Rack and Ruin are a Warwickshire based folk-rock five-piece band playing a mixture of loud and lively folk-rock: fiddle driven traditional songs and tunes and jigs and reels – with added saxophone.

Rack and Ruin are just as comfortable headlining a large music festival or performing at a wedding, birthday, house concert or other private party. Their contemporary blend of lively folk rock, celtic, roots music is interwoven with foot-tapping jigs and reels that makes for an enjoyable and entertaining event.

rackandruin website

The Support Artists on the night will be …

The duo name Indigo springs from the idea that the project is Blue-adjacent – not trying to replicate the 1971 classic, but inspired by its chromatic character and energy. We are also playing Stephen Stills songs, a bit of Bonnie Raitt, and trying other retro artists as they occur to us. What do you think should be next on our list?

We have played at various folk clubs around Oxfordshire and the Midlands, and so far are finding Joni fans wherever we go. To get in touch, just contact Gordon on gordon.raitt@gmail.com or Rebecca on r.mileham@gmail.com.

Rebecca spends most of her musical time playing fiddle and singing in Liam Vincent & the Odd Foxes, a folk rock band whose debut album is Fabric of a Flawed Society. The band has played at the New Forest Folk Festival, Cropredy Fringe at the Brasenose, and the Great Barn Festival where they supported Mark Chadwick. A new acoustic album is coming soon.

She has also released two solo EPs, Underground (vocals/piano/violins – Rebecca) and recently Rising Tide (vocals and piano – Rebecca, guitars – Liam Stuchbury, bass – Brendan O’Neill, drums – Mark Stevens, additional vocals – Matt Berry and Natalie Yeap). This year she played live with her October Band in which Gordon has also played.

Gordon also plays guitar and bouzouki in the folk band Scarecrow with David Moore (whistles, bagpipes), and Rey Lear (bass guitar, flute), and bass guitar in Pete Watkins Originals. Both bands play in clubs and at festivals around the Midlands and the South of England.

Having played his much beloved 1978 Precision bass in various bands for many years, Gordon revisited his acoustic guitar in 2006 when Scarecrow was formed. This was a very welcome new direction, and a reminder of the college years when he played at the local folk clubs. There has been a great reaction to Indigo so far since its formation in August 2023, and we look forward to developing it further.

Floor Singers booked to perform on the night …

Pamela Biggs and Annette Devenport

Annette and Pam have known each other for about 10 years now and have been in various guitar and Ukulele groups together.
More recently they have coupled up to sing and play at folk venues and open mic nights.

Their repertoire consists of both folk and popular music with a hint of nostalgia from their youth.

Liz Wall

Liz grew up around folk music as her parents both loved folk music. She was about 8 or 9 when she started singing and playing the guitar.

After not having performed for a while, she got back in to playing again in early 2022 having spent time during the various lockdowns playing music, writing songs and entering song writing competitions.