THIS weekend, Whitby plays host to yet another festival, when the annual Musicport gathering takes over the town’s venues.

Essentially a world music event, with some amazing artists in that genre on display, there is also a sizeable slice of folk music included, with O’Hooley and Tidow, Canada’s My Sweet Patootie, Lucy Ward and The New Rope String Band being the most recognisable names.

However, the entire line up looks pretty amazing, and Whitby is always worth a visit in my opinion. It could also be one of the last times we can catch The New Rope String band, as they have recently announced their intention to call it a day at the end of their present set of gigs.

They’ve easily been one of the most innovative and entertaining outfits ever to emerge from the folk music scene, and despite being touched by tragedy a few years ago, they have gone from strength to strength with a huge fan-base across the country and beyond.

I’m sure they’ll go out with a bang, so watch out for their local appearances in the months to come. Elsewhere, tonight we have a choice between Eddi Reader at Durham’s Gala Thetare and, James Fagan and Nancy Kerr at Darlington’s Copper Beech.

On Saturday Seth Lakeman is at Gateshead’s Sage, and at Washington’s Davy Lamp, my old mate Gerry Hallom makes a welcome return to live performance with his songs and tales of Australia and much more, at a special concert for homeless charities.

On Sunday at The Sage there’s a double bill with Patsy Matheson and Michael Chapman, while on Monday we can choose between Pete Morton at Stockton’s Sun Inn and Pete Burnham at Newcastle’s Bridge.

Finally, Vin Garbutt is still a bit under the weather, so his appearance at Redcar Bowling Club on Tuesday has been postponed.