HE’S played in major acts Steeleye Span and Feast of Fiddles, but fiddle-player extraordinaire Peter Knight admits his heart is given over to his trio Gigspanner – who come to Wat Tyler Country Park on Saturday.

“There’s obviously Steel Eye Span,” says Peter, who’s been dubbed the Jimi Hendrix of the fiddle world. “We tour every other year.

“And there’s Feast of Fiddles, which is pretty much once a year, and we really look forward to it. It’s great fun, more like a rugby tour than a music one – it’s absolutely fantastic.

“But Gigspanner is where my heart is.”

The trio, made up of Peter, guitarist Roger Flack and percussionist Vincent Salzfaas, play a special gig this weekend, where Peter says the intimate format allows each musician to showcase their skills without the sound getting lost.

“It’s something we just work and work on,” he explains. “We just absolutely love it.

“The trio happened by accident really. We were just playing local gigs in Hastings and we played a few pub gigs. People started saying how fantastic it was, and we enjoyed it so much that we just started taking it a bit more seriously, and it’s going from strength to strength.

“I love it. It’s such a great platform for all our playing – you can do that with a trio.

“When you start getting into quartet and quintets, it gets a bit crowded.”

Peter may be known as a violin virtuoso, but he has equal respect for his fellow musicians in the band.

“We all have so much respect for each other’s playing,” he says.

“That way, at gigs we’re always listening to each other, and the music we play has a lot of room in it for us to explore possibilities with improvisation.

“When we play songs, they’re never the same twice, which keeps it fresh for us and fresh for the listeners.”

Gigspanner have plans for a new studio album, which will hopefully be recorded later this year.

They play at the Wat Tyler Country Park, Pitsea Hall Lane, Basildon, on Saturday, May 12, from 7.30pm.

Tickets are £12 on the door or £10 in advance. Call 01268 465465.