Maidstone Pickin' Party: 7th June 2026

Pickin' Party at Maidstone, Kent on 7th June 2026. Alan Cackett has always been at the forefront in association with most of the major Country artists from around the world when they visit the UK. Both advising them and arranging publicity about their tours. The veteran journalist, broadcaster and promoter joined the original committee of the British Country Music Association back in the 1960s. His contribution was the compilation and publication of the famed Year Book which listed most of the performing artists of the time, categorising them as solo, duo, trio and bands, together with contact details and the style of Country music performed. Alan Cackett was the founding editor of Maverick magazine after spells as a journalist at most of the other publications. A regular broadcaster on Country music on both BBC and independent stations, he has organised and promoted some very good singer/songwriter festivals over the years. Latterly he has been working for a major label producing some excellent compilations of Nashville stars. He was inducted into the British Country Music Hall Of Fame in 2018. The thinking behind the Pickin' Parties goes back several years. Quite often when he was in Nashville, singers and writers would invite him to what they called 'Guitar Pulls' or 'Get-togethers'. Usually in their homes or on the back porch. Other musicians and singers would come along; there would be food and drink, basically a social gathering of musicians, As the evening wore on they would take out their instruments and swap stories and each musician would play, often a latest song they'd written then they'd be urged to dig back and sing a hit song they'd written for a major artist. Due to eyesight problems, Alan had to permanently stop driving around 6 years ago. This meant he couldn't easily get to gigs, so three years ago he asked a few local singers and musicians if they'd like to come round to his house for a Pickin' Party. He was met with blank looks. Around 6 or 8 turned up, not knowing what to expect, and it built from that and he is now hosting it once a month. So far the most musicians they have had is 19 (a very tight squeeze in his large front room), and he has even had Nashville hit writers like Hugh Moffatt and John Peppard come along. Alan feels it's a great way for musicians to network and has led to songwriting co-writes and musicians working together, etc. The following artists attended his Pickin' Party on 7th June: John Paine, Sandie Paine, Heather Jupp, Harley Dave, Hayley Oliver, Jodie McKay, Billy Levin, Andy Wilkison, Malcolm Peet and Mark Johnson. I have posted a video of one of Alan's Pickin' Parties before. This is the 9th that I have attended and the chat between songs is almost as entertaining as the singing and playing. People were continually trying to catch out Alan Cackett who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of American Country music and artists. I don’t think anyone stumped him. Enjoy the party.