ENJOY a high energy, virtuosic performance from Peter Knight’s Gigspanner Big Band in South Petherton in April.

Beginning life as a trio - with former Steeleye Span fiddle player Knight being joined by percussionist Sacha Trochet and guitarist Roger Flack - the line-up has been expanded to form the Gigspanner Big Band.

And now includes with acclaimed multi-instrumental duo Edgelarks (Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin) and Bellowhead co-founder and melodeon player extraordinaire, John Spiers.

While Peter Knight, as part of Steeleye Span’s classic 1970s lineup, helped invent a brand of folk rock that is still influential today, John Spiers, has had an equally profound impact on the landscape of traditional music over the last two decades.

Characterised by riotous inventiveness, technically gifted individual playing and subtle collaborative interaction, this coming together of several of the biggest names on the folk-roots scene, combines a deep knowledge of roots traditions with a ceaselessly boundary pushing approach.

Taking self-penned material along with music rooted in the British Isles and beyond, with the flick of a bow, a finely chosen chord or slip of a beat, they produce richly atmospheric arrangements layered within a wealth of subliminal musical influences.

Peter Knight’s Gigspanner Big Band will be at The David Hall in South Petherton on April 18 at 7:30pm. Tickets cost £21. To book call 01460 240340.

To see more tour dates visit gigspanner.com/tour