Woody Pines (Jonathan Woods to his mum) had been writing and playing as well as any of his generation long before producing his debut solo album in 2005.

The material is rich in character and redolent of place, namely rural, real America. His style has been compared to Paul Burch and his presentation likened to Mark Olson, but he'd dug even deeper for his source inspiration, with a passion for the early ragtime and jug band greats.

Earlier, those leanings set him off on a musical journey which led him to form the highly-rated Kitchen Syncopators with Gill Landry (Old Crow Medicine Show) who performed everywhere from New Orleans to Seattle's Folklife Festival and the Oregon Country Fair.

After striking out on his own and moving to Asheville, western North Carolina, his repertoire was re-shaped to create a pleasing blend of old-time/juke joint/country blues so authentic and evocative you'd swear they might be period pieces.

The 2007-issued Lonesome Shack Blues with its great pickin' and just-right lightness of touch, won him an even bigger following among the kinda folks who seek their musical fix courtesy of Professor Longhair or Mississippi John Hurt.

Woody Pines Circa '09 is now a person and a band, his playing companions - Zack Pozebanchuk (bass), Darin Gentry (fiddle) and Nathan Taylor (drums) - providing so much brotherly support and bonhomie they are now one and the same and have adopted the stage name.

In between a busy touring schedule that has taken them to venues and festival stages from Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon and Michigan to Indiana, Texas, Tennessee, West Virginia and Ohio, they recorded killer tracks for the widely-acclaimed new album, Counting Alligators which has been picking up rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic.

The album reunited Woody with Gill, who helped out on a bunch of the studio sessions in Nashville.

The Mountain Express, labelled Woody an "old soul and natural performer playing like an all-state champ who took to hopping trains and frequenting speakeasies".

When Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three played Celtic Connections Festival in January, they took the event by storm and were afterwards being talked about as one of the outstanding highlights.

Demand meant that a second 2010 tour was arranged in rapid time with festivals, arts centres and theatres all seeking dates.

On the US release of the new album, Riverboat Soul, the reaction was unprecedented when the CD won radio plays right across the nation, providing much further well-deserved exposure and the band landed a slot at the prestigious Newport Folk Festival, alongside Levon Helm, The Low Anthem, Felice Brothers and Justin Townes Earle.

When Pokey and his sidekicks arrive back in Europe in August, they are sure to keep festival-goers here in joyous fettle once again with appearances confirmed at Edinburgh Fringe, Leicester’s Summer Sundae event, Open House Festival in Belfast and at Tønder Festival’s 30th Anniversary celebration in Denmark. They also have a string of dates that will take them from the south of England and north through Wales to the Western Iles and Inverness.

…We’re so happy, we’re singing LaLaLa.