Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara Deer Shed 2010

Loved these guys at the festival and had lovely chat backstage with Mim Suleiman who provided the best dancing of the day, as well as some fantastic backing vocals - gorgeous.

Deershed Festival Launch

I had a great day on Saturday at the launch of the Deer Shed Festival.The full line up has been announced for 17th July and alongside a load of great bands I'm really excited at having Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara playing.

The other big news is that Mark from Great North Strum is going to be MC on the Busk Stop Stage - go fella!

heroes - Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara

It's not banjo but it is blues. The way that Adams and Camara meld African and blues music is stunning, and they are great live. Juldeh Camara is a virtuoso who plays a range of gourd based instruments, some of which he plucks, that are not a million miles away from the gourd banjo. Their recent album 'Soul Science' captures the overlaps between blues and African styles and makes something special out of the two. There's a couple of tracks on the juke box at the moment.