SID Griffin is on the road with a new album and a new line-up of his band The Coal Porters, who play Ripon Spa Hotel as part of the Ripon International Festival on Wednesday and Pocklington Arts Centre the next night.

Griffin, the former Long Ryders frontman who swapped Kentucky for living in England, will be leading his acoustic folk, Americana and bluegrass band on mandolin and vocals, joined by his regular Scottish second-in-command Neil Robert Herd on guitar and vocals.

The doghouse bass will be strummed and thumped as usual by Tali Trow and the new additions will be Kerenza Peacock on fiddle and vocals and Paul Fitzgerald on fierce five-string banjo. Peacock, incidentally, played fiddle on Adele’s big hits such as Rolling In The Deep, which the Coal Porters performed on the night Kerenza first went to see them play and she also has performed in British orchestras and classical ensembles and with Seasick Steve and Paul Weller.

The Coal Porters stumbled on Fitzgerald at a late-night jam session on the Kentish coast. "He was leading an informal ensemble through Paddy On The Turnpike at blistering speed and an almost holy light was showing upon him," says Sid. "He had the chops, he had the sense of dedication, he had the sense of humour and he even looked like a Coal Porter. Plus he sang harmony like Sir Paul McCartney. Job done, the boy was in."

Sid is not only a musician but also a long-time music journalist with four books to his credit and a monthly spot on BBC6 Music’s Radcliffe & Maconie Show as resident musicologist. His contacts network led him to make the album with esteemed producer John Wood. "People of my generation know him for his work with Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, John Cale and Squeeze," says 59-year-old Sid. "People of a younger generation know him for working with Beth Orton.

"He's a legend in the UK folk-rock circle, though he may not be a household name elsewhere, but he's moved over to TV to do songs for shows and commercials with great success. He's a brilliant engineer, and whether you like the music or not, the sound is incredible. Sonically, it's terrific. He's the guy."

What does Sid seek from a producer? "I've been in the studio with many producers, some famous, some not, but what you want is their attention. You want someone in the locker room, who like when a head coach speaks, you listen," he says. "I don't want to vaguely doubt them. But when John speaks, everyone listens to him. That's the advantage of working with a veteran like John. My god, does he have a pair of ears!"

Given Sid's long career, you might have expected to have forged links with John Wood previously. "I don't know why I've taken so long to link up with him as I've known him for 25 years. Maybe I thought he was out of my league!" he says.

"But the point now is that so many people are making records, how do you gain people's interest? If you have John Wood on your record, it will perk up interest in the media. He's usually busy, but when we spoke, he said he had a gap, so why didn't he do a Coal Porters album?"

John Wood is not the only stellar name on the credits list. Richard Thompson contributes guitar on one song. "We have a mutual friend, Sam Epstein, in Los Angeles, so I'd met him at Sam's house and we just hit it off," says Sid, "We have a strategy in The Coal Porters of trying to have someone notable on each record and John suggested Richard. He plays on Hush You Babe and it's just fantastic, astonishing stuff; it's like a jazz guitarist playing English folk, and he couldn't be a nicer man. Mrs Thompson did a fine job with her boy."

Find The One also features the voice of veteran radio presenter Brian Matthew. "My father brought back this short wave radio from the Second World War – he was a major – and I was born ten years after that, and one day I was playing with this radio with a friend. I was spinning the dial and I heard this fine English voice introducing The Beatles," Sid recalls. "His voice was unmistakeable.

"Fast forward to when I bought a Beatles bootleg in the 1970s, and there was the same voice. I hadn't known it was Brian Matthew at the time, but I've never forgotten that voice, and now I'm living over here, I listen to Brian presenting Sounds Of The Sixties on Radio 2."

Sid wrote to Brian to ask him to do a voiceover introducing a track, and via Brian's producer, the song Ask Me Again was chosen, adding to the appeal of a record of four-part harmonies and winning melodies that has been described as "an acoustic Clash" and "Mumford & Sons with a PhD in songwriting".

Already, The Coal Porters are setting to work on their sixth acoustic album with plans to record it this autumn for release in early 2015 in plenty of time for the festival season. Who will be the guest contributors on this occasion? Wait and see.

The Coal Porters play Ripon Spa Hotel at the Ripon International Festival on Wednesday, 7.30pm, and Pocklington Arts Centre, Thursday, 8pm. Box office: Ripon, 01423 502116; Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk