BROOKS WILLIAMS & AARON CATLOW are known for their joyous and virtuosic music that not only tugs at the heartstrings but also gets you up on your feet. AmericanaUK says"They represent live music at it's best!"

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A year on from their debut tour, where they have literally been wowing audiences, Brooks and Aaron have been back in the studio with the addition of JON SHORT on double bass. The trio have recorded a stunning collection of groove-laden songs called Greens And Blues, which include some Williams/Catlow collaborations as well as songs by Gillian Welch, Shirley Collins, Molly Tuttle, Rab Noakes and Sierra Ferrell, among others.

The playing on Greens And Blues has a spontaneity that reflects the hours and hours they have spent onstage in front of audiences. It’s a potent combination. Free and rooted all at once.

One of the eleven tracks on Greens And Blues is Dooley’s Farm (Molly Tuttle) about a farmer who is particularly adept at growing a very popular (but illegal) crop. The Williams/Catlow arrangement is dark and spooky, complete with sliding double bass lines and guitar arpeggios. Another is Wild Wild Wild (Brooks Williams), a description of a music venue Williams played in the earliest days of his career, that swings with reckless abandon, much like the venue itself. Gillian Welch’s Red Clay Halo gets a fertile reading from Brooks and Aaron, complete with nimble guitar picking, fiddle double-bowing and Aaron’s whistling!

Throughout it all, the interplay between Williams’ guitar, Catlow’s fiddle and Short’s double-bass is out-of-this-world. In Anniesland the fiddle kicks it off with a folky-old-timey riff and you think you know where it’s going until the bluesy interplay between guitar and bass turn the song on its head. On Little Way Up, a previously unrecorded song from Rab Noakes’ back catalogue, guitar, fiddle and bass go full-on country, doubling the melody in a way that would make the Tennessee Three proud.

With three albums under their belt, Ghost Owl in 2021 (nominated “Instrumental Album Of The Year” by Fatea) and Ready For The Times in 2022 (“a cracker,” says Living Tradition), and Greens And Blues in 2024,  Brooks Williams and Aaron Catlow are moving deeper into their sound with the addition of Jon Short. There is literally no one else on the scene playing this kind of music. You see fiddle and guitar and you think you know what to expect, but Williams, Catlow and Short deliver something completely different. They are a one-off.

Aaron Catlow is half of the Bristol-based duo Hawes And Catlow, with guitarist-singer Kit Hawes. He is also the fiddler in UK festival favourite Sheelanagig. Catlow's other credits including playing with Grammy Award-nominated Yola, Mad Dog Mcrea and Afro Celt Sound System.

Jon Short is a veteran of the UK music scene and is the bass player in both The John Martyn Project and Sheelanagig.

Cambridge UK-based, Georgia US-born, Brooks Williams has a long-standing solo career in both North America and the UK, as well as recording and performing with a host of musicians. He is named one of WUMB-FM Boston's Top 100 All-Time Artists and is listed in the Top 100 Acoustic Guitarists.

Not only are Brooks Williams and Aaron Catlow masters of their respective instruments, but the music they create, says Folk Radio UK, is “a thing of beauty!”

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We're delighted to welcome Brooks & Aaron, this time with Jon, back to Wee Bear, Lintrathen on Sunday 5th October.