Tim ‘Trundle’ Purkess had been slapping bass for The Stargazers since the 1980s and by the mid-90s had signed to legendary indie-punk-rockabilly label, Vinyl Japan. Working at their London office near Camden Lock was boat-dwelling rockabilly upstart Lois Pryce who, as a teenage bluegrass nut, had enjoyed a youthful dabble with a 5-string banjo. Now living on her narrowboat on the canal in Camden, the banjo had taken a backseat to boats and motorcycles, and was gathering dust below decks. Another Camden rock ‘n’ roller, and regular visitor to the Vinyl Japan office, was the label’s graphic designer, Angie Boothroyd, but as the double bass player for rockabilly trio The Queen B’s, the fiddle was not even a twinkle in her eye… 

However, something else was twinkling - none other than the aforementioned Tim ‘Trundle’ Purkess. One thing led to another… and another… and before you could say ‘Avast me hearties’, they’d tied the knot, bought an old barge and moored up next to Lois.

Meanwhile, a few miles north, on the mean streets of Stevenage, Jimbo Aplin ruled over his acoustic kingdom at fabled guitar emporium, Coda Music. In his spare time (and probably on company time too) he was nerding out over the pickin’ and harmonies of the Louvin Brothers, Doc Watson and David Rawlings, resulting in his forming The Union Canal String Band, a good-time bunch of hillbilly, harmonising scoundrels. Named for their banjo player, who also lived aboard a narrowboat on the Grand Union Canal, the UCSB burst on to the scene in the late 2000s with their Old Crow-inspired sound.

But something even more exciting was happening downstream…