Coordinates: 55°18′35″N 1°54′39″W / 55.3097°N 1.9109°W / 55.3097; -1.9109

Rothbury is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England. It is located on the River Coquet, 13.5 miles (21.7 km) northwest of Morpeth and 26 miles (42 km) north-northwest of Newcastle upon Tyne. At the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001, Rothbury had a population of 1,740.

Rothbury emerged as a relatively important town in the historic district of Coquetdale because of its situation at a crossroads over a ford along the River Coquet. Turnpike roads leading to Newcastle upon Tyne, Alnwick, Hexham and Morpeth allowed for an influx of families and the enlargement of the settlement during the Middle Ages. Rothbury was chartered as a market town in 1291, and became a centre for dealing in cattle and wool for the surrounding villages well into the Early Modern Period.

Today, the town is used as a staging point for recreational walking. Landmarks in and around Rothbury include the Victorian-era mansion Cragside, the Simonside Hills and Northumberland National Park. In July 2010, Rothbury was the centre of a high-profile police manhunt.

Kathryn Tickell (born 8 June 1967) is an English player of the Northumbrian smallpipes and fiddle. She has recorded over a dozen albums, and toured widely.

Tickell took up the smallpipes aged nine, inspired by her family—especially her father Mike, who was heavily involved in the local traditional music scene—and by the music of an older generation of traditional musicians such as Willie Taylor, Will Atkinson, Joe Hutton, Richard Moscrop, Billy Pigg and Tom Hunter. By the time she turned thirteen in 1980, Kathryn had won all the traditional open smallpipes competitions, and was also making a name as an accomplished player of the Shetland fiddle style which she learned from the Shetland fiddle master Tom Anderson at Stirling University's traditional folk summer school. Tickell has also incorporated the Border pipes into her traditional ensemble. Her family is from the North Tyne Valley area of Northumberland.

Her first album, On Kielder Side, was released in 1984. In the same year she was named the official piper for the Lord Mayor of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

David John "Dave" Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is a South African-American musician and actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band. He performs mainly with acoustic guitar and favors rhythm rather than solos in his playing.

David John Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the third of four children of parents John and Valerie Matthews. At two years old, Matthews' family moved to Yorktown Heights in Westchester County, New York, where his father, a physicist, started working for IBM.

In 1974, the family moved to Cambridge, England, for a year before returning to New York, where his father died from lung cancer in 1977. Biographer Nevin Martell argues that Dave's father's death may be an impetus for his "carpe diem" lyrics. At some point while residing in New York, Matthews attended his first concert, when his mother took him to a performance by Pete Seeger. The family moved back to Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1977.

Upon Matthews' graduation from St Stithians College high school in 1985, he was faced with conscription into the South African military just as civil disobedience to the practice was becoming widespread. A Quaker (and consequently pacifist), Matthews left South Africa to avoid service.