And there will be live entertainment from X Gactor finalist Relley C, Pitch Battle stars The Uptone Girls, Voice Kids sensation Eboni Green,
alt.country stars Dahlia - featuring Hollyoaks singer-songwriter Abi Phillips and Matt Bond The awards are staged on Friday, September 29, with many more celebrity guests yet to be revealed.
Although there's a hint of
alt.country running through the set, Sunshine acquires a post-punk primal scream, Train Downtown offers a rock guitar explosion and Good Citizen could be Queens Of The Stone Age.
Sykes has a languid, sometimes ethereal vocal style which has moved through the
alt.country phase of old to a more rocky and darkly cinematic place of late.
JIMI ALEXANDER & THE SATELLITES The Globe, Roath, Cardiff www.theglobecardiff.com The Cardiff-based six-piece
alt.country folk band play at this groovy little venue.
These guys were a real treat with their effortless mix of all that's best in
alt.country music.
This time, and here is where the
alt.country puritans will get a little aerated, he has gone to the heart of the Country establishment and used the cream of Nashville's feted session players.
It is a saga, as Jay Farrar, Tweedy's former bandmate in
alt.country pioneers Uncle Tupelo, once sang, "of people chasing money" (Reprise's new guard of bean-counting execs fixated on disposable hit singles) "and money getting away" (Wilco is poised to increase sales with each album over the course of a long career--not to mention the delicious fact that AOL Time Warner paid for the same record twice).
LUCINDA WILLIAMS Blessed (Lost Highway) SHE may have found love but
alt.country queen Lucinda Williams still does heartbreak like nobody else can.
Variously described as
alt.country, indie-folk, punk, etc, she nevertheless gained some mainstream recognition for her last album, Middle Cyclone.
JAY FARRAR is a legend on the
alt.country scene, seeing as his old band Uncle Tupelo just about invented the genre and his next group Son Volt carried the torch with equal style and grace.
THE lovely Rennie Sparks and husband Brett inhabit
alt.country's darkest lands.
SOME of the biggest names on the American
alt.country scene are heading for Cardiff for a series of shows.