Doors open in the Sheepwalk at 8.30pm, live stuff starts around 9.00pm-ish and finishes 11pm-ish - but we sometimes over-run a little bit, but hey, you can catch up on yer beauty sleep another night!.

For all the latest developments please phone 07904 210218 or email Ramblin' Steve at ramblinsteve@whatscookin.co.uk

Benjamin Folke Thomas Band / Harrisburg / Tom Colborn

The talented Mr Benjamin Folke Thomas is making a name for himself on the London scene. This Swedish dude delivers a wider range of emotions and musical idioms than your average Americana guy, taking in the doom of Cohen, the blues of Johnson, Guthrie's folk and the indie flavour of contemporaries such as Josh Ritter. And he can rock up there with the best of them as well! This a full band show.
www.myspace.com/benjaminthomas1 .

Here's Harrisburg in his own words - "I could say I play folk music but I'm not sure what that means. I could say I play country but I don't wear a hat. I don't play the blues 'cause it's too much fun and I'd never try anything else. Maybe Townes was right and it's all just zippedee-do-dah.
www.myspace.com/harrisburgsongs .

Tom Colborn has made a name for himself as a premier blues musician. Driving delta bottleneck and funky ragtime accompany the voice of a true blues shouter. His set comprises self penned songs and instrumentals, blues standards and rarely performed songs from the tradition.
www.myspace.com/tomcolbornblues .

Wagon Tales / Garry Smith

Ben Somers, multi instumentalist, plays bass and sings with The Wagon Tales by night and by day plays saxophone for the likes of Dizzee Rascal Dr John and many more. Joe Auckland banjoist for the Wagon Tales can also be seen playing trumpet with Madness, treading the Ronnie Scott's stage with Joe Stilgoe and be heard mincing around with Girls Aloud. Kate Robinson fiddles with The Wagon Tale, and has been known to play with Susan Boyle (yikes!) Marcus Bonfanti plays guitar and tears it up with his fiery flatpicking and gravelly vocals. Also on guitar Steve Somers has been a sidekick to Glen Campbell and Don Everly. Joe Hymas, who has appeared with Monroe's Revenge and Southern Tenant Folk Union, completes the line-up. But their 1st LOVE is bluegrass! And its grass that'll get yer tails a waggin'.
www.myspace.com/thewagontales .

Garry Smith is slide guitarist and songwriter who, despite coming equipped with a tricone resonater, mostly avoids the obvious blues repertoire preferring to concentrate on his own songs and instrumentals combined with covers of the likes of Joe Ely and Steve Earl. Mind you, if you ask nicely for a bit of Robert Johnson or Tampa Red, ya never know.
www.myspace.com/garrymsmith .

Kingsize Slim Trio / Andy Weaver

One of the kitchen's new favourites from last year returns with his jumpin' trio. Fat boogie blues from the man we can't get enough of, Kingsize Slim aka Toby Barelli, purveyor of the finest king size blues. Delivered live and direct, percussive and dynamic in its nature, melodic and soulful in its heart. This boogie music shouts loud and kisses sweet!
www.myspace.com/misterkingsizeslim .

Frontman of Chicken Legs Weaver, Andy Weaver does his do this primitive rock n' roll thing with a guitar and foot stomp box. Country style garage blues & groovy voodoo, with some of his own originals and reworkings of ancient blues and Gospel classics.
www.myspace.com/andylegsweaver .

Michael Weston King / The Sea Kings

Think I'll just stand back and let the reviews do the talking on this one. Sounds like a show not too to miss!
www.michaelwestonking.com .

"As fine a singer songwriter as Gram Parsons", CHRIS HILLMAN. "Michael Weston King has a voice part Nashville balladeer and part Alt Country hero... a cross between Nick Cave and Rodney Crowell", THE INDEPENDENT. "His reputation as a performer in the same league at Phil Ochs, Townes Van Zandt and Tim Hardin is secured", WHISPERIN AND HOLLERIN. "A singer/songwriter of unique insight and ability. A thoughtful, probing troubadour, Kingźs songs make a deep emotional connection, sometimes in the most unlikely of ways. MWK has entered the rarefied field of classic singer songwriters", ENTERTAINMENT NEWS USA. "Romantic, a touch jaded, convincing", MOJO. "Kings voice is superb, utterly compelling and beautifully wrought", TIME OUT. "Like Phil Ochs or Townes Van Zandt, King transmutes squalor and self-laceration into pure gold", THE TIMES. "If you are looking for happiness in the perfectly crafted song, you might just have found it", CLASSIC ROCK. "Wonderful, in a way that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up", MAVERICK.

And some wonderful folk, 3-part harmonies and sea shanties from Cornwall with The Sea Kings. Possible new favourite band alert!
www.myspace.com/totheseakings .

The Malingerers / The Blazing Zoos / Danni Nicholls

"Malingerer" - skiver: absentee: shirker: layabout: timewaster. Time wasting is one thing The Malingerers' haven't been doing since the recent demise of The Surgens (finest purveyors of butt kicking twisted, electric guitar driven, blues, country and rock and roll!). Four of The Surgens line up have now formed a new exciting twisted old time country blues band - The Malingerers. The band has been busy writing new material and welding together a fresh exciting sound from a melting pot of old time country, blues and rock'n'roll influences (Hank Williams, Merle Travis, Leadbelly, Woodie Guthrie etc.) with a warped sense of tradition and humour. If you think of lots of twisted harmonies and lyrics, wailing harmonica, country picking, bouncing bass and shuffly snare and you're almost there!
www.myspace.com/malingerers .

The Blazing Zoos play country music and are lead by journalist and author Andrew Mueller. They are currently determinedly plotting their next steps towards owning graceless mansions with banjo-shaped swimming pools, a rhinestone-studded tour bus with moose antlers jutting from the front, and feeling entitled to swan about wearing stupid big hats despite a collective inability to discern one end of a cow from the other. They have just released their debut album 'Iíll Leave Quietly' which was recorded with producer Mark Wallis (The Go-Betweens, Travis, U2, Alabama 3), and includes guest contributions by cultishly adored Shetlandic singer-songwriter Astrid Williamson and Black Box Recorderís John Moore.
www.myspace.com/theblazingzoos .

Coming up...

PLEASE NOTE: We've decided to reclaim our weekends a little bit, so Saturday night shows will only be on the 3rd Saturday of the month (and as a bonus, the 5th Sat if there is one). And every Wednesday as normal!

What's Cookin' will be crawlin' in 2010!

rockin' country fried music...