NEW Forest band The Southern Companion are celebrating after being nominated for four prestigious British Country Music Awards.

Their second album 1000 Days of Rain has been nominated for UK Album of The Year, the single Crash for UK Song of the Year while the video for their single Drive is in the running for Video of The Year. The final nomination is for Horizon Act of The Year 2016 which recognises up and coming new talent.

Things have taken off for the band who are based in Lymington in the last 12 months. Following on from a coveted pop up stage slot at the Country 2 Country festival held at London’s O2 Arena in March, singer/songwriter Darren Hodson then embarked on an eight- week UK support tour for 60’s legend Lulu. The band recorded a live session for Whispering Bob Harris’ Under The Apple Tree sessions and were then invited to perform on the Under The Apple Tree stage at the UK round of the Grand Prix at Silverstone.

With appearances across a number of UK festivals this summer and some further tours planned for the autumn the band (Darren Hodson, Simon Johnson, Stuart Ross, Lee Maycock, Oliver Richmond-Jones and Gianni Chiarello) have a busy few months ahead. Of the nominations Darren said:“Just to be recognised alongside acts like The Shires and Ward Thomas who are already making waves in the UK and USA, is a real honour. There’s some fantastic British talent out there right now. A year ago we watched the award ceremony at home, this October we’ll actually be there and I couldn’t have asked for more than that”

On Tuesday August 23 they are also hosting a brand new evening at The Talking Heads in Southampton. Titled “The Dirty South Sessions” the aim is to bring the Country/Americana scene down South.

“There is a massive country scene in the North of England but the gigs seem to stop at London. We wanted to start the ball rolling down on the South Coast,” Darren added.

The first evening will see The Southern Companion, exciting UK country duo Holloway Road and support from newcomer Beth Thornton.

Prior to this you can catch them at Bournemouth Pier Approach on Thursday August 4.