"The Boxwood Chessmen gave a barnstorming performance at the club on Tuesday. As a group, their musicianship, sung harmonies and general good cheer quickly captured their audience and led them a merry dance through the evening. Penni McLaren Walker was the lead and sometimes only vocalist whilst playing guitar or accordion with a clear strong voice to carry the words over the band. Bryan Causton played mainly mandolin, often fitting more notes to the minute than ought to be possible, sometimes playing a sort of Siamese mandolin with two necks of different sizes and at different angles to the body, surely an almost unique instrument! Hector Ringtone, also known as Steve Collins  mostly played an electronic melodeon, which had the curious ability to sound like various wind instruments when required and Steve’s fingers flew around the keyboards till his hands were like a couple of tarantulas on speed. John Campbell Armer played mostly the bass guitar to anchor the whole and hold it together. Voices, kazoos and other odds and ends entered the mix from all quarters as required. There was so much foot tapping round the room it was like the auditions to a Fred and Ginger tribute group and there were plenty of good chorus songs that people joined in with gusto. All in all, they left the audience fizzing and looking forward to the next visit from this extraordinary group".

Bracknell Folk Club

"The oh so talented musicians that make up Boxwood Chessmen have really pulled together a crowd pleasing set.. loving this combo and their songs"   

Chris Walls Royston Folk Club

"A recently formed band featuring several prominent players from the folk world, The Boxwood Chessmen create a fabulous musical stew combining the finest roots ingredients - folk, Americana, jazz, old time... pretty much anything goes - bringing tremendous musicianship to their many different styles. With something for everyone, delivered with panache and fun, this is a fantastic and highly entertaining band who went down a storm when they played one of my events recently. I'll be rebooking them asap. Terrific stuff."

Kevin Buxton,Kontra Roots

"the lush musicality of Boxwood Chessmen made me think of early Fairport and The Band"

Danny Neill (Cambridge Folk Festival review) www.gettothefront.com

" A beautiful performance from the Boxwood Chessmen. These four talented musicians treated us to intricate melody & harmonies, fabulous vocals and the heartbeat bass guitar conjuring up a moving mix of joy, suspense, tragedy and humour."
Marie Mace,Music Cafe - at the Thriplow Daffodil Festival

" I thoroughly enjoyed the Boxwood Chessmen last week! Great energy, infectious music & fine humour."

Robin Mansfield,Cambridge Folk Club

" The band's excellent musicianship and eclectic mix of styles impressed us all. Interesting instrumental arrangements, flawless vocals, and the band's obvious enjoyment of the experience, made it a great evening."

Marion Treby,Cambridge Folk Club

" The Boxwood Chessmen perform a blend of Folk and Americana with technical skill, passion and a sense of fun. Nice people – great music! "

Al Hewson, Baldock & Letchworth, Blues, Folk and Roots Club

" The Boxwood Chessmen - Stunning harmonies, underpinned by a sound which somehow, is so much more than the sum of it’s extremely talented parts. All delivered with great passion, and great humour! "

Nick Davis , Folk at the Plough , Shepreth

" Go on..Book them ! "

Genevieve Tudor..BBC Radio Shropshire Sunday Folk

The Boxwood Chessmen gave us an outstanding double set of tunes and songs. Penni McLaren Walker has such a great voice and guitar style, she has open G tuning down to a tee and takes a song you think you know and turns it around into something new. Bryan Causton can truly call himself a "mandolinist" constantly filling the spaces with something virtuosic and fitting, oh, and he's dab hand on playing tunes too. Hector Ringtone (AKA Steve Collins) is a wonderful multi instrumentalist who restricted himself to melodeon and uke for tonights performance. He's another virtuoso of the squeezebox and contributes a whole lot to the sound, he has a great voice too. Filling out the bottom end was John Campbell Armer on bass and harmonies not high profile but he completed the overall sound. Every song and tune was perfect and to be honest two half hour sets just wasn't long enough for us. Book them, they're great!

Pat Crilly..The White Horse Folk Club,Hertford