Blue Horizon was formed as a 3-piece band in 1996. The original line up was Christine Ringer (lead vocals & acoustic guitar), Dave Harris (lead guitar, lap steel, mandolin and harmony vocals) and Lulu Fidler (bass and harmony vocals). The band was based in the north-east of England.
Christine and Dave first met and performed together in the band Keywest in 1982. Keywest was formed by Christine and her husband Chris Ringer (bass and vocals) and Derrick Spence (fiddle and vocals) in 1981. Initially the band’s drummer was Mickey Vicary (formerly with Mustang) and later Ian Hetherington and then Mickey Larkin; Dave joined the band in 1982. Keywest shouldn’t be confused with the Birmingham based Key West in the early 1980s. The band was very successful on the club and festival circuit through the 1980s and early 1990s. Highlights of their career include standout performances at Wembley International Country Music Festival (Silkcut), Harlow Festival, Worthing Festival and many other top festivals working with legendary musicians including pedal steel guitarist Buddy Emmons and guitarist Albert Lee.
Keywest recorded 2 cassette albums, Bet Your Heart and From A Distance. They stopped performing in 1992.
Over the years, Christine has performed with Country legends such as Danni Leigh, with whom she dueted in concert, and pedal steel great Buddy Emmons, who joined her on stage at a London concert. More recently she has been involved with the organizing and performing with the Great North Opry Company 2006-2008 when they appeared at the North East premier County Music Festival at Barnard Castle and also as part of the Blue Routes Big Band performance at the Great North Festival in 2009 along with other members of Blue Horizon and local trio American Routes, augmented with Ian Harris on Pedal Steel and Emma Fisk on violin.
Lulu Fidler left Blue Horizon in 2000 and her place on bass was taken by Mark Hopps. Mark has played bass since he was 14 years old in a variety of musical styles, becoming involved in country music in 1996 when he joined The Crazy River Band. Mark has performed on over 30 recordings in his career, and while with Crazy River Band received awards through NACMAI in the US for recordings and performance work.
Since forming in 1996, Blue Horizon have become well established on the local Country music circuit and have also played at many festivals throughout the UK. The band has also performed in the USA at the NACMAI Country Music Awards in Pigeon Forge Tennessee in 2001 where Christine and Dave along with Lulu won awards for their songwriting. The NACMAI Awards, presented by the North American Country Music Association International recognize excellence in country and gospel music. These awards celebrate the achievements of artists, songwriters, musicians, and performers in the industry.
Blue Horizon often perform as 4 piece band with Roger Jones (from Dixon County) on drums and occasionally as a 5 piece with multi instrumentalist Pat Rafferty on keyboards, accordion and fiddle. Christine and Dave also work as a duo under the name Tennessee Highway, to avoid confusion with the band, although some gigs are advertised as Blue Horizon Duo as it is the more recognised name. Christine also sometimes works solo.
Christine and Dave are prolific songwriters and now also work as the songwriting duo Burgess & Harris (Burgess is Christine’s maiden name); with their acclaimed album of original songs ‘If Anybody Asks’ being released in 2022. Special guests on the album include Niles Krieger from Often Herd (fiddle), Irene Hume from Prelude (harmony vocals), Paul Smith from Lindisfarne (drums), Jon J Paul (accordion, keyboards, bass, acoustic guitar and harmony vocals.) John P Taylor was the producer and played keyboards, bass, acoustic guitar and harmony vocals on the album; it was also recorded in his ‘Mirage’ studio.
Former fiddle player Derrick Spence occasionally performed with Blue Horizon at gigs and festivals, but sadly passed away in 2019.
During his career, Dave Harris has also been a member of the Ruby Rendall Band and the Lindsey St John band and has also played on countless recording sessions for other UK country artists, including Des Walters, Dixon J Scott and Russ Kitchen (Badlands) and performed live with Johnny Carter & Hurricane Ridge, Circuit Judge, Way Out West, George Moody, Crawford Bell, Howard Hebron and, from the USA, Joni Harms and many others. Dave has also worked extensively as a music director for theatre companies and composed film soundtracks and is also a guitar teacher. Away from Country music he is also member of successful jazz group Emma Fisk’s Hot Club du Nord and is a former member of Djangology.
Mark Hopps also works outside of the country music scene with the bands The Spirit Levellers and Oasis Jam. Chris Ringer (Christine’s husband) is currently playing bass with The John P Taylor band (all original music rock and country influenced), Archie Brown and the Young Bucks (original material, soul and Americana influenced) and Prelude, (folk influenced harmony vocals and original music).
Since 1996 Blue Horizon have released six CD albums, Still Looking (2000), Covers (2004), Sing Me Back Home (2010) Whiskey Lullaby (2012) and Slow Time (2018)..










Research by Nick Catford.
