By Ray Furlong BBC correspondent in Gornau, Germany

Hundreds of fans were crammed into the large white tent, pitched in a damp field in the village of Gornau in south-eastern Germany.

As the rain fell outside, steam rose from the mud. But inside, a sense of expectation was rising.

De Randfichten gave up their everyday jobs for folk stardom

The crowd were waiting for De Randfichten, a trio of folk musicians who have become Germany's unlikeliest new stars.

This summer they won national fame with their hit single "Holzmichl", which reached number three in the charts - unheard of for folk music.

"If you go to Majorca, go to a party, you will listen to the Holzmichl. On the other side if you go to an old people's home you will find they use it for physiotherapy," says the band's marketing manager Mark Zumkeller.

De Randfichten are three ordinary blokes with accordions, a guitar, and questionable dress sense.

Cigarette waving

They've already been a hit for several years in this remote corner of Germany, the picturesque Erzgebirge region near the border with the Czech Republic.

Sometimes this lack of coolness can be cool just because it's different Tobias Rapp, music critic

"It's nice to go to the concerts, it's a great atmosphere," says 17-year-old fan Isabell Otto. "The lyrics have meaning. They speak about the life of the people, everyday life."

One example of this is a song about going across the border to buy cheap goods, during which the fans gleefully wave cartons of cigarettes in the air.

"It's a problem that many people in our region have no work and very often they are depressed - but this music changes everything," adds another fan, 46-year-old English teacher Steffi Kraus.

"They sing, and when they sing at the concert they maybe forget their worries and their sorrows... But it's very hard to get tickets."

The band's lyrics are unashamedly feel-good. As one of their songs puts it: "Forget all your troubles today, and sing with us!"

But the band members themselves are surprised by the speed at which they have been propelled from a depressed East German backwater to national stardom.

"So many people have left our region for other parts of Germany, in search of work, I think they've spread our name across the country," says accordionist Michael Rosting, a 42-year-old former insurance salesman.

Different

"People tell us they find us authentic," says Thomas Lauterbach, who gave up his job as a music teacher to play guitar with the band. "This is part of the reason for our success."

In any case, the band provides the rest of Germany with at least one positive image from a region that is only associated with bad news like economic gloom or the success of the far-right in the recent state elections.

But not everyone is so impressed.

"It's very, very popular, and it has no notion of coolness. That makes a big difference to normal pop music," says music critic Tobias Rapp.

"But sometimes this lack of coolness can be cool just because it's different. Maybe that's why a strange group like De Randfichten can play on a glamourous TV show like Top of the Pops."