OLD-time band Southern Belle will be bringing songs and dance tunes originating from the Appalachian Mountains to the next Silver Street Session in Wiveliscombe on Saturday.

Old time music is pre-bluegrass with the roots originating from African, Irish and European workers that merged their own genres together in the US using the banjo and fiddle.

The fiddle and banjo is then accompanied by other instruments to play ‘front porch’ music for family and friends to dance and other informal gatherings.

Old time existed in the 1800s and was not given its name until 1920s. Bluegrass evolved from old time to be performed and became more commercial, using advance musical technique with improvisation and different picking patterns on the banjo colouring melodies to provide entertainment suitable for the stage.

Taunton-based Southern Belle’s concert at Cotleigh Brewery, in Ford Road, starts at 8pm; doors. open at 7.30pm. Tickets £10, concessions £8, available from Wiveliscombe Post Office and the Silver Street Sessions website: www.silverstreetsessions.co.uk