Nic Jones to play at cambridge folk festival

English folk maestro Nic Jones is one of the headline acts at the 2012 Cambridge Folk Festival. The singer-songwriter, who did not perform for 28 years following an horrific car collision with an articulated lorry, will be the headline act on Sunday 29th July. Orpington-born Jones, 65, who sang three songs at a Sidmouth Folk event in 2010 with his old group Bandoggs, has not made a full public performance in 30 years. He is acclaimed by fans and musicians alike as an imaginative, ground-breaking and enduring influential guitarist, songwriter and fiddle player. His repertoire has been covered by folk stars such as Kate Rusby and international singers of the calibre of Bob Dylan, who recorded a version of Canadee-I-O from Jones's magnificent album Penguin Eggs. When he made his brief comeback in Sidmouth, Jones joked: "What are those daft buggers all waiting for? They’d be better off going to see Radiohead.” His son Joseph is also a musician. The Cambridge Folk Festival, one of the biggest events of its kind in the world, will also feature multi-million album sellers Clannad, acclaimed singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading, Scottish band The Proclaimers and June Tabor & Oysterband, who will be performing songs from their award-winning album Ragged Kingdom. Singer-songwriter and activist Billy Bragg celebrates Woody Guthrie’s 100th Birthday, which falls in mid-July; and there will be a concert from Canada's Loreena McKennitt. The festival runs from 26-29 July at Cherry Hinton Hall Grounds.