Friday 15th June 2012 – Bittsville. Bits of drums, voices, basses, and guitar. Bits of songs and instrumentals you will never have heard before. Bits of numbers that you heard somewhere once or twice.

Bits of funk-blues-jazz-country-punk-folk-americana-britpop, all re-vamped. Bits of structure and chaos. All of Nigel Upton, Tonia Tempest, Kevin Asbery and Pete Turnpenney.

Buy Bitsville tickets »

Make sure that you secure your tickets for this exciting event by purchasing in advance, using our secure online system.

Please refer to our booking terms and conditions.

Ticket Type

Non members£9.00 GBP Members£8.00 GBP

About Bitsville…

Bitsville present “Bits of Americana-funk-blues-jazz-country-punk-motown-folk-britpop” – so the evening will certainly be a varied and interesting one!

Upton’s drums, Tempest’s voice, Asbery’s basses and Turnpenney’s guitar, along with a liberal sprinkling of structure and chaos!

Booking and venue details

The entrance fee for the evening will be £8 for members and £9 for non-members. The event starts at 8.00 pm, with doors opening at 7.30 p.m.

The Hinckley ACT

Based in the Sketchley Meadows Business Park, Hinckley ACT is a high quality music venue that offers an informal and intimate atmosphere for concerts and for the monthly club nights, where musicians can come along  and ‘take the stage.’  Established by company chairman, Keith London, on the premises of his firm  Advanced Carbide Tooling (A.C.T.), the venue provides full stage and seating facilities, plus top quality sound and lighting equipment.

There is a licensed bar and ample free car parking.

Friday 18h May 2012. Chris, a Leicestershire based singer songwriter playing mandolin, guitar, dobro and lap steel guitar, will be returning to the Hinckley ACT in Leicestershire.

His new solo album “One Fine Morning” is a fine collection of songs on the intertwining themes of love life and landscape. Two local artists will be taking to the stage  - to start things off Bob Braidwood will entertain on keyboards.

Buy Chris Chambers tickets »

Make sure that you secure your tickets for this exciting event by purchasing in advance, using our secure online system.

Please refer to our booking terms and conditions.

Ticket Type

Non members £7.00 GBP Members £6.00 GBP

About Chris Chambers…

Chris sometimes describes his music as “Anglo Americana”. So we asked Chris to explain and let us know a little more about his music, instrumentation and back catalogue…

“I’ve been writing songs since I was 16. Usually both music and lyrics, though there have been some collaborations as well. Always difficult to fit neatly into a musical genre, but when you sing songs accompanied by an acoustic guitar, the first thought is usually ‘folk’.

“I have a back catalogue of over 300 songs now. Some of them have appeared on previous albums; most have been performed at gigs over the years. To me, they are all just ‘my songs’. They cover a myriad of subjects, but there is a sense of Englishness threading its way through them, a strong sense of place, of life set in landscape.

“I’ve added mandolin, dobro and lap steel to my repertoire in the last ten years. They have made a tremendous difference to the variety of sounds in my live performances, but even more so in the studio. Live you can only play one instrument at a time, unfortunately! But in the studio you can bring them all into play, creating new arrangements. Acoustic guitar is still the bed-rock of the tracks, but mandolin and dobro can make a track more melodic, subtle and complex.

“I include more songs by others in my gigs now, blending with my own. They work well with dobro and mandolin. And some songs are just too good to resist!

“And so this is where I am right now. Still difficult to fit neatly into a single musical genre, but the English roots have tangled with Americana music. You could call it Anglo-Americana.”

Chris Chamber’s website »

Booking and venue details

The entrance fee for the evening will be £6 for members and £7 for non-members. The event starts at 8.00 pm, with doors opening at 7.30 p.m.

The Hinckley ACT

Based in the Sketchley Meadows Business Park, Hinckley ACT is a high quality music venue that offers an informal and intimate atmosphere for concerts and for the monthly club nights, where musicians can come along  and ‘take the stage.’  Established by company chairman, Keith London, on the premises of his firm  Advanced Carbide Tooling (A.C.T.), the venue provides full stage and seating facilities, plus top quality sound and lighting equipment.

There is a licensed bar and ample free car parking.

Sy Hayden, Martin Nelson and Phil Briggs were guest artists at this event.

Friday 11h May 2012. James Kline, a classical guitarist, composer, singer-songwritter and innovator who studied classical guitar in Spain and London and has won many international awards was welcomed to the Hinckley ACT in Leicestershire.

He now performs throughout eastern and western Europe as well as the United States and Mexico.  With the urge to expand his horizons James recently reinvented his instrument and is now the world’s only player of the 19 string arch harp guitar, a combination of lute, guitar and Celtic harp.

About James Kline…

Classical guitarist, composer, singer-songwritter, innovator of the 19 string arch harp guitar, James Kline is an artist who constantly renews and reinvents himself.

As a classical guitarist he studied in Spain under a full scholarship from the Spanish government. There he won a number of international awards, including the Ramirez Prize of Santiago de Compostella and the Tarrega Pize of Benicasim. He holds an ARCM diploma from The Royal College of Music of London and has performed throughout eastern and western Europe as well as the United States and Mexico. He has also gained recognition as a composer and was awarded an Individual Artist Grant in music composition from the Marin Arts Council of California.

As a singer-songwritter, James draws inspiration from a slightly more unusual life experience which includes years working as a commercial fisherman, working as a wilderness guide, extensive travel on four continents, and living among Mexico’s Tarahumara Indians. An interest in Renaissance and Baroque music led him to design his own version of the eleven string arch guitar, an instrument which combines the best qualities of the lute and the guitar.

The urge to expand his horizons and dedicate more time to composing led James to co-found the neo Celtic group Bardou with whom he performs regularly. He has again reinvented his instrument to become the world’s only player of the 19 string arch harp guitar, a combination of lute, guitar, and Celtic harp.

James Kline on Last.fm »

Booking and venue details

The entrance fee for the evening was £8 for members and £9 for non-members. The event started at 8.00 pm, with doors opening at 7.30 p.m.

The Hinckley ACT

Based in the Sketchley Meadows Business Park, Hinckley ACT is a high quality music venue that offers an informal and intimate atmosphere for concerts and for the monthly club nights, where musicians can come along  and ‘take the stage.’  Established by company chairman, Keith London, on the premises of his firm  Advanced Carbide Tooling (A.C.T.), the venue provides full stage and seating facilities, plus top quality sound and lighting equipment.

There is a licensed bar and ample free car parking.

Saturday 29th September 2012. Martin will make his much anticipated debut at the Hinckley ACT in Leicestershire.

There is no doubt that after 35 years as a professional musician Martin is, right now, better than ever. Widely acknowledged as one of the finest acoustic and slide guitar players in the world, his interpretations of traditional songs are masterpieces of storytelling.

How to buy Martin Simpson tickets »

We are giving members and supporters a priority period till 1st August 2012 to book tickets in person at the Hinckley ACT on any concert evening before they go online and are available to the general public.

Make sure you get your tickets and don’t miss out! Tickets are £15 and £14 for Members.

See events where tickets will be available »

About Martin Simpson…

His solo shows are intense, eclectic, spellbinding and deeply moving.

There is no-one who has more successfully combined the diverse elements of British, Afro-American and old-timey music than Simpson. His 15 years living in the US were well spent. In addition his own songwriting has produced some real gems, from the truck-stop epic, “Love Never Dies” to the profoundly moving “Never Any Good” and “One Day”.

His career includes collaborations on stage and record with Richard Thompson, June Tabor, Kelly Joe Phelps, Jackson Browne, Danny Thompson, Danú, Martin Carthy, Cara Dillon, David Lindley, Roy Bailey, Martin Taylor, David Hidalgo, Steve Miller, Dick Gaughan and many more.

Martin has been nominated an astounding 26 times in the twelve years of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards – more than any other performer – with 9 consecutive years as nominee for Musician of The Year, which he has won twice. 2008 saw an incredible 5 nominations for “Prodigal Son’ and 2 wins, whilst in 2010 he had an unprecedented 6 nominations for his CD, “True Stories” and a win for Best Traditional Track, “Sir Patrick Spens”. 2012′s nominations for Martin include, Best Album for ‘Purpose & Grace”, Best Traditional Track for “The Lakes Of Ponchartrain” and Best Musician.

Whether playing American old-time music, blues, a Dylan song or his own material, Martin Simpson is unpredictable, individual and a guitarist of immense subtlety.

Martin Simpson website »

Booking and venue details

The entrance fee for the evening will be £14 for members and £15 for non-members. The event starts at 8.00 pm, with doors opening at 7.30 p.m.

The Hinckley ACT

Based in the Sketchley Meadows Business Park, Hinckley ACT is a high quality music venue that offers an informal and intimate atmosphere for concerts and for the monthly club nights, where musicians can come along  and ‘take the stage.’  Established by company chairman, Keith London, on the premises of his firm  Advanced Carbide Tooling (A.C.T.), the venue provides full stage and seating facilities, plus top quality sound and lighting equipment.

There is a licensed bar and ample free car parking.

Friday 27th April 2012. Johnny Dickinson made his long-awaited return to the Hinckley ACT in Leicestershire.

“The Most Potent Slide Player in the UK. I’d go a long way to listen to Johnny Dickinson. You hear a lot of good influences in his music but the result is something special. For me his playing really hits the spot.” John Renbourn.

About Johnny Dickinson…

2001 was the year when Johnny’s long awaited solo album would be recorded and released. He had developed a unique individual style of playing which crossed Celtic flavours with American Blues. Reminiscent, sometimes of Kelly Joe Phelps, and sometimes of Martin Simpson, he recorded demos at home for the project, but an illness kept him sidelined for the next 12 months.

It was August 2002 before he was well enough to start recording sessions, with ‘Castles & Old Kings’ being the result of the time spent at Newcastle’s re-furbished Cluny Studios. The ‘year out’ had given Johnny time to reflect on life, love and everything resulting in an album of subtle songs, deft slide playing and minimal arrangements that mirrored the time.

Since releasing this first album, Johnny has spent his time concentrating on furthering his rapidly expanding solo career. Highlights of 2003 included appearances at both The Purcell Room and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and a live Radio 2 Broadcast along with Loudon Wainwright III. In December 2003, it was announced that Johnny had been nominated for a prestigious Radio Two Horizon Award, and as a result was featured as a main guest on The Mike Harding Show in January 2004.

His name also featured on the list of Most Promising Artists for 2004 on Channel 4’s Teletext service. He is currently busy promoting second CD release, English Summer, and has recently been an integral part of the much talked about ‘Northumbrian Anthology’ project, releasing an acclaimed album “Border Ballads” as a commission for the project. 2004 also saw him working and touring alongside other great Artists: Tommy Emmanuel, Jan Akkerman, John Martyn, Jerry Donahue and Kelly Joe Phelps.

His touring plans now, are to work predominantly as a solo artist, but will, on occasion, be joined by Fin McArdle on percussion and Neil Harland on Double Bass. The two main session players from his debut recording. During November 2005, it was announced that Johnny has been nominated as ‘Best Musician’ in the 2006 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards! 

Johnny Dickinson website »

Booking and venue details

The entrance fee for the evening was £10 for members and £11 for non-members. The event started at 8.00 pm, with doors opening at 7.30 p.m.

The Hinckley ACT

Based in the Sketchley Meadows Business Park, Hinckley ACT is a high quality music venue that offers an informal and intimate atmosphere for concerts and for the monthly club nights, where musicians can come along  and ‘take the stage.’  Established by company chairman, Keith London, on the premises of his firm  Advanced Carbide Tooling (A.C.T.), the venue provides full stage and seating facilities, plus top quality sound and lighting equipment.

There is a licensed bar and ample free car parking.

Introducing Creative Vacances

Jenny and Chris run Creative Vacances, a very successful music holiday venue in South West France and Kev Dempsey runs, along with Joe Brought, one of their most successful workshops. Kev is a great teacher and for three years has been coaxing wonderful music out of the guitarists who come but Jenny and Chris was keen to see him play his own material on stage.

Creative Vacances have extended their range of courses in 2012. New for this year is Gypsy jazz workshop, a folk mandolin week, a singing and strumming workshop with Diane Ponzio, a great  ambassador for Martin Guitars, and a songwriting course with one of the best songwriters in the UK – Angie Palmer.

Creative Vacances website »

Saxophone workshop at Creative Vacances - Premier Music Holiday Courses in France

Jenny and Chris went on to explain…

“We offer a wide range of music courses and workshops for electric and acoustic guitar, fiddle and saxophone, covering many musical genres such as folk, jazz, blues and rock – all aimed at beginners through to accomplished musicians.

“At Creative Vacances we offer the chance to get away from the distractions of life and indulge in your passion for playing music.

“Our cottages in the Charente Maritime in South West France are surrounded by vines and sunflowers and is the venue for our all inclusive music holidays.”

Friday 27th January 2012 brought the return of Hinckley ACT favourite Brian Reed and special guest Leavon Archer.

Brian Reed refers to his music as 'acoustic classical pop'

Brian is an excellent “covers” singer and guitarist of acoustic classic pop who has become one of our most popular entertainers over the last 3 years. Leavon Archer is a young guitarist from Derbyshire, who recently played support for Midge Ure will be playing solo and with Brian.

About Brian Reed…

He started performing publicly in the Derbyshire peak district around 2000 moving to Leicestershire in 2004. The change of job and location stalled his performing activities somewhat but he has gradually found outlets that welcome his brand of acoustic classic pop. His stated objective is to deliver his versions as simply as possible without losing the essence of the originals, claiming that it would be a crime to murder someone’s favourite song. Using acoustic guitar and occasionally a bass drum, he manages to make some surprising choices for stripped-down acoustic delivery work.

About Leavon Archer…

Leavon Archer - check out the albums "Broken" and "Things that go together"

He explains “I started getting into Electronica; Bjork, Chicane etc. so I built a little studio where I started messing around with that kind of stuff, I ended up with an album called “Broken”. I began to rein in a lot of the electronic elements and my writing is now very acoustic oriented again. “Broken” has been joined by “Things that go together” a few of the songs from which had their first public outing when I supported Midge Ure at the Flowerpot in Derby. 2010 saw me take the step into a full-time musical career.”

Booking and venue details

The entrance fee for the evening was £6 for members and £7 for non-members. The event started at 8.00 pm, with doors opening at 7.30 p.m.

The Hinckley ACT

Based in the Sketchley Meadows Business Park, Hinckley ACT is a high quality music venue that offers an informal and intimate atmosphere for concerts and for the monthly club nights, where musicians can come along  and ‘take the stage.’  Established by company chairman, Keith London, on the premises of his firm  Advanced Carbide Tooling (A.C.T.), the venue provides full stage and seating facilities, plus top quality sound and lighting equipment.

There is a licensed bar and ample free car parking.