The idea of noted musicians organising their own festival is not a new one. It gives a well-known act a chance to invite their choice of other performers whom they admire or who have been influenced by, and expose them to a new audience.

The “curators” of this weekend’s Lauland festival at Gateshead’s Sage are the award-winning Celtic band Lau, and among their invited guests over the three days are The Unthanks, Aiofe O’Donovan, Martyn Hayes, The Voice Squad, Fred Frith, Michael Chapman and the reformed duo of Chris Wood and Andy Cutting. It’s an eclectic collection of artists, and there’s much that’s well-worth checking out. This weekend also sees The Bedale Acoustic Music Festival swinging into action, where I’ll be joining the likes of Martin Carthy, The Men They Couldn’t Hang, The Young Uns and The Blues Band, in what will undoubtedly prove to be a memorable three days of music and more besides.

Elsewhere across the region, this week’s highlights include a choice tonight between Canadian band The Bills at St Andrews Church in Grinton, and Bill Whaley and Dave Fletcher at The Copper Beech in Darlington. On Saturday, I’ll be at St Andrews Church in Darlington doing a solo gig, while up in Washington, The Davy Lamp has Dave Burland as their special guest. On Monday, Dave Gibb is at Stockton’s Sun Inn, on Tuesday Loose Connection head up to the Clef and Cask in Cramlington and on Wednesday Bella Hardy is at Gateshead’s Sage. Finally, earlier this week we bade a sad farewell to Terry Ferdinand, who’s weekly folk programme on Bishop FM Radio had built him a world-wide following over the last few years via his vibrant on-line programmes, carried along by his enthusiasm and good humoured embracing of all things folk. He’ll be missed by many.