KICK up your heels as Police Dog Hogan come to Dorchester Arts at Dorchester Corn Exchange on December 9. The band are a high-energy and eclectic eight-piece fusing of country, pop, folk and rocking bluegrass.

Driving country-rock rhythms and a distinctive Americana vibe underpin lead singer James Studholme’s lyrics, in this collection of stories and personal observations. The collective musical skills of the band have been used to full effect to create an album that delivers on both interpretation and atmosphere.

Police Dog Hogan, first formed in 2009, has evolved over the years into a tight-knit eight-piece band combining guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, accordion, trumpet, keyboards, bass and drums to create an exuberant fusing of country, pop, folk and rocking bluegrass.

In 2014 Police Dog Hogan were one of only three UK bands invited to Nashville to perform at the prestigious Americana Music Association Awards, where DJ Bob Harris – in town for the awards – snapped them up for a recording that has become one of the most-watched YouTube videos on his Under the Apple Tree Sessions channel. In 2015 they made a showcase appearance on Harris’s Radio 2 show.

The band has repeatedly been offered headline and other spots on the main stages of numerous key festivals – among many others, they have been asked back an unprecedented three times to Larmer Tree, twice to Kendal Calling and Port Eliot, and three times to Cornbury. In 2016 they appeared at Glastonbury for the first time, on the Avalon stage.

The band regularly plays to sell-out audiences up and down the country. After more than 300 live shows they've become a serious and ambitious musical venture that marries a devotion to touring and the presentation of consummate live performances with an utter dedication to song writing and recording.

*Police Dog Hogan, Dorchester Corn Exchange, Saturday December 9, 8pm.

Contact Dorchester Arts in person at the Corn Exchange (weekdays 10am - 4pm) for tickets or go to dorchesterarts.org.uk