Teesside is exporting live music to Europe.
A festival held in Lisbon, Portugal is a world stage, with famous seaports around the globe invited to perform alongside the best of Portuguese musicians.
New Orleans trod the boards at the Ports and Harbours Music Festival, in Lisbon, last year.
Middlesbrough singer song- writer Richard Grainger and his back up, the Stormy Weather Boys, are singing sea shanties and songs inspired by the Tees coastline at this year's festival.
The Middlesborough Council-run Captain Cook Birthplace Museum is sponsoring the trip, fitting out Richard and the group with outfits sporting the museum logo.
"An invitation to the Lisbon Festival is a major coup for Teesside,'' a council spokes-man said.
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