Martin Stephenson and the Daintees

Friday 9 January, 8.00pm
Tickets: £12.00

Martin Stephenson has been one of the UK’s best-loved musicians for over 30 years. 2013 album California Star saw him reunited with The Daintees, the band he’s intermittently fronted through a string of albums since his teens in the North East.

Always popular on the circuit, Stephenson’s ‘must see’ live performances are an exuberant tour-de-force combining heart-in-your-mouth intimacy with playful humour and warm self-deprecation.

The Daintees’ critically acclaimed 1986 début Boat to Bolivia showcased Stephenson’s songwriting, poetic romanticism and spiritual depth – so marking him out as a soulful cream of the leftfield crop during the self-obsessed 1980s.

Never pandering to a particular scene, Stephenson’s lightness of touch on a varied mix of musical styles was immediately apparent. His path was destined to be a lifelong journey through the music he loved: folk, ragtime, jazz, rockabilly, show tunes, punk-pop and country.

California Star continues his tradition for outstanding songwriting, and is the bookend on a discography now amounting to 40 albums. Martin will be reunited for this Out to Lunch special with all of the original Daintees for possibly the show of the festival.