Taking roots music into villages

Promoter Mark Ringwood, of Chichester-based Roots Around the World, explains: “Throughout the world he’s used to performing at large festivals and in large concert halls but he has never forgotten the fact that the path to greater recognition started with concerts in small rural communities on his native Prince Edward Island.”

Mark added: “Richard started out as a stepdancer and quickly won a string of prestigious awards before discovering he not only had a talent for the fiddle but could play the instrument and stepdance at the same time!

“By the age of 14 he’d recorded the first of five albums, and two years later was touring internationally. Barely out of his teens, he found himself in demand to perform with artists as diverse as Shania Twain and The Chieftains.”

Although traditional fiddle-based music is at the core of his performances Richard has also shown himself to be a sensitive composer of tunes on both fiddle and piano.

“What he’s also managed to achieve is have the fiddle viewed as a cool instrument because he is no shy, retiring, formally-dressed performer. Onstage expect his long blond locks to be flowing as he quite literally commands the space as his own, dressed in fashionable clothes which could grace any catwalk.”

Richard Wood is accompanied by fellow Canadian Gordon Belsher on guitar and vocals. The two are over primarily for the Gosport and Fareham Easter Festival (April 24) but have included village hall shows in Northchapel (April 22), Compton (April 26), and at The Chichester Inn (April 27) all organised by Roots Around the World.

More details on www.rootsaroundtheworld.info