Sly Old Dogs specialise in top pedigree folk songs and tunes – mainly Irish and Scottish – which they perform at obedience schools, kennel clubs, butchers’ shops, lampposts and a monthly session of wild music at The Bell Inn, Monks Kirby in Warwickshire. The line-up is known for its informal and lively arrangements of chorus songs, lilting ballads and lively tune sets performed on guitars, fiddle, whistles, harmonica, mandolin, banjo, bouzouki, bodhran and euphonium plus great rousing singing and plenty of banter.
The line-up consists of Bob Brooker, Nigel Ward, Paul Kenny, Richard Rider and Pete Willow although other local musicians have been known to join them as ‘honorary dogs’. All members share a common heritage as former members of the long-running folk combo The Oddsods, who played popular traditional music across the UK in prehistoric times and produced two well-received albums. In fact, Sly Old Dogs took their name by dropping the ‘Odd’ and turning the rest of their name into an acronym!