Sapphire Storm are a powerhouse duo, performing a mixture of Country, Bluegrass, Americana & original songs.

Both Leanne Thorose (lead vocals, guitar & mandolin) and Eleanor Wilkie (double bass & harmony vocals) currently play in the all female IBMA Nominated Bluegrass band Midnight Skyracer, who released their first album Fire in 2018 and were signed to Island/Universal Records in 2020 where they released their second album Shadows On The Moon.

Leanne is a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist based in London, England. She plays the mandolin, fiddle & guitar, specialising in Bluegrass and Country music. Leanne has been a touring musician for over 10 years and has made appearances in a number of different bands and theatre projects including the critically acclaimed Irish Dance show Essence of Ireland as their lead fiddle player where she completed tours around the UK with shows in Qatar and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Eleanor has predominantly been on the Bluegrass and Folk music scene for over two decades and has played double bass and fiddle in bands such as Dulaman, Keep Off The Grass, Chill Until Blue, Shake the Roots, and more recently (2017-present), as the bass player for the all-female band, Midnight Skyracer. Eleanor also plays piano, and tends to write many of her songs on this. Other instruments that Eleanor enjoys to flirt with include banjo, guitar and mandolin. Cup O’Joe is a close family trio who have been playing together from their early teens. Comprising brothers Reuben and Benjamin and sister Tabitha, they were raised in the traditions of bluegrass and folk, and it is these traditions that their music is rooted in. They blend the intricate tones of bluegrass, folk and jazz to tones to create their own progressive acoustic sound. Their mix of original and re-imagined traditional songs sets the ingredients for an energetic and enthusiastic performance, and this is giving them a growing presence on the surrounding acoustic music scene in Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe. Strong sibling harmonies can be heard throughout their music, harmonies that blend together like only sibling harmonies can.

The former Radio 2 Young Folk Award Finalists have toured extensively through Ireland, England and central Europe over the years. In 2017 they were selected to take part in the Bluegrass Ramble at the International Bluegrass Associations weeklong conference and festival in Raleigh, North Carolina, being among some of the first international bands to do so.

They are set to release their new album in January 2020, which contains nine new original songs and one traditional, whilst embodying a fresh original sound. For several tracks they are joined on mandolin by David Benedict (Mile Twelve), and on fiddle by Niall Murphy (Breaking Trad, Cara Dillon, Nathan Carter) as well as many more special guests.

Support is from Nikki Petherick.