World-renowned US blues act the Erin Harpe Country Blues Duo will be appearing at the Peel Centenary Centre (Atholl Room) for the very first time on April 14.

The Duo have been called “today’s country blues at its very best” by America’s oldest blues periodical Living Blues Magazine, who crowned Erin “one of the finest fingerpicking acoustic blues singers in the land”.

A passionate purveyor of the vintage country blues and roots music she was brought up on, Erin is considered one of the premier acoustic blues pickers in the world today, showing off her feel-good, ragtime-influenced Piedmont roots in her award-winning Country Blues Duo, aka “CBD”.

The group features Erin on acoustic guitars, vocals, kazoo & foot percussion, with her husband, Jim Countryman, on ukulele bass and backing vocals.

The pair’s foot-stomping back-porch blues transports the audience to the Delta, with catchy and danceable vintage classics by the likes of Memphis Minnie, Mississippi John Hurt, Tommy Johnson and Blind Blake – elevated by Erin’s own interpretations – mixed in seamlessly with original compositions and country blues takes on popular songs.

The act has been a hit everywhere from intimate venues to blues festivals, from the US to the UK and EU, to rum bars in Jamaica!

Support is from Isle of Man performer and guitar teacher John Gregory AKA Blue John who toured the British Isles with the Erin Harpe Country Duo back in 2019 and can’t wait to see and hear his friends again. John has been described as “an outstanding musician of early blues and ragtime styles,” by Mississippi John Hurt’s biographer, Dr Phil Ratcliffe.

Your chance to hear from the authors of the popular new book of traditional Manx folklore!

The authors will discuss the background of the project and the process of creating it, as well as sharing some of their favourite and telling sites. These folklore sites are located all over the Isle of Man and include holy wells, fairy caves, giant’s rocks, ghost bridges, and the creepiest place the authors have ever visited.

This illustrated talk will give a picture of five years’ worth of research into over 400 folklore sites around the Island, and give the audience a chance to meet and ask questions of the authors.

The evening will offer a unique and surprising insight into the treasures within ‘A Guide to the Folklore Sites of the Isle of Man.’