Hayman, Watkins, Trout and Lee

One of the unrivalled festival highlights at the End of The Road this weekend was an impromptu gig by Darren Hayman's rather shambolic yet loveable quartet Hayman, Watkins, Trout and Lee, which took place a couple of hours after the former Hefner man's main set, and delighted a small congregation of people willing to risk missing the first couple of songs by the Brakes, who were readying themselves on the main stage.

The band, who, rather confusingly, no longer contain either Trout or Lee (their places having being taken by Dave Tattersal and Dan Mayfield), play a rather joyful, whimsical take on bluegrass, incorporating a great deal of audience participation and good humour. With a couple of songs to go, Hayman noted that "I think we might just get away with it. As you can probably guess, we don't have much in the way of bluegrass roots. You might find rather more indie in our record collections". At one point Hayman sings, "I was born in Alabama, raised in Bermondsey".

Not much one for earnest traditionalists, then, the band still kick up a storm with some rolicking tunes, serious playing and the kind of wry lyrics for which Hayman is justly revered. Not for the last time this weekend, meanwhile, Tattersal (who besides his central role in the Wave Pictures, also turned up with Hayman twice and Herman Düne once) contributed some glorious guitar lines.

On a weekend packed with good music, Hayman, Watkins, Trout and Lee contributed a short, light-hearted set, a merry diversion along the way. For all that, I think I saw more grins per note than I did at any other show - which is a pretty sure sign of success.

Some videos, then, courtesy of Dan.