Davesharp.org are pleased to confirm the most important addition to the line up of Decaturville Mash #2 on 21 and 22 April in Preston.
The Saturday night headliners will be.....
Dave Sharp & The Hard Travellers (featuring Ernie's Rhythm Section)
Since the first Hard Travellers played with Dave in 1991 there have been many line ups on both sides of the Atlantic, with the most recent joining Dave at his last New Orleans Mardi Gras celebrations in 2001.
While the latest incarnation will be the youngest ever Travellers, it is appropriate that the 2007 version will pick up where the last left off in the New Orleans style.
When Erin Sharp popped out of her office for lunch one day, the last thing she expected was to discover a new line up for The Hard Travellers. But there busking in Manchester's St Annes Square, she found Ernie's Rhythm Section, four young guys from the small Cheshire town of Marple.
So impressed by what she heard, she immediately phoned Dave to tell him she'd seen this band that would have gone down a storm in the blues bars of New Orleans (where Dave & she lived up to 2002).
As soon as Dave heard them play once, he was convinced he wanted to work with them.
With 2007 being the 180th Anniversary of the first New Orleans
Mardi Gras parade, Dave had been searching for a musicians who could inject his music with some New Orleans magic, but he had never imagined he would find a ready made band who could do this so well and find them just down the
road from him in Manchester.
Ernie's Rhythm Section play blues so authentic you can't believe these guys are only in their early 20s.
Although their own gigs can have a fluid line up of anywhere up 10 players, the core of the band is singer / guitarist (and sometime drummer) Mike, Rik on guitar & harmonica, Sam on stand up bass and Garth on piano & Hammond organ.
These are the players who have become the latest to hold the title
'The Hard Travellers' and will make their full Dave Sharp debut at
Decaturville Mash #2. Dave Sharp & The Hard Travellers (featuring Ernie's Rhythm Section) will be reminiscent of the USA versions of the Hard Travellers who performed with Dave in New Orleans and across the USA in the mid 90s and backed him on many demos recorded at New Orleans Edenfield studios.
Dave and the band commenced rehearsals today, exactly one month before they will take to the stage in Preston on April 21st as Dave Sharp And The Hard Travellers (featuring Ernie's Rhythm Section).
In addition to Dave Sharp & The Hard Travellers, the Decaturville weekend is packed with live music, with four more bands, including rising new Scottish three piece Rocketfox, plus acoustic shows from Dave Sharp, recent Dead Men Walking and Alarm MMIV support act Seamus McLoughlin and more with Dave performing 2 acoustic and 2 electric sets.
Tickets for the Decaturville Weekend are on sale now at:
www.decaturville.co.ukIndividual day tickets are also available.
To hear some of Ernie's Rhythm Section (without Dave Sharp) check out their MySpace site:
www.myspace./com/onlyforthepleasure
