Virginian livewires The Hot Seats are currently pulling capacity crowds – and more rave reviews – as they sweep across the UK from tip to toe.
The Richmond-based five-piece kicked off the latest six-week tour in the far north of Scotland appearing at the big Speyfest event in the Highlands. The tour ends in September when they are one of the main headline acts at Britain’s biggest bluegrass event – the Didmarton Festival in Gloucestershire.
Fans of the band have been snapping up copies of their brand new ‘live’ album – and in the process getting twice the value for money as the sleeve is once more designed by the band’s creative banjo ace, Ben Belcher, fast making a name for himself as an “outsider” artist with a considerable following in the UK.
British collectors first caught on to his work when he designed a poster for the band’s Edinburgh Festival show in 2009, when the original hand-tinted drawing was put up for auction at the end of the event.
Ever since, the demand for his exquisitely fine and detailed work has increased, with one Scottish enthusiast now owning over twenty original pieces of Belcher’s mildy psychedelic, dream-like and occasionally grotesque creations.
There is now a plan to hook up with an Edinburgh gallery for the band’s return to the UK in 2012 with a show proposed to run for the duration of the next tour.
Ben’s work can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ben-Belchers-Drawings/174376532592042
