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writes:

I am currently sat in JFK airport, New York, waiting to board an internal flight to Chicago, and then onto Austin, Texas. Myself and band, alongside folk artists , , , David Owen, , and have had the good fortune to become parts of the '' showcases.

Supported by Arts Council England, managed by British Underground, held at the Webster Hall, New York and in Austin, Texas, the showcases are the brainchild of fRoots magazine's Ian Anderson and are aimed at demonstrating the wave of current young acts taking the English folk tradition forward.

Having spent a tense few weeks working through visa documents and logistics, we arrived in New York late on Monday evening. There followed a whirlwind of sight-seeing and ambience-soaking before our first gig on Tuesday.

Having spent the morning walking through Central Park and Times Square, myself and band arrived at the to see our name emblazoned in lights outside. A first!

The showcase that night was compered by The Magpie's Nest folk club's own Sam Lee.

It was a strange but wonderfully diverse night. To be stood watching artists, many of whom I have known for years and whose music I feel such affinity with, as if we were all at a festival or folk club, yet in an alien city across the Atlantic, was an amazing experience.

And it seemed that the gig connected with the audience; after my set I found myself talking to people who had been to Devon on holidays when they were children, or who said that the music was unlike anything they had heard in the city, and made them feel drawn to the warmth and intimacy of these English songs and tales.

This morning, Jim and I went on a pilgrimage, across the city to Jonas Street, 4th Avenue West, to recreate .

Next stop, !