Link to Annie Whitehead's page ANNIE WHITEHEAD was born in Oldham, Lancashire, the heart of brass band country. She took up trombone at school and by the age of 16 had started her professional career with Ivy Benson's All Girl Orchestra. Since then she has brought her distinctive sound to a wide range of projects, exploring many different musical styles. Apart from leading her own groups – including the Annie Whitehead Experience – she has also played in Chris MacGregor’s The Brotherhood of Breath, the Penguin Café Orchestra, the McCoy Tyner Big Band and Jazz Jamaica All Stars. She has also worked with Elvis Costello, Carla Bley, Abdullah Ibrahim and James Blood Ulmer. Her session credits include Joan Armatrading, Jerry Dammers, Paul Weller and Robert Wyatt. With the Kick Horns she has recorded with The Beautiful South, Blur, Jamiroquai, Tom Jones and Dr John. Whitehead was also a founder member of Working Week. ALISTAIR ANDERSON has been at the forefront of traditional music for 30 years. Internationally acknowledged as the master of the English Concertina, he has appeared on television, radio and the concert platform across the world (including 35 tours of North America) and has recorded and performed with artists such as Kate Bush, the Lindsay String Quartet, Richard Thompson, John Williams, the Northern Sinfonia Orchestra and Nigel Kennedy. He has nine solo albums to his credit. As well as championing traditional music Anderson has a growing reputation as a composer of new music rooted in the local tradition. His first major composition, Steel Skies, was described by The Guardian as ‘the finest recent original contribution to the tradition of English music’, while On Cheviot Hills, a suite for strings and concertina commissioned by leading classical string quartet The Lindsays, was described as ‘one of the years musical highlights’ by Rock and Reel.