Flats & Sharps is a young band in England who are making quite a name for themselves within the trendy British music scene.
They’re five handsome lads with a passion for bluegrass, developed through busking for pocket money while in college. Now they’ve turned their attention to original music, performed on traditional bluegrass instruments, but with uniquely English sensibilities, and song topics that appeal to a younger audience.
Starting on the streets of Cornwall, Flats & Sharps have caught fire back home, working 350 show dates in the past five years. Their latest album, King of My Mind, is receiving critical acclaim, and the boys have been appearing regularly on British television.
The band is Josh Warner on guitar, Mikey Ponsford on mandolin, Kirk Bowman on banjo, Liam Fitzharris on bass, and Danny Hart on fiddle.
Here’s video of their performance on this week’s Balcony TV. See what you think of their bluegrass with a pop flavor.
Surely my favorite of their many online videos is this one, called Boat, which celebrates the rural and aquatic life of their home in the south of England, and demonstrates their wry sense of humor.
King of My Mind isn’t currently being distributed outside of the UK, though it is available from popular digital download sites. The band will ship CDs to the US and Europe if you contact them online.
With Mountain Faith working this angle in the US, and Flats & Sharps in the UK, we have a bluegrass pop hit yet.
