Crossing genres and boundaries - inspiring music at Buxton Fringe
As part of its massive Music category, this year’s Buxton Fringe offers a host of bands and solo performers playing music from a mix of genres including jazz, folk, blues and country.
Blue Woods String Band plays a variety of old time tunes, country ballads and other Americana, the Dimestore Dirtbags present an evening of songs, poems and stories from and about alt-country’s power couple, Susanna and Guy Clark, and Fred Up plumbs the depths and scale the heights of TV-based music. Isaac Neilson launches salvos of howling guitar, swaggering bass and thundering drums, while Gifts From Crows feature hypnotic piano motifs, accompanied by jazz-influenced percussion and soulful saxophone.
Singer-songwriters Hannah Brine and Clive Gregson bring an intimate evening of beautifully crafted folk-pop, inspired by the great artists of the late Sixties and early Seventies, Joe Bayliss creates a soulful, thought-provoking musical experience from his new album, Fragile, Sideways Band creates an engaging, relaxed session of blues/jazz and original material, and Basin Street Jazz and Blues deliver a parade of cool musical gems. There is more jazz plus swing and Latin music as High Peak Big Band makes its welcome return to the Fringe. Also back is Will Hawthorne with his exploration of famous B-sides of classic bands while Rik Roberts’s virtuosic guitar covers a wide range of genres. There are also gigs from Rare Occasion, Responsibly Sauced, Slow Down Motion and late Fringe entry, Zerene, plus the ever-popular mix of music at Club Acoustic.
Some music events cross the boundaries into other areas of Fringe experience, whether it’s Egriega’s mix of music and mime, ARKangel’s musical and poetic evocation of Laurie Lee’s epic teenage walk from his Cotswold home into the jaws of the Spanish Civil War, or Sheffield Music Academy combining music and art in its performance of Prokoviev’s Peter and the Wolf. Fringe regular Darren Poyzer presents his Positive Mental Health Songbook and Katy Allan invites everyone to a Dementia-Friendly coffee concert.
Fringe Marketing Officer Stephanie Billen says: “We are so proud of our accessible and inspiring music programme and the inventiveness shown by our performers as they explore different musical avenues.”