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There are a handful of record labels you know you can trust, and when it comes to bluegrass and folk Rounder Records is top of the list.

Over the years Rounder has released albums by artists such as Alison Krauss and Union Station, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Nanci Griffith, J.D. Crowe, George Thorogood and The Destroyers, Béla Fleck and many more.

The Royal Concert Hall show featured four of their artists - James Hand, Alecia Nugent Band, Sarah Harmer and Blue Highway - was introduced by folk luminary Linda Thompson and was guaranteed to be an evening of outstanding music and performances.

James Hand is a Texan country singer who, although he's been recording and performing for over forty years, only finally saw commercial success in 2006 with his album "The Truth Will Set Us Free". I saw him play in March 2009 at The Oaks, a honky tonk venue outside Austin, Texas frequented by cowboy boot clad Austinites on Sunday afternoons dancing, drinking and enjoying the fine music in baking sunshine. While the Concert Hall wasn't such an ideal setting, he entertained the audience with his songs, jokes ("The band are great, but I have reservations about the singer"), and his Johnny Cash and Hank Williams covers.

The concert really came to life when Alecia Nugent and her 6-piece band took to the stage. Alecia comes from a family of musicians and is a confident, personable performer. Her band was comprised of banjo, fiddle, mandolin, double bass, acoustic guitar and dobro. The latter 2 instruments played by Blue Highway members Tim Stafford and Rob Ickes. Claiming she saw Keith Whitley (deceased singer-songwriter who wrote "When You Say Nothing At All" later covered by Alison Krauss as well as Ronan Keating!) in the audience, she asked one poor gentleman to stand up, promising him a CD as an apology for embarrassing him.

After a short break Canadian songstress Sarah Harmer came on stage accompanied by her guitar player Dean. Although she suffered from having to follow such a great band, she performed a good set featuring songs from her forthcoming forthcoming Rounder release and dedicating the final song to the late Kate MacGarrigle.

The evening's headline band were Blue Highway, a bluegrass outfit who are celebrating 15 years together with a new compilation CD. They are a 5 piece (banjo, mandolin/fiddle, double bass, guitar and dobro) with 3 strong vocalists and songwriters in Tim Stafford, Wayne Taylor, and (my personal favourite) Shawn Lane. Rob Ickes is one of the worlds top dobro players, and is the IBMA's (International Bluegrass Music Association) most nominated instrumentalist so it was great to see him play twice during the evening. However, much as they are all amazing musicians, two of my favourite moments were when they put their instruments to one side and sang a cappella - it sounded fantastic.

All the artists including Linda Thompson returned to the stage for the encore - a rendition of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will The Circle Be Unbroken".

It was a fantastic night of music, proving just what a great label Rounder Records is. Here's hoping the label is back in 2020 to celebrate 50 years.