"My musical discovery of 2016" - Tom Robinson, BBC Radio 6 Music

From sell-out tours to a critically acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe Festival run via numerous radio and TV appearances to a vinyl box-set of his career retrospective - and now on to a winter tour with a band for the first time in 10 years - 2016 has been a high point for Nick Harper. He enters his third decade as a performer with a vitality that could put younger musicians to shame.

Here is an artist worth far more than the sum of his parts. His impeccable musical pedigree means nothing without the skills to back it up and skills Nick has, in his virtuoso guitar playing, song-writing and signature vocal acrobatics. Over a solo career of 9 studio albums, 2 EPs and 2 live albums - as well as the recent vinyl career retrospective - the quality of his musical output has only improved. It is no surprise that artists and producers as diverse as Squeeze, Lana Del Rey, Newton Faulkner, Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), The Levellers, Jakko Jakszyk (Level 42, King Crimson) and legendary producer Tchad Blake have collaborated with him. This is not a man easily pigeonholed into existing musical genres; Nick is very much blazing his own trail.

Nick’s full range can be heard in his last two solo albums. He moved from 2013’s ‘Riven’, an epic and lush 75-minute recording split into light and dark halves - celebrating family while railing at the state of the modern world - to 2014’s ’Nix’, an unadulterated recording made in just nine days - 9 songs with acoustic guitar and vocals, which pleased longtime fans with its evocation of his live performances.

In addition to recording and touring with a vengeance, Nick is also known for devoting his energy to fundraising projects, particularly organising Wiltshire’s Avebury Rocks festival for the Prospect Hospice where his mother died. With the Love Hope Strength cancer charity, Nick helped set a new world record by performing at the highest gig on Earth at Everest Base Camp and trekked to Machu Picchu and Mount Kilimanjaro.

In 2017 Nick is only booking to perform at a few, select festivals in the UK. There is no UK solo tour, but there are plans afoot, many irons in the fire… watch this space… But whatever path he takes, rest assured that Nick Harper is, and will remain a musical force to be reckoned with.

Nick Harper Live Nick playing 'Purple Rain' at Henry Tudor House 2016 Listen to the full back catalogue here on Bandcamp: https://nickharper.bandcamp.com "Betjemen with a guitar... Dylan for the iPod generation." Guitarist Magazine

''Very smart and fleet-footed – a modern math-rock vibe… very evolved but still rocking out as well''

David Sinclair (The Times, The Guardian, Kerrang!)

Despite having a Manx inspired name, Port Erin are proud to call themselves a West Country band. Formed in a tiny Wiltshire village back in early 2007 these inauspicious origins have not hindered the band at all, serving more to generate a genuine gang mentality and impressive work ethic. Drawing on influences such as Talking Heads, XTC, Syd Arthur, Talk Talk, Miles Davis, Cowtown, Sigur Ros, Frank Zappa, Oceansize and Prefab Sprout the band’s constant and relentless writing and touring has developed their unique sound, with no limitations put on genre or style.

The last seven years have shown Port Erin to be one of the most productive and consistent bands on the circuit with the release of three EP’s - The Weight Of This (2007), The Deads (2008) and Threee (2013) and two full length albums – I’ll Be On The Common (2009) and Wheel Inside A Wheel (2012). The latest two recordings were produced with Marco Migliari (The Beautiful South, Crowded House, Deep Purple, Doves) at the legendary Real World Studios in Box.

Each of these recordings has showcased the chameleon-like abilities of the band, each recording a snapshot capturing a moment in time as the trio experiment with their sound, pushing at boundaries and bringing new influences into the mix. In fact, the only consistency between these recordings has been the universal critical acclaim that each has received. Writing about Wheel Inside A Wheel music website God Is In the TV Zine stated; “as well as the recognisable shades of early Elbow, Doves and Jeff Buckley, the carefully picked notes and flourishing melodies are boosted by the jazz-funk punch of the rhythm section” whilst Delusion Of Adequacy described it as; “something of a minor masterpiece of Alt Folk that combines finely turned guitars alternating between accomplished songwriting and laid back summery grooves”.

Each recording has had support from BBC Introducing and resulted in multiple live sessions with one stunned presenter describing the band as “simply mind blowing” and BBC 6 Music’s pre-eminent presenter Tom Robinson has played the band both on his mix-tape and live Saturday show, introducing “the glorious sounds of West Country trio Port Erin”.

Port Erin are no less accomplished live, performing at Glastonbury Festival in 2010, 2011, 2013 and again this year on their biggest stage to date. They have shared stages with acts as well known and diverse as Red Snapper, Nick Harper, Paul Heaton (The Beautiful South) and The Redwalls and toured the UK extensively.

These live shows have not gone unnoticed with Venue magazine describing the band as “a perfectly weighted three-piece dispensing precision rock full of space and dynamics with a pysch groove that’s undercut by sharp guitar and vocal lines that never settle for an obvious pattern” and the songs as “progressing unpredictably as jazz, but with hints of melody that never quite get lost in the rubble of breakdown”.

2014 has seen Port Erin sign to independent label Secret Chord Records and return to the studio to record their third LP “Floating Above The City”. This album, which is due for release in late September, will be co-produced by Dom Bailey at Nine Volt Leap Recording Studio in Melksham, Wiltshire. This release will be supported by a full UK tour.

Scotland is famed the world over for its exports and one of its finest has to be singer-songwriter, Carol Laula. With a style which bobs around somewhere between the smooth, clear delicacy of Karen Carpenter and the tougher edges of Joan Armatrading, it's hardly surprising that she's risen from a young unknown to become a household name. She first captivated the media and her audience in 1990, when her independent single, 'Standing Proud', was chosen to represent Glasgow in its year of culture.

The same decade saw Carol team up with Stuart Adamson to produce a series of songs that will no doubt be seen as a legacy to the talent of the late Big Country singer / songwriter. Carol has also collaborated with Jane Weidlin of the Go-Gos, Ryan Hedgecock of Lone Justice and Australia's Cheryl Beattie.

In 1997, Carol took a study break - supposedly - but in between achieving her MA Honours Degree in Politics & English Literature at the University of Glasgow, she couldn't resist branching out into other aspects of the media and made her debut presenting shows for both BBC Radio and Scottish Television.

The noughties shaped up to be another busy decade her. As well as touring new areas such as Iceland, she has performed across the UK and Ireland with Eliza Gilkyson and appeared at Glastonbury - something of a highlight, when she not only shared the bill with Billy Bragg, but met her hero, Tony Benn.

With eight albums under her belt, the most recent The Bones of It (Vertical Records) released in February 2016, she still stirs critics to describe her as "One of Scotland's leading singer-songwriters" and "an undeniably passionate and whole-hearted singer".