Mike West picks a mean banjo and tells stories too strange not to be true. He cut his teeth as a banjo-slinging troubadour in the clubs of the New Orleans, before setting out on a twenty year touring career with alt-country duo, Truckstop Honeymoon, who are well know to GTSF crowds.

 

He's recently returned to gigging under his own name, backed by the rare talents of Sadie Capps (upright bass), Joe Trudgeon (electric guitar) and Julian West (drums). Together they are The Mike West Band, playing their all-original but irresistible blend of hillbilly country, bluegrass and folk.

 

West’s shows are full of stories. An engaging entertainer and an accomplished picker, West leads the audience through hurricanes, floods, love, life and family, while all the time ripping into a five string banjo, guitar or mandolin.

 

As a touring songwriter, Mike West received a Big Easy Entertainment award from the City of New Orleans, several Best of the Beat awards from Off Beat Magazine, and a Phoenix Award for lifetime contribution to the Arts from the City of Lawrence Kansas. He has played festival stages from Sydney to Berlin, as well roadhouses in Alabama, rock clubs in Illinois and shearing sheds in Wales. He recently released a solo acoustic EP produced by British folk-punk artist, Frank Turner, “A Day in Mersea”.

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