Corn Potato provide some Stateside taste

The popular series of shows at the Meeting Place in Stonelaw Parish Church will be holding an extra gig this month.

And they will be welcoming some Stateside visitors for the show.

Performing on Friday, June 17, will be the Corn Potato String Band.

They’ll be aiming to delight the audience with their driving fiddle tunes and harmonious singing, which has already seen the band perform across the US, Canada, Europe, Mexico, and India.

The group are all multi-instrumentalists dedicated to continuing the music and dance traditions of the central and southern US.

In addition to being champion fiddlers they play banjo, guitar, bass and mandolin and deftly handle many different antiquated styles including ballads, hodowns, country rags and southern gospel, specialising in twin fiddling and double banjo tunes.

The band members include Jonah Lewis, who is a a multi-instrumentalist, performer and educator.

He has won awards at the Clifftop Appalachian String Band Festival, including First Place Neotraditional Band in 2008, and at the Galax Old Fiddlers Convention, including First Place Bluegrass Fiddle in 2007, and he has performed at major festivals from the US to the UK and from Italy to Finland.

Also in the band is Lindsay McCaw, who has been playing American old time music for over 15 years.

She performs music and calls dances around the country, playing the fiddle, banjo, guitar, accordion and piano.

She is also part of several theatre and puppet companies, including her own, called the Dolly Wagglers.

Completing the line-up is Ben Belcher, who’s an accomplished banjo player and a talented artist.

He has distinguished himself with such awards as the Independent Music World Series, which he won with The Hot Seats in Nashville in 2006, with the first place Neotraditional band award at the Appalachian String Band Festival in 2008 and a Herald Angel award at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe.

Past praise for the band includes the website Popmatters saying : “They blew the audience away.

“A half-hour of standards, obscurities and charming banter later, the decidedly hip multi-instrumentalists received one of the most thunderous ovations of any opening act I’ve witnessed in quite some time.”

And the Times of India wrote that they were “a unique slice of American culture.”

The group perform at the Meeting Place on June at 7.30pm, with doors opening at 7pm.

Entry is a £5 donation with homemade cakes and tea/ filter coffee included.

It’s recommended you come early to avoid disappointment as there’s only limited seating.