How nu-folk became the latest new rock'*'roll

UST over two years ago, a rising band called Mumford & Sonscrowded into an Edinburgh record shop and ran through five of theirsongs for a small crowd of fans and interested bystanders.

Few who were there could have foreseen that the band would lastweek win the British Album of the Year Brit award or spark hugequeues of fans this weekend for a tour of "intimate" Scottishvenues.

When tickets went on sale yesterday for their eight-date tourfrom Mull to Orkney next month, public anticipation was obvious. Byearly morning, a queue of hundreds stretched down Inverness'sAcademy Street from the Ironworks, and the 1000-capacity venue wassold out for the March 8 gig soon afterwards. Last night, there werealready pleas from ticket-starved fans on the internet.

Fellow nu-folkie Laura Marling, a gifted 21-year-old who oncedated Mumfords' singer Marcus Mumford, won the Brit for Britishfemale solo artist, beating bookies' favourite Cheryl Cole.

These acoustically-minded nu-folkies apply a sophisticated yetcommercial sheen to elements of Britain's musical heritage, but fewexpected them to challenge The X Factor judge and Take That.

The consensus seems to be the rise of nu-folk stems from 1997,when the Fence Records label was established in Fife to releasemusic by such acts as King Creosote and James Yorkston.

Kevin Buckle, owner of Avalanche record shop where Mumford & Sonsplayed, believes the appeal of nu-folk cuts across age ranges, fromstudents to buyers in their 40s.

"It's only in the last three or four years that the wider publichas latched on to nu-folk as the numbers of bands multiplied.''

Ironically, as the appeal of traditional-influenced music grows,one of the pillars of Scottish traditional music is under threat.The internationally acclaimed National Centre of Excellence inTraditional Music at Plockton faces an uncertain future after TheHighland Council announced it was axeing pound(s)300,000 in funding.The decision has provoked outrage from thousands including formerpupils, teachers and some of the biggest names in traditional musicin Scotland.

Donald Shaw, artistic director of the Celtic Connections festivaland a musician, composer and producer, said: "It would be a tragedyif the course doesn't continue.

"When you look at the number of musicians who have gone on tohave successful careers, there is an argument for the course to becentrally funded like some of the academies or university courses.

"It's like having a stream of traditional musicians and putting adam up against it."