Folk rock Ceilidh (Lewes Folk-Rock Festival)

This year’s Lewes Folk Rock Festival is to end with something of a bang. “We’re having a Ceilidh”, says caller and organiser of Lewes Ceilidh, Gill Emerson. “The music will be of particularly high quality this session”, she continues. “Linda Game is the fiddler from local band The Fold, of international fame, and drummer Tom Andrew plays the drums for the same group. Graham Burgess is the keyboard player from Jethro Tull tribute band the Dayglo Pirates, and Connie Everard is an extremely good double bassist, who plays in the slap bass style”. The music will have a Celtic tone at times, I’m told, “but it’ll all be rocked up”.

“The music will be of stand-alone quality”, she continues. “Linda and Tom are famous for their improvised duets”, she continues. “They play together all the time, so they produce an extremely tight sound. There will also be a couple of pro percussionists - Adam and Tom - who will play during the interval”. Punters are welcome to turn up whether they want to dance or not, but Gill has a warning for the latter category. “I’m very good at getting people on the dance floor”, she says. “Not many stay standing”. Brighton brewers Dark Star are running a bar, which will be open for at least an hour after the dance finishes “so people can unwind and share experiences of the festival”. Gill herself will need the rest. “I’ll have been dancing for three days”, she says. AG