Marc Riley - 26/04/2010

Sid Griffin from the Long Ryders brings his current band The Coal Porters in for a live session. The Coal Porters are a bluegrass band based in London. Griffin formed the group in Los Angeles in 1989 and then reorganized the band after moving to London. The band are Griffin (mandolin, autoharp, harmonica and vocals) Herd (guitar and vocals), Carly Frey (fiddle, vocals), Dick Smith (banjo, vocals) and Andrew Stafford (bass, vocals). Griffin co-founded The Long Ryders, often cited as godfathers to the alt.-rock movement, and earlier performed with the Unclaimed. Neil Robert Herd, in addition to his career as a musician, has performed as a comedian. He finished second to Stewart Lee as the Best New Stand-Up Comedian at the Hackney Comedy Awards Festival in 1992. Carly Frey has appeared with the international fiddling extravaganza Barrage, performing more than 300 dates a year throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Banjoist Dick Smith was the leader of the Lost T-Shirts of Atlantis for many years and also played in The Other Brothers and formed a short-lived, post-Pogues band with Spider Stacey, Daryl Hunt and Andrew Rankin. Bassist Andrew Stafford for years played rockabilly with the Death Valley Surfers and indie rock with Grandads Don't Indicate. He is also a solicitor, practicing law in London, and an actor with credits in commercials airing on UK and Continental television.