alt. bluegrass with four-part harmonies

Martin Conroy: Lead & Harmony vocals, guitar, mandolin, harmonica, whistle
Jo Fender: Lead & Harmony vocals
Carys Lewis: Lead & Harmony vcals, cello, mandolin
Oran Tait: Lead & Harmony vocals mandolin, guitar, tenor & 5 string banjo


The Redgrass Collective started life in Mike Sasiadek's kitchen in 2002. Martin Conroy and Mike would jam away playing Woody Guthrie, Johnny Cash and anything else that took our fancy on guitars, banjos mandolins and mandolas.

The Collective underwent a radical change when Martin teamed up with Bass player and Producer Andy Wicks. Andy breathed life into Martin's songs and over a 6 month period between 2005 and 2006 recorded and mixed Martin's songs. The result was The Mandola Ploy. Martin and Andy then put together a band to perform the album in 2006 at the Quaggy Carnival in Greenwich with a line up including Georgia Alison on Mandolin, an instrument she had never played before joining the Collective.

Andy and Georgia went on to form Coping with Keith Caden, while Martin played solo gigs supporting, among others, Bullfrog Brown and Bill Clift.

The latest incarnation of the Collective sprung from a weird winter in 2006 when Martin Conroy & Jo Fender sat around every Wednesday night drinking wine and picked out harmonies over Martin's guitar on songs we had written or loved.In the spring Oran Tait brought his Buddhist charms and guitar into the room.After a few weeks Oran picked up Martin's mandolin and never looked back.One sunny day we were sitting outside ourlocal bar when Carys Lewis came by with a guitar on her shoulder. We bought her a drink and asked if she played and she said maybe.We asked if she sang and she said yeah with a country voice. We asked her to sing with us and she said yes. That is the Redgrass Collective. The Collective debuted again at the Quaggy Carnival in 2007 and continue to gig around South East London. Their distinctive blend of four part harmonies, mandolin, cello and guitar breathes new life into an old genre. With three songwriters in the band Redgrass aren't short of original material but enjoy choosing to surprise their audience by covering quirky or unexpected songs by other artists.