EXPECT the joint to be truly jumping at String Jam Club in Selkirk next month with Western swing, Gypsy jazz, hot country blues, ragtime hokum, Americana and a whole bucketload of great songs.

It can only mean the arrival of the superbly entertaining and acclaimed six-piece band, Rob Heron & the Tea Pad Orchestra.

Described as 'amazing musicians who play with both passion and a sympathetic regard for the history of the genre', they do in fact cover many styles.

Whether evoking the spirit of Bob Wills or Django Reinhardt, George Jones or Cab Calloway, they shuffle and boogie with total sincerity and panache.

Their shows are full of infectious humour, as they live and breathe the music they love, taking everyone with them.

The Tea Pad are five years into a remarkable story that began with four friends studying folk and traditional music at Newcastle University and now sees them playing clubs and dancehalls and festivals the breadth of the British Isles and into mainland Europe. There was even a brief trip to India last year.

Based on Tyneside but with members hailing from Orkney to Warwickshire, the Tea Pad sound draws on myriad influences yet ultimately sounds like nobody else. That North Eastern Swing style is utterly their own and changing all the time.

Across their three acclaimed albums – ‘Money Isn’t Everything’ (2012), ‘Talk About The Weather’ (2014), and the latest release ‘Something Blue’ – the band have constantly added new flavours to their sound.

Heron in particular is a vinyl obsessive, always fired up about some new passion: calypso or boogaloo or whatever this week brings, and that eclecticism feeds into their songs, with the new album adding gospel and rockabilly to the Tea Pad palette.

The band tours the way bands should – widely and endlessly – winning friends and fans at each new show.

They have played literally hundreds of shows including well-received performances at major festivals (including Glastonbury), they’ve appeared twice on BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends, and they have also had their music played by everyone from Marc Riley to Huey Morgan.

String Jam promoter Allie Fox told us: "Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra will have you tapping your feet in no time."

Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra play the String Jam Club in Selkirk's County Hotel on Saturday, April 7.

Doors open at 7.30pm and tickets, priced at £14, are available from the County Hotel by phone 01750-721233.