BLUEGRASS quartet Old Baby Mackerel bring their high energy, foot-stomping sound to three Dorset villages on an Artsreach tour in January, from 11th to 13th January.

The line-up of virtuoso musicians use the rhythmic sounds of banjo, guitar, mandolin, fiddle and double bass, to create blistering solos and gorgeous harmonies.

Expect to be transported back in time 100 years or more to the beautiful but poverty-stricken Appalachian mountains of Virginia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, where songs dramatised the small-town fascination with travel, preoccupations of religion and the veneration of whisky and bootleg liquor.

Catch this New Year treat on Thursday 11th January at Hinton Martell, Friday 12th at Portesham, and Saturday 13th at Halstock. All concerts are in the village halls at 7.30pm.