Time to dust off the Christmas & New Year festivities and mark in your diary that Irvine Folk Club starts 2018 with Jed Grimes as special guest on Wednesday 17th January.
From South Tyneside, Jed Grimes is a singer, guitarist, producer, raconteur and arranger. He also plays lap steel guitar and bouzouki. Jed has been a member of a number of bands, most notably Hedgehog Pie and The Hush. In recent times Jed has gone solo.
It was in the hope that it would open the door to meeting girls that Jed started playing a cheap plywood guitar. He then fell in with the Doonan family, and from there became a member of Hedgehog Pie. They were really successful in the 1970s and Jed remained a member of three different Hedgehog line-ups in that time. Jed was also a member of Dust the Needle, Pacamax and the aforementioned Hush.
His material is taken from Northumberland, Ireland and Appalachia and he sings traditional and self-penned songs in a voice known for its richness and depth. Known for not taking image management too seriously, Jed enjoys sharing a story and a chorus with an audience of whatever size.
Twice nominated for BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Jed’s first solo CD was Head On with his most recent being North Face released in 2016. It was Jed who put together a much acclaimed 40 track CD box set called Northumbria Anthology.
Hear Jed Grimes at Irvine Folk Club on Wednesday 17th January in Vineburgh Community Centre in Quarry. It’s BYOB, a Café is available and it all starts at 8pm.
The very next day on 18th January the 25th Celtic Connections bursts into action. The Programme says that the opening gala concert