THE idea of noted musicians organising their own festival is not new. It gives a well-known act a chance to invite their choice of other performers whom they admire or 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 awardwinning 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 re-formed duo Chris Wood and Andy Cutting.

It’s an eclectic collection and there’s much worth checking out. This weekend also sees The Bedale Acoustic Music Festival where I’ll be joining the likes of Martin Carthy, The Men They Couldn’t Hang, The Young Uns and The Blues Band in a memorable three days.

Elsewhere, this week’s highlights include a choice tonight between Canadian band The Bills at St Andrew’s Church in Grinton and The John Wrightson Band at The Copper Beech in Darlington. On Saturday, I’ll be at St Andrew’s 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, whose weekly folk programme on Bishop FM Radio had built him a worldwide following. He’ll be missed by many.