The Coal Porters

The Coal Porters are a London based bluegrass band, led by Sid Griffin. Since forming the band out of the ashes of The Long Ryders in the late 1980s the band line-up has changed on numerous occasions. The current line-up is:

Kerenza Peacock – fine fiddle and vocals;

Paul Fitzgerald – banjo and vocals;

Sid Griffin – vocals, mandolin, harmonica and autoharp;

Andrew Stafford – bass;

Neil Robert Herd – guitar and vocals.

When the band started out in the early 1990s, they were very much continuing where The Long Ryders left off, playing country-rock, or Americana music. Over the years the band have done tribute shows playing Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman music and from this, their electric music slowly evolved into a more acoustic style until it reached its current state, which is described as alt-bluegrass, a sort of Bill Monroe meets The Clash, if you will.