Belter from the Delta at Orange Tree

An acoustic music club is back up and running after the summer break with folk and blues on the line-up over the next two weeks.

With gigs every Wednesday at The Orange Tree in Baldock, the Baldock and Letchworth Music Club hosts Telephone Bill And The Smooth Operators on the 19th, followed by Hans Theessink on the 26th.

Formed in the mid-70s from the core of Cambridge bluegrass-country band Duke Duke and the Dukes, the Operators early career included radio sessions for the BBC and even a TV series for BBC2.

The band split in 1981, but reformed to play the Cambridge Folk Festival twenty years later. They now play their acoustic guitar, double bass, accordion and harmonica backed four-part traditional harmonies with female vocalist Paula Welham of The Floozies.

Support on the night is from blues trio Eight Til Late.

Dutch bluesman Hans Theesink will be at the pub the following week just days after the release of his new album Delta Time.

The CD, recorded in Los Angeles with fellow guitarist and singer Terry Evans, is a homage to the roots of the blues with plenty of slide and cotton-picker style hollering, as well as an appearance by guitar legend Ry Cooder. All-in-all, a belter from the Delta.

Entry to the club nights for non-members is �10.