POWER-folk pioneers The Trials of Cato are hitting the road this spring following a remarkable 2019 which saw the band transform from buskers into BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners.

Fresh from a year touring their award-winning debut album Hide and Hair in the UK, North America and Europe, the band are descending on venues across the UK to debut new material from their hotly anticipated second album, due out later this year.

In early 2019 they won Best Emerging Artist at the inaugural Wales Folk Awards and within six months they were double BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominees. Their debut Hide and Hair was voted Best Album by BBC Radio 2 listeners at the 2019 Folk Awards, gains frequent national airplay and has cemented their reputation as one of the most exciting acts on the UK folk scene.

Formed in Beirut, Lebanon, and originally from North Wales and Yorkshire, the rise of the trio has been the subject of huge attention on the UK folk scene recently.

Singing in both English and Welsh and playing some Welsh tunes interestingly blended with other music, they have been described as "The Sex Pistols of folk," by music producer John Davis, who worked on the remastering of Led Zeppelin's music.

By paying obvious tribute to the traditional they turn old bones into something exciting and modern, with energetic tunes and memorable stories. In three years, the band have gone from busking to playing theatre shows and major festivals across Europe, Canada and the United States.

While living in Lebanon, the band spent a year boiling the roots of their sound to create a hybrid of traditional influences that aroused the curiosity of Lebanese audiences in some of the country's biggest venues.

The Trials Of Cato are:

Robin Jones - Mandolin, tenor banjo, vocals

William Addison - Irish Bouzouki, vocals

Tomos Williams - Guitar, vocals