of stompin’ and hollerin’. They have played in Lewes before and as their singer Willi Kerr told Viva Lewes “we have an eccentric but enthusiastic following among the discerning drinkers of Lewes… who have caught on to The Curst Sons philosophy - old is the new young.” The Von Trolley Quartet are a trio (sic) of Australian musicians who play vaudeville rock on small, undersized instruments. If you miss VTQ on Friday night, they will be playing for free in the Grange Gardens on Saturday afternoon. KA