When the Pokey LaFarge travelling show glides into town, the ladies swoon and legions of new fans fall for his unique brand of songcraft, sharp personality, whiz-bang guitar pickin’ and natty line in showmanship.  Following resounding success in the UK on the back of their triumphant appearance at Glasgow’s prestigious Celtic Connections Festival in January, Pokey and his band - The South City Three, from St Louis, Missouri - won invitations to four major festivals.

They return to Europe straight from a main stage appearance at the Newport Folk Festival, to take their hot brand of “riverboat soul” to the big Open House event in Belfast, Northern Ireland; Denmark’s Tonder Festival, Leicester’s big Summer Sundae Weekender in England, and a second run at the world-famous Edinburgh Festival.

Influential magazine, The List, said: “There’s more than just showbiz glitz to this critter. Like all genii, there’s a little bit of madness in there too, and LaFarge is a sweet singer and a dextrous instrumentalist. Go, be delighted.”

On its release in February, the band’s new album went straight to the Number 5 slot on the American FAR Chart compiled from monthly returns submitted by some of the most influential radio presenters and producers in the USA.  Acoustic magazine’s Julian Piper welcomed the CD as “honest-to-goodness sheet-kicking music of the highest order”  

The hugely-influential Americana UK gave the album a top score 10/10 rating with enthusiastic reviewer Sian Claire Owen stating: “Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three are awesome. And that’s a cotton-pickin fact. They are hitting the UK this August, so keep your diaries clear!”

Spread the news:  There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight!

Website: www.pokeylafarge.net                       video link: http://vimeo.com/9493703

Everyone's talking about them as the hottest new act on the rootsy Americana scene and ever since UK radio started playing tracks from the sensational new album, Fields of Fescue in December, and Americana UK awarded the CD an 8-out-of-10 rating, describing the release as "blisteringly good", the word has spread like an out-of-control bushfire right across Europe too.

As a result, the album soared to the Number 11 slot on the Euro Americana Chart after so many contributors - mostly music journalists and radio presenters who send in returns - included it as one of their latest fave raves.

Meanwhile, Scotland’s most highly-respected music writer, Rob Adams, writing in The Herald, has described the band as “a treasure” while reviewing the album for The Herald. Awarding Fields of Fescue and 4-out-of-5 rating, he said:

We look for wonderful, exciting music and we found it: Chris Stout and Catriona McKay are two incredible, innovative, dynamic and breath-taking musicians.  As individual musicians they need little introduction to traditional music audiences, either in the UK or much further afield, both being leading exponents on their chosen instruments and in their respective musical fields.

Shetland born Chris (fiddle and viola) is hailed as one of Scotland’s leading fiddlers / violinists, whether in a solo capacity, as a member of the group Fiddlers’ Bid, leading his own musically diverse quintet, the ‘Chris Stout Theory’, or indeed soloing with the likes of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra or even the Singapore Chinese National Orchestra. In 2009 alone his travels took him to Brazil, the USA, Japan and the Far East in general, Australia, Europe and Scandinavia, while 2010 commenced with several performances in at the world famous Celtic Connections festival followed by a tour in Jordan.

Born in Dundee, but now resident in Glasgow, Catriona, is unquestionably one of Scotland’s most talented, diverse and exciting harp players, ever-willing to experiment and crossing all musical boundaries into the bargain.  In 2007 she won the coveted ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ category at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards and her recent solo album ‘Starfish’ received glowing accolades on a world-wide basis with the Irish Times labelling it “extraordinarily beautiful”. She is also a member of Fiddlers Bid.

Chris and Catriona will release a new duo album in summer 2010 entitled ‘White Nights’ which they say will be “a musical celebration of Northerness”, in particular the light that comes with either the long Shetland summer evenings (the Simmer Dim) or the dramatic light of the islands winters.