Police Dog Hogan

With eight members in the full line-up (including Guardian columnist Tim Dowling who often writes about the band, as well as James Studholme, Eddie Bishop, Tim Jepson, Don Bowen, Michael Giri, Shahen Galichian and Emily Norris) and instruments including guitar, accordion, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and trumpet, Police Dog Hogan draw their influences from many different wells. You could call it Americana, country-folk, folk-pop or even urban bluegrass, but it’s difficult to do justice to the sheer range of styles this band is willing to take on and, if necessary, transform.

Their second album, From the Land of Miracles, attracted praise from many quarters. “No one in their right mind would imagine that the band that play on the opening track 'Better Go Now' come from anywhere other than the heartland of America,” said Maverick magazine’s 5-star review. “But some of James Studholme’s intricate guitar playing comes straight out of the traditional English folk book and would make Richard Thompson proud.”

Their live shows are exuberant, accomplished, stirring and funny, mixing country-fried heartbreakers, belting anthems and foot-stomping sing-alongs. They’ve been a firm favourite on the festival circuit since forming in 2009, and have been playing to sell-out crowds across the country in the past year. With their third album, Westward Ho!, (produced by Oysterband’s Al Scott) due out on the Union Music Store label in the autumn, Police Dog Hogan look set for big things.

Book signing with Tim Dowling

From 5 - 6pm, Police Dog Hogan band member Tim Dowling will be signing copies of his new book How To Be a Husband at CCA (outside the theatre on the first floor).

"The most romantically unromantic book you'll read all year, How To Be a Husband is a painfully funny manifesto for marriage and an answer to why, even when suck at it, we stick at it."

Tim Dowling is a journalist for the Guardian. He writes a weekly column for Weekend magazine