Pete Brown and his quirky band, The NewGrass Cutters, take rock anthems and give them the bluegrass treatment.

For the past 18 months the virtuoso multi instrumentalists have been marrying their four part harmonies with some gritty rock and pop, to create the perfect hybrid, notching up some famous fans including Dave Pegg from Fairport Convention and Andy Fairweather Low.

"We needed some testimonials for our new website so I sent Dave a four track demo, he loved it so much he booked us to play the main stage at Cropredy on the Saturday night,'' said Pete.

The NewGrass Cutters will be mowing their way down to Swindon on Saturday, May 27 at 8pm, to play at the Arts Centre.

The musicians stumbled across their bluegrass/rock combo genre by accident when Mike Nichols, the bass player, was asked if he knew of a pedigree bluegrass band to play at a party for some really rich people.

"Mike phoned me, told me the money they were going to pay - so we decided to learn bluegrass - in two weeks. Now we don't have dad's fame, but we are getting there,'' said Pete, whose dad is rock 'n' roll star Joe Brown and whose sister is Sam Brown the pop star.

In self defence against these two hugely famous musicians Pete, not being a huge fan of schooling, took an interest in the workings of the recording studio.

"Mum got me an interview with London Powerplant Studio and I became apprentice. I used to do all Dad's sound engineering,'' said Pete.

He has also worked with a number of top names in the business including Deep Purple, David Gilmour, Everything But The Girl, Edwin Star and even George Harrison from The Beatles.

Pete said "I had been in the studio with my dad and we went for a pint, or three, down our local pub. My dad's mobile, which he almost never uses, went off and it was George asking for me because his engineer had gone home sick. He wanted me right then and there, and sent a car for me. I arrived at 11pm. George had to make the coffee while I became accustomed to his studio. We worked until 8am in the morning, and he offered me one of his expensive cars to drive home in - I declined! Too risky!''

It was Sam who enticed Pete away from behind the mixing desk, encouraging him to take the plunge on stage as a musician.

He said: "I used to play R 'n' B with my dad in the summer holidays, but it was after Sam came back from touring with Spandau Ballet to record the demo of Stop, that I joined her. Since then I have written a lot of songs with Sam over the years, and she produced my solo album, Not Before Time.''

Now the NewGrass Cutters have produced an album, Moving Down The Groove, with classics like Voodoo Chile, Moves Like Jagger, Too Much Too Young and Born To Be Wild getting the Newgrass treatment.

Joining Pete and Mike in the band are musicians that he 'stole' from his dad's backing band, Phil Capoldi on drums, Richard Collins on banjo and mandolin.

Tickets to see the the NewGrass Cutters at the Old Town theatre in Devizes road, are £19.50 from 01793 524481 or visit www.swindontheatres.co.uk - Flicky Harrison