Last week I started writing about the many outdoor music events due to hit the Bay in February.

Pretty much every weekend seems to be accounted for. There's February 2 (Summerfest at the Mount), February 9 (Marchwood Blues Picnic in Whakamarama), February 15 (The Summer Vineyard Tour at Mills Reef) and March 1 (The Winery Tour at the Wharapei Domain).

With my mouldering brain still reeling from the festivities of the festive season I was sure there was something else to complete a full sweep of weekends but I couldn't place my finger on it. Fortuitously, I had a call from Paul Lethbridge at the Tauranga Acoustic Music Club and he reminded me about the Tauranga and Katikati Acoustic Music Festival.

And that's the full house. Or musical trifecta. Or whatever gambling term suits. The festival takes place on 22 and 23 of February, so compulsive music addicts can now get a live fix during every February weekend.

I'll come back to it in a few short paragraphs but, since we're now straying into folk music territory, I wanted to plug the big exciting news first, which is that Christchurch band The Eastern are coming to the Tauranga Art Gallery next Wednesday
(January 30).

The Eastern have been around for about five years now, releasing two EPs, two albums and touring the country in the furious way that bands did in the good old days before putting up a YouTube clip was deemed easier and more cost-efficient. They have been to Tauranga before – back in the days of the much-missed Orange Zephyr – but not for some years.

I haven't ever seen them live, but I've heard them doing live sessions a couple of times on National Radio and they are terrific. In lieu of trying to describe their sounds myself I'd like to quote their own description, both because it's rather good and because someone obviously put some time and effort into it: 'The Eastern are a string band that roars like a punk band, that swings like a gospel band, that drinks like a country band, that works like a bar band, that hopes like folk singers, and sings love songs like union songs, and writes union songs like love songs, and wants to slow dance and stand on tables, all at the same time.”

Good stuff. They also seem to be the right band at the right time, playing dynamic folk music just as Mumford and Sons (and closer to home Bernie Griffen and the Grifters) lead something of a new folk revival. Last year's celebrations of the life of Woodie Guthrie, when Billy Bragg visited New Zealand, brought a lot of practitioners together and showed that there is a vibrant new folk/country scene bubbling away in New Zealand.

Though they have a larger unit, The Eastern will probably be here with their stripped-down three piece – whatever they do it'll be worth seeing. The show starts at 7.30; tickets are $25 and can be obtained from the Art Gallery.

And back to the Tauranga and Katikati Acoustic Music Festival. This year it runs for two days and is on the same charming orchard that has hosted it for the past two years at 156 Work Rd, out towards Katikati. It's a lovely place to listen to music and this year the music will be well worth listening to.

Topping the bill is a stunning Australian bluegrass singer, Karen Lynne. She really is the bizzo when it comes to this sort of stuff, having won a stack of awards and released nine albums. She's also bringing her whole band so the air will be alive with sounds of flat-pick guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dobro and double bass, all the things that make bluegrass bluegrass. You can find out more about her at www.karenlynne.com.

And, in complete contrast, there also Zoh Zoh, a ten-piece African band playing Afro-beat jazz, old school reggae and African funk high-life. I've never seen them but have heard great things and, unusual though they might seem at an acoustic festival, they'll be fantastic to catch.

There are a pile of others too, including Serita Murdoch and Paul Symons, and the Bay's own Luke Thompson and, well, heaps really. Tickets are $25 a day or $40 for the two days. For more info check out www.tamc.org.nz.