CANTERBURY'S rustic folkies The Oysterband play Chepstow Castle on Wednesday July 24.

Seemingly around forever, The Oysters have recently released a mammoth twiddle-fest CD titled Cooking Vinyl's best-of-Oysterband 1986-1997 which has been a critical and commercial success.

As many a band have said, "if it's not broke don't fix it" with reference to two decades of albums and singles in exactly the same style, and the same could be said for The Oysters.

But if it is accessible folk that gets your foot a tappin' and head a noddin' then this should not be a problem.

Traditional music of Britain forms the heartbeat of the band which they pull off without being too twee, a rare thing in modern day folk music.

They formed out of a gang of mates who jammed and practiced in a squat near Canterbury University.

Early themes were Thatcher's Britain and the rise of consumerism in the 1980s which they approached with a punk like fever. Folk rock had long since died and The Oysters were more than happy to step in with their new equivalent.

Their first release, Step Outside, was the first for new label Cooking Vinyl in 1986, and raised a few eyebrows among folk purists.

Since ten, years and Oyster albums have rolled by. The Levellers sixth-form folk rebellion phase came and went but The Oysters endured, having put roots deeper down than the transitory New Age Traveller scene.

This weekend, Chepstow Castle should make a perfect setting for the band whose traditional styles and vibrant approach should set the ghosts on the battlements jigging as the sun sets on the border town.