WHEN Matt Boulter left for Wales to play an intimate gig in front of a few hundred people, he had no idea he would be headlining a major festival just a few days later.

Boulter, a talented multi-instrumentalist from Leigh, was playing lap steel with his band Deer Park, supporting Simone Felice, a big name in Americana circles.

Felice fronts the Duke and the King who’s album Nothing Gold Can Stay was many critics’ choice as the best album of last year.

Boulter, who is also the lead singer in Southend five-piece the Lucky Strikes, immediately struck a chord with Felice, who asked him to play lap steel and sing that night.

The gig went well, and this led to the question every musician wants to hear: “Do you want to come and headline a festival with me this weekend?”

Felice was playing the Green Man festival, also in Wales, and asked Boulter along.

“Simone’s a really nice guy and he has a lot of time for people,” Boulter said.

“He just asked me out of the blue to play lap steel and do backing vocals on one song with him that night, which I jumped at because I am a big fan of his work.

“It ended up being two songs, including one song by the Felice Brothers (Felice’s old band).

“Things developed from there and he asked me to play Swansea the following night and then the headline at the Green Man Festival in Wales on the Sunday night in front of 700 or so people.

“It was a fantastic experience, especially rehearsing the songs in an open field while the festival carried on around us. He said he wants to work with me again so we’re going to keep in touch when he returns to the US.”

Boulter also took another local musician, Bryan Styles, from country folk band Cusack, to play drums at the festival.