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Gigs, Fests, Pubs?
So the Government announcement on 22 Feb has given us a loose timetable for the reopening of indoor venues, outdoor events and the pub. Not that we’re counting the days or anything.
When does indoor entertainment open?*
Day(s)
:
Hour(s)
:
Minute(s)
:
Second(s)
and the pub!
REVIEWS
Rakes and Misfits – Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne
Cohen is perhaps best known for his work with Granny’s Attic, but he is no stranger to solo recording having released ‘Outway Songster’ back in 2017. This is a collection with a theme of outsiders and misfits and it’s good. All the music was recorded live in the studio with no overdubs or recording tricks using an array of squeezeboxes. If you...
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Spirit Of Love – Clive’s Original Band
Currently an original copy of this item in decent playable condition will set you back a couple of hundred pounds or so. Good job then that here’s a new reissue through Bread & Wine/East Central One at least the curious can hear Clive Palmer, John Bidwell and Mick...
3 – Banter
Banter have been with us what seems but a short while, actually six years, in that time they’ve established a deserved reputation for daring, creative diversions and good time gigging. Even as they wrote and shoved huge chunks of funk and jazz into the process somehow...
Journey Through The Roke – Honey & The Bear.
So, what’s a roke? Dialect meaning informs it’s a mist which rises at certain times in the year from a marsh, particularly in fen country. Both Honey and her Bear hail from Suffolk so that pins them down as regional champions, along the lines of Seth Lakeman or Show...
NEWS
Gigspanner Big Band LIVE Dates 2021
Can it be true ?? Dare we even believe it ?? I type this with everything crossed after frantically running around the house, madly implementing...
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Joshua Burnell Releases Captivating Tribute to 70’s Folk Singer Who Went Missing for 30 Years
The mystery of a headline-hitting Seventies folk singer who went missing for 30 years is the inspiration for this captivating new single from the extraordinary genre-hopping talent that is Joshua Burnell. I wonder where she goes; she never says, you see Rarer than a...
Sheelanagig Release Video to Celebrate Initiation of New Guitar Player
Sheelanagig for over a decade have brought their array of foot-stomping folk tunes to audiences across the globe. A quintet with a well-stocked armoury of stringed instruments – guitar, fiddle, double bass – added with the rhythmic energy of flute and drums and a...
Belshazzar’s Feast ‘Summer of Love’ Tour 2021
FEASTIE BOYS ARE BACK ON THE MAP! ....with new music and real concerts at venues and festivals from 17th May, when the roadmap will allow it. Some are indoor and some outside. At some venues they’re doing two concerts so that the audience can be well spaced out – yes...
FEATURES
Earworms For The Thinking Generation
With current circumstances you’d think that we’d be awash with decent social commentary and bands who’d want us all to think before we act. Merry Hell do great work but they could do with a hand. Enter Headsticks with C.O.W. the first album of 2021 to delve deeper in its quest for answers. Our man with them at the barricades; Nick Barber. Riding...
All Features
From Wandering Troubador to Scottish Laird
Born in Massechusetts in 1945, Marc Ellington lived an unusual life; to say he was a colourful character would not be an exaggeration. The early 1960s saw him as a fully paid up member of the American folk boom, singing with The Highwaymen in Oregon. By the middle of...
What do the four steps to lockdown lifting mean for gigs and festivals?
On the 22nd February the government announced its roadmap to lifting lockdown, with a potential complete lifting of restrictions for theatres, venues and large outside events by late June - so we seem to be on course to be enjoying gigs and festivals across the summer...
When You Can’t See The Wood For The Trees
Mysterious and enigmatic the music of Trees has historically been hard to find and expensive, yet has become the stuff of legend. A new 50th Anniversary box set from Earth Records, creatively titled ‘Trees,’ collects everything worth hearing by this iconic band. Folk...
Shiny Things, The Magpie Arc bring back sunnier times
Just when you were thinking these strange times had wiped out all the decent things about music, along come a band to flip your wig. The Magpie Arc are exactly what’s needed to bring back sunnier days. Simon Jones checks out their fine feathers. “Alex is the biggest...
THIS WEEKS CHARTS
FOLK
Good Woman is at Number 1 for The Staves. It's been in the Americana chart for weeks as well.
Americana
The really rather good Evermore by Taylor Swift dominates the chart
Jazz & Blues
Freedom Fables from London nine piece Nubiyan Twist at number 6, a slice of excellence
FESTIVALS
‘Virtually’ Orkney Folk Festival Digital Plans Announced for May 27-30
An international bill of leading folk artists from Scotland, England, Norway, Denmark and Canada will feature as part of this year’s online Orkney Folk Festival - alongside a number of newly commissioned performances from homegrown Orcadian artists. Dubbed the Virtually Orkney Folk Festival for 2021, the award-winning festival’s organisers are...
All Festivals
Boomtown Fair forced to postpone in face of Government intransigence
Owing to the lack of a Government backed COVID specific insurance scheme to provide a vital safety net to events this summer, the organisers of Boomtown Fair have come to the difficult decision to no longer go ahead in 2021. Rumours and speculation about vaccination...
Shrewsbury Folk Festival gains from second round of Government’s Culture Recovery Fund
Shrewsbury Folk Festival has received a grant of £45,256 from the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help organisers plan and deliver its four-day event this August Bank Holiday weekend. The press release reads: More than £300 million has been awarded...
“If all the world’s a stage” …. As You Like It Festival
If all the world’s a stage and the men and women are merely players, then there are plenty of players for the stage at the unique 'As you like it' Festival being held in Stratford-upon-Avon from 26th to 30th July this year. Following the postponement of Costa del...
Top Scottish and International Folk Talent to Feature at new Online Folk Festival
Some of the most renowned names in Scottish folk music will return to the stage this weekend, February 26-28, as part of CCM Live - a brand new, three-day event being broadcast live from Glasgow. The festival’s bumper line-up features Blazin’ Fiddles, Talisk, Siobhan...
What do the four steps to lockdown lifting mean for gigs and festivals?
On the 22nd February the government announced its roadmap to lifting lockdown, with a potential complete lifting of restrictions for theatres, venues and large outside events by late June - so we seem to be on course to be enjoying gigs and festivals across the summer...
Folk on Foot Signs Top Artists for Valentines ‘Festival of LOVE’
In these dark and challenging times, we all need love. And the award-winning podcast Folk on Foot has signed up over twenty of the UK and Ireland’s leading folk artists to provide it on Valentine’s Day (Sunday February 14th 2021). For the Folk on Foot Festival of...
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