GRAYSHOTT Folk Club welcomes The Trials of Cato trio on March 19 at 7.30pm.

The band won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Album of The Year Award in 2019 for their debut album Hide & Hair.

Their remarkable rise on the UK folk scene has been the subject of massive critical attention.

They pay respectful homage to the traditional, while twisting old bones into something febrile and modern with stomping tunes and captivating stories.

Their live performances are legendary – exciting and uplifting in equal measure.

The Trials of Cato were formed in Beirut by three young English teachers; Will Addison (Irish bouzouki), Robin Jones (mandolin) and Tomos Williams (guitar).

They returned to the UK in 2016 and performed up and down the country, honing their musical skills and developing their live act.

Following a year of wall-to-wall touring across the UK, Europe and North America in 2019, the band’s march was halted by the unnerving silence of the global pandemic.

Now they have emerged from their chrysalis transformed.

Addison has left the band and been replaced by the hugely talented multi-instrumentalist and singer Polly Bolton.

Polly is a former member of The Magpies.

Her nimble fingers master the mandolin, banjo and Irish bouzouki, and have added a new and exciting dynamic to the trio, as have her fantastic vocals.

The band’s hotly-anticipated second album is scheduled for release later this year.

Entitled Gog Magog, the album is named both after the mythical giant of Arthurian legend and the Cambridgeshire hilltop, where the new album was conceived over lockdown.

The first single is called The Boys of Bedlam.

The Trials of Cato will be going to Grayshott hot on the heels of their appearance at Celtic Connections and a tour of Wales and Scotland.

Grayshott Folk Club meets at Grayshott Village Hall in Headley Road, Grayshott.

For tickets, £16 for adults and £8 for under-16s, visit Grayshott Post Office or call Des O’Byrne on 01428 607096.