SELF-EFFACING musician Phil Beer already has a place in the Folk Hall of Fame, but he certainly isn't standing still. The Devon-based artist will play two gigs in Dorset among many other gigs in the next few weeks, a lifestyle he is far from tiring of, he tells Joanna Davis.

FOLK musician Phil Beer's roots might have originally been entrenched in Devon, but over the years those roots have grown tendrils - and some of them have firmly lodged themselves in west Dorset.

Phil, who performs as a solo artist, also with his band, and as a member of Show of Hands, is more in demand than ever before.

His solo tour will see him go all over the country, including a date on Portland, while his Phil Beer Band tour will take in Dorchester.

Phil will rejoin Show of Hands for a 25th anniversary show at the Royal Albert Hall this Easter.

With Show of Hands, multi instrumentalist Phil and singer songwriter Steve Knightley forged one of the most successful ever partnerships in acoustic roots music and have already scored four sell-outs at the iconic London venue.

Show of Hands, triple BBC Radio 2 Folk awards winners (Best Live Act, Best Duo and Best Original Song, for Knightley’s ever topical Arrogance Ignorance and Greed), first played and sold out the Albert Hall in 1996, to the surprise of the sceptics.

Now they will head back to the capital to take on the gamble of hiring and selling out the historic 5,000-seater hall for a fifth time. They will be accompanied by their long term special guest - bass player and vocalist Miranda Sykes.

But touring some of the smaller venues this year will remind Phil of how far he has come since he started out in music all those years ago.

Phil got to know west Dorset well when Show of Hands bandmate Steve, a former teacher at Beaminster School, was living in Corscombe.

"I got to know Bridport well because it was close to Corscombe," Phil said.

"Only two weekends ago we visited the Bull Hotel where we hadn't been for a long time. It once had a fantastic music venue upstairs, this was a while back in the late 80s and early 90s. Musicians wanted to perform there and it was an open mic venue.

"Steve was involved and we used to go there quite a bit. The hotel has changed now and it's all a lot more upmarket.

"There's such a lively arts scene in Bridport now. It's incredible what they've done with the chapel which is now the arts centre.

"Bridport is a great place and it has had a lot of influence on our path."

Phil says that fans can expect a 'healthy mix of good material' on his solo tour.

"There'll be lots of folk stuff and I'll be dredging up some of the very very old stuff as well for all of the Bob Dylan freaks and hopefully for a new generation of fans - I'll be singing about how the times they are a changin'. That's probably not even a song known to the under 30s!"

I point out to Phil that he seems to have a jam-packed schedule of touring from the beginning of this month through to May, but the touring life seems like a well worn habit he's used to.

"It's a routine that I've done many times - going away and doing three gigs or so and coming back and then going away to do three or four gigs or so."

For keen sailor Phil, his gig at the Royal Manor Theatre on Portland on March 9 will see him returning to his old stomping ground. Or should that be 'splashing ground'?

"For several years I've been running sailing trips and going sailing, especially off Portland.

"The year before last we were on a boat on Portland for sailing practise in Portland harbour. That has been my most recent association with Portland, but I have played at the theatre before.

"It wasn't long ago that Kelly Oliver was playing there. I thought I should look in on her - she's a fantastic musician. I still know some of the people who run the place. It's a lovely little theatre."

Phil, who was named Musician of the Year in the 2011 Spiral Awards, is very much looking forward to getting back together with Steve and Miranda for the 25th anniversary Show of Hands gig.

He said: “We have had four hugely memorable nights at the Albert Hall and it will be great to see so many of our fans under one roof again in what will amazingly be our 25th year on the road!

"It's astonishing that as a group it's survived for so long. The last tour we did has been our most successful tour. Whether we cheer people up, I don't know! We had excellent reviews for our last album and I've been told that our audience share is up by an average of 70 or 80 people a night."

Last year, Show of Hands' critically-acclaimed studio album The Long Way Home saw them returning to their musical roots and brought them a nomination for Best Album in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Travelling full circle to the songs and tunes that inspired them to start playing as a duo it revisits all the classic ingredients of traditional folk themes - songs of war, exile, invention, seafaring and loves lost and found.

The gigs Phil will be setting out on with the Phil Beer band - including a gig in Dorchester on May 25 - will be bittersweet, marked by the absences of band member Nick Quarmby, who lost his battle with cancer at the end of last year.

Phil said: "These gigs will be tinged with sadness. The band has been together for a long time and Nick is much missed. We have a talented singer and bass player Greg McDonald, who will fill that gap, but Nick was so well known on the scene. I think there's always going to be a sadness when we're playing together now."

Last year was a brutal blow saying goodbye to so many musicians, I ask Phil, does it make him think about his own mortality?

"I'm certainly of that age when people are starting to go. People are starting to fall by the wayside because they are of the age when they are starting to get these illnesses."

*Phil Beer will perform at the Royal Manor Theatre, Portland, on March 9 and will perform again in the area at the Corn Exchange, Dorchester, on May 25 with the Phil Beer Band. See philbeer.co.uk for more information and contact the Royal Manor Theatre or Dorchester Arts for tickets.