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Yet more restrictions
With new variants popping up all over the world it seems clear that we have to find a way to live with the virus. Obviously the first link in the chain is governments having the foresight to close borders to hotspots in a timely manner (like that’s going to happen).
These four extra weeks of restrictions are right when the festival sector should be shifting into high gear. Instead it’s cancellations and uncertainty.
REVIEWS
Milestone – Duncan Lyall.
When you’re chummy with the likes of The Treacherous Orchestra and locked in with Croft No Five you can’t help but be an eclectic thinker. Duncan Lyall is therefore a polyglot musical soaker and I don’t mean that as disparaging in any way, it’s a compliment totally! He’s one of those precious individuals who knows no boundaries in terms of either...
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First Agnostic Church Of Hope And Wonder – Todd Snider
Pigeonholing musicians is a convenience for discussing music but it's a nuisance for the more creative artist who wanders a diverse artistic path. Almost by definition, what the latter creates is more interesting but tends to lead to cult status rather than mass...
The Butchers Of Bristol – Gadarene.
If you spy a group of people with determined looks on their faces, carrying a couple of shot guns you don’t need to worry, your local banks and building societies are safe, it’s just Gadarene hunting down the bloke who’s reviewing their new album for Spiral Earth....
Reassembled – Bellowhead
Artists have always been creative, and the pandemic has led them down all kinds of paths to creatively generate income. Whether a first or not, ‘Reassembled’ is a recording of Bellowhead’s live streamed performance from Stabal Mansion in December 2020. Its 74 minutes...
NEWS
Full Programme for Piping Live! Unveiled
The full suite of programmed activity for Glasgow’s Piping Live! festival has been unveiled, with a number of exciting in-person shows confirmed to go ahead as part of the nine-day event. The world’s biggest piping festival will take a hybrid approach for 2021, combining performances at The National Piping Centre alongside a rich programme of...
An Audience with Dawn French at Underneath the Stars
Underneath the Stars festival is delighted to reveal actor, author and comedian, Dawn French, will be taking part in the family-friendly music and arts festival at Cinderhill Farm, Barnsley (30 July – 1st August). Filling the popular afternoon slot previously held by...
Brand New Solo Acoustic Album from Altfolk Chris Cleverley
Live from The Glass Isle is the brand new solo acoustic album from Altfolk songwriter/guitarist Chris Cleverley. This series of stripped back recordings features adapted versions of songs from his previous two studio albums, arranged exclusively for solo guitar and...
Kitty Macfarlane Autumn ‘21 Tour
“Folk-Ambassador for the Wild” Tours UK with New Band Kitty Macfarlane is a songwriter and guitarist from Somerset, nominated in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2019 for the Horizon award, and voted FATEA Female Artist of the Year. Her lyrics touch on intervention and...
All News
Peter Knight Keeping Safe in Quarantine for Summer Tour Dates
The Master that is Peter Knight has been dutifully quarantining after arriving in this country from his home in France. Rehearsing alone before proper rehearsals start next Monday for gigs and festivals with the Gigspanner Trio / Big Band and his duo partner John...
Chris Wood Headlines the first Brighton and Hove Folk Festival
Six time BBC Folk Award winner Chris Wood has been announced as the headliner for Brighton and Hove’s first folk festival. Established local promoters Folkroom have announced their full line-up for the festival, which takes place at The Brunswick in Hove on September...
Monster Ceilidh Band Live Album Release and Tour Dates
The Monster Ceilidh Band, are a five-piece 'Electro Folk' outfit from Newcastle. They are no strangers to experimentation, and continue to demonstrate a great talent for producing innovative yet accessible music. They push the boundaries of contemporary folk in all...
FEATURES
Greg Hancock – His Sure Fingers
Comparisons with Al Stewart, John Martyn and a whole host of other acoustic troubadours along with a rave review for his latest recording, something's brewing in the far corners of Devon. Phil Thomas was dispatched to locate and question Greg Hancock. I recently had the pleasure to review Greg Hancock’s new album ‘Architecture and Archaeology’...
All 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...
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...
THIS WEEKS CHARTS
FOLK
Back again Bellowhead at No1 with Reassembled
Americana
The assured debut from Katherine Priddy at number 5 with The Eternal Rocks Beneath
Jazz & Blues
Nina Simone - The Montreaux Years Celebrates her long relationship with the legendary Jazz Festival
FESTIVALS
Full Programme for Piping Live! Unveiled
The full suite of programmed activity for Glasgow’s Piping Live! festival has been unveiled, with a number of exciting in-person shows confirmed to go ahead as part of the nine-day event. The world’s biggest piping festival will take a hybrid approach for 2021, combining performances at The National Piping Centre alongside a rich programme of...
All Festivals
An Audience with Dawn French at Underneath the Stars
Underneath the Stars festival is delighted to reveal actor, author and comedian, Dawn French, will be taking part in the family-friendly music and arts festival at Cinderhill Farm, Barnsley (30 July – 1st August). Filling the popular afternoon slot previously held by...
Chris Wood Headlines the first Brighton and Hove Folk Festival
Six time BBC Folk Award winner Chris Wood has been announced as the headliner for Brighton and Hove’s first folk festival. Established local promoters Folkroom have announced their full line-up for the festival, which takes place at The Brunswick in Hove on September...
Extra Tickets Released for Evening Concerts at A Celebration of Sidmouth Folk Festival
First announcements made for 2021 online festival More tickets have just been released for top name concerts at A Celebration of Sidmouth Folk Festival – a whole week of music and merriment that will swing into action from July 30 to August 6 in the East Devon seaside...
Award-Winning Festival Moves Outdoors for the Ultimate Underneath the Stars Experience
After a year out, award-winning family festival, Underneath the Stars, is set to return for its seventh year on Friday 30th July to Sunday 1st August bringing live music, performance arts and delicious dishes to the stunning rural setting of Cinderhill Farm, Barnsley....
The Association of Festival Organisers react to the extension of restrictions
The 'Delta Variant' has resulted in the government extending restristions for another four weeks, which is exactly the time frame where the festival season should be cracking into full swing. The AFO have summed up the situation well in their latest press release:...
Brighton and Hove Folk Festival is on this September
Originally planned for summer last year, The first Brighton and Hove Folk Festival will finally be going ahead on September 11th 2021. A timely addition to the folk festival circuit, this one-day event will be run by established local promoters Folkroom, with renowned...
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