MUSICIAN extraordinaire and one half of Show of Hands, Phil Beer is coming to Osmington Village Hall near Weymouth on Sunday, May 18.

Phil is one of the most popular ambassadors for acoustic roots music.

A dazzling instrumentalist, he is perhaps best known as a top flight fiddler and plays in the all-star line-up, Feast of Fiddles.

He also plays slide, Spanish and tenor guitar, mandocello, viola, mandolin and South American cuatro, not to mention contributing rich vocals.

As a composer, Phil has written many numbers including the stunning instrumental The Falmouth Packet for Show of Hands’ album Witness – sit still if you can listening to this!

Phil’s solo gigs are an eclectic mix of traditional tunes and his own compositions, with a sprinkling of covers of well known songs, are well salted with his own musings and anecdotes drawn from a career in music spanning more than 36 years.

Show of Hands, made up of Phil and singer-songwriter Steve Knightly, have performed at the Royal Albert Hall and St David’s Hall in Cardiff.

They have also headlined major festivals from WOMAD to Glastonbury and have played all over the world.

In February 2010, the group won both Best Duo and Best Original Song for the track Arrogance Ignorance and Greed at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Their latest album is called Witness.

The result of a collaboration with Grammy-nominated producer Simon Emmerson and Mass of Afro Celts fame, it’s a new take on the genre-defying Show of Hands sound and has been winning accolades for Knightley’s songs and astonishing fiddle, guitar and mandolin playing from Beer.

Don’t miss what promises to be a wonderful evening of music and song. The show starts at 7pm, doors open at 6.30pm and tickets are £12 from 07816 832554.

Parking is free and there is a licensed bar with bar snacks.