Grammy Award winner Amrit Sond headlines the first Ryedale Live! acoustic concert of 2009 at Amotherby Parish Hall, near Malton, tonight, at 7.30pm.

Now based in London, the Kenyan-born guitarist draws on elements of world, jazz, classical, folk and rock music, as well as new acoustic techniques, such as two-handed tapping and percussive slaps.

His version of Two For The Road featured on the Grammy-winning album Pink Guitar – The Music Of Henry Mancini.

Amrit will be joined this evening by four more heart-warming acts from closer to home: Raven, John Watton, The Chanterelles and Simon Wiffen.

Raven, an all-female harmony group from Scarborough, combine traditional, medieval, contemporary and modern songs, accompanied mostly on keyboard, recorders, penny whistles and drums, although some are sung a cappella.

Watton, also from Scarborough, is an upbeat singer/songwriter/guitarist in the blues and jazz field with occasional forays into the realms of folk.

The Chanterelles, alias the singer-songwriting duo of Em Whitfield Brooks and B, are soon to record their debut album of soaring vocals and passionately performed songs.

Wiffen is billed as “one of Leeds’s most underrated and shamefully overlooked singer-songwriters”. Tonight he will be promoting his debut EP Life Support in the company of guitarist Mark Parrini.

Tickets are available at £5 on 0791 923 5962 or 01653 690503 from organiser Rob Davies, a Malton businessman and music lover who established Ryedale Live! last year to give local musicians the chance to play on a bigger stage alongside more established artists from further afield.

This evening’s concert will be the fourth in a series that so far has chalked up sold-out nights in Farndale, Amotherby and Hutton-le-Hole.

“The only thing missing is some good old-fashioned tap dancing, and I’m working on that,” says Rob.

The next Ryedale Live! show will be held at The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale, on Friday, March 6, when international performers Angie Palmer and Edwina Hayes share the bill with Ryedale musicians Robin Bunton, Nick Staley and Ru Brooks.

Further bi-monthly acoustic shows will be announced later.