The award-winning folk band Roving Crows have had a busy 2018 and don’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.

The band have just returned from a tour that took them over to France, where they played various venues in Normandy, which has strong links to the Celtic roots that the band celebrates.

Lead singer and guitarist Paul O’Neill explains the origins of Roving Crows, and how far they’ve come in their time together.

He said: “We’re a four-piece Celtic fusion band and we’ve been together for about 9 years now.

“We started out in Cheltenham gigging locally, and now we’ve toured and done festivals in places like Ireland, France and Australia.”

The band are well known on the folk music scene for their contemporary twists on traditional Celtic songs, and Paul says their unique style is what makes them stand out.

He said: “We take old Celtic songs and modernise them, with electric guitars, six string bass, Caitlin on the fiddle, and percussion rather than your standard drum kit.

“Then we also write our own songs, which are still Celtic in nature but with modern rhythms and beats.”

The Gloucestershire based band will be taking their unique sound to the Watson Hall in Tewkesbury for a Christmas Celebration show on Saturday 22nd December.

Paul said: “We do a gig in Tewkesbury around this time of year every year and it’s always great, everyone dances and gets involved.

“We’ll be playing our own original songs with a few covers thrown in, stuff like The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York. We’ve got support from a local band called Thrown Together who are great too.”

There’s barely time to relax over the holidays before Paul and the rest of the band are back on the road again.

He continued: “We’re gigging all the time, but we get really busy again in March when St Patrick’s Day is coming up, and also with Cheltenham Race Week.

“Then we’ll be doing all the usual festivals in the summer and playing right up until Christmas again!”

For tickets and more information visit www.rovingcrows.com. Tickets are also available from Tewkesbury Heritage Centre.