Footie and Folk!

I’m afraid that football fever, the prospect of heavy rain and a long list of outstanding domestic and arts-related tasks kept me away from what was apparently a very enjoyable Ely Folk Festival a couple of weekends ago according to a few people and a couple of performers that I know. Well done to the organisers and how nice to have some local live music available once again.

Speaking of which on Wed 28th July, Baldock Folk Club have three great acts bringing a Scottish flavour to their last club night of the season. Joe Quinn, Stewart Murdoch and Robin Campbell, all old friends of the club, return to bring some great music! The doors will open at 7:15 with the music starting at 7:30 and finishing by around 10pm. Please phone The Orange Tree to book your place – 01462 892341. There will be table service for buying drinks and food payable by credit card. Please though bring some cash towards buying raffle tickets (to help keep the Club going).

Royston Folk Club are making a cautious journey back into live music and were/are looking for a select few Showcase performers for Sept 24, Oct 29, Nov 26 and January 28 – all Friday evenings. It will be a traditional Friday night Showcase format, unpaid, 4 songs apiece, probably in two sets, all at the Old Bull Inn in Royston, plus a socially distanced audience. Please message Mark Gamon, markgsongs@gmail.com, if you are interested in a slot.

The Acoustic Club based at The Horn at the Half Moon in Bishop’s Stortford started up on Wednesday 21st July and open again on the 28th with a programme planned for several weeks ahead. Just follow this link http://acousticclub.co.uk/ACwhatsonsoon.html to view.

Calling all young musicians! New Roots is an annual event is for young performers of all styles of traditional or contemporary folk, roots or world music, whether you play traditional material or write your own. Categories are under 18 and 18-24. View details on the main Unicorn Folk website

Finally, I promised Sandra’s review of Beardy Folk Festival which I have been a bit tardy in putting up but you can now find on the main Unicorn Folk website.

Countdown to Ely Folk Festival

Great to hear that it’s all systems go for Ely Folk Festival on Friday 9th July though Committee spokesperson Fionnuala Lennon admitted that it was a huge undertaking. “We really wanted to make Ely Folk Festival happen this year if it was at all feasible and we’ve worked really hard with council advisors to put in place the plans needed to make it a covid-safe. We’ve effectively made it an outdoor festival, replacing the two big marquees we normally have with two outdoor stages, so it will be a different experience from previous festivals but will still have the great range of top class folk & roots music acts and local bands that it is renowned for.”

A stellar line-up of British folk acts will grace the two outdoor stages on the festival site at Ely Outdoor Centre including Show of Hands, The Young’uns, Noble Jacks, Martyn Joseph, Elvis Fontenot, Merry Hell, Midnight Skyracer, The Mardlers, Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage and lots more. The Friday night Local Bands Showcase will feature a range of talented East Anglian musicians including Fred’s House, The Finn Collinson Band, Kelvin Davis & The Gravy Train.

There will be lots going on with workshops, music sessions, children’s entertainment, a traders area, and a real ale bar – and it’s dog-friendly festival too! Ticket prices start at £27 for Friday evening tickets to £83 for a weekend ticket. Concessions are available and children under 12 are free.

More details, including how to book tickets and the covid-safe measures being put in place are available at www.elyfolkfestival.co.uk and you can also find details on the main Unicorn Folk website www.unicornfolk.uk along with a host of other information about the current music scene.

Unicorn Folk is live!

In case you hadn’t noticed Unicorn Magazine is regrettably no more owing to a number of factors including Covid. In assessing the future the most realistic way forward seemed to be to turn the magazine into a website and in doing so eliminate some distribution issues whilst hopefully increasing the readership.

You can read more ‘About Us’ by following the link to that page and then checking out the rest of the website. Please spread the word to fellow folkies and music-lovers that they have a new source of information, or at least, will do when we have a few more live events in the offing.

Sadly, there are two more festivals which have had to be postponed – Warwick Folk Festival, now rescheduled to July 2022 and the Black Deer Festival postponed to some as yet unknown future date. Chris Fox was due to play at the latter but fans, of which there are an increasing number, can see him at Baldock Folk Club next Wednesday 30th June.

Fortunately, some festivals are going ahead as was the case with the Beardy Festival which took place in Shropshire from 17th – 20th June. Our roving reporter Sandra Lawes was in attendance and I hope that she is going to write a review very soon.

Another festival which is definitely going ahead, unless we all get put into another lockdown, is Royston MusicFest which will take place over the weekend of 25th -26th September 2021. Venues and artists have yet to be finalised but watch this space for more news.

Things are beginning to open up in the folk world

The pandemic drags on but summer is almost here and there are signs of green shoots in the world of folk. Many clubs are continuing to put on events via Zoom and now Morris dancers are practicing (socially distanced of course) and there are plans afoot for festivals and live gigs.

• The St Neots 39th Folk Festival 2021 will take place at The Priory, St Neots, Cambridgeshire from 24 – 26 September hosted by St Neots Folk Club. Full details on their Facebook page. The folk club reopened in May (complying with all Covid guidelines) and you can find details of the gigs on their website. Advance booking is necessary at the moment
• St Ives Folk and Acoustic Sessions are due to begin again at The Golden Hind, St Ives on 1 July. Details on their Facebook page
• Costa del Folk have just announced details of their Ibiza 2022 festival (25 April – 1 May 2022). They are also running two great hotel based festivals in the UK this year, as well as cruises and a festival in Portugal. Full details on their Facebook page and their website
• ‘Pint sized’ Towersey Festival 2021 is currently sold out but you can head to their website to join the mailing list to find out about any new ticket allocations
• At the time of writing this blog, general ticket sales for Beardy Folk Festival in Shropshire 17 – 20 June have now closed. But you can add your name to a waiting list and you might be in with a chance. I was lucky enough to attend the fully outdoor 2020 festival last September and everything was great – I felt very safe and had a wonderful time. I can personally verify the claim on their website that ‘Beardy Folk Festival is a beautifully crafted, Midsummer music festival boasting a brilliant line up of folk, roots and acoustic music. All set in the private grounds and secret walled garden of Hopton Court in South Shropshire. There’s world class music on two stages plus artisan food and drink, a small trade village, music workshops, free children’s entertainment and activities including circus workshops, woodland activities and storytelling. There’s also up to four nights camping or glamping available with incredible views.”
• Shrewsbury Folk Festival is going ahead over the August Bank Holiday weekend but because of the pandemic, there will be a few changes. This year there’ll be three open air stages (The Cuckoo stage, The Skylark stage and the Purity Village stage) so they can accommodate everyone at a safe social distance – you’ll need to bring your own chairs or picnic rugs. And with the uncertainty surrounding foreign travel, red list countries and potential quarantine for overseas artists, they will be hosting a wonderful celebration of British based folk and world music performers – full details here. They’ve invited the international artists booked for this year to join the festival in 2022 instead. See their website for all the information.

These are just a selection of the many events planned for the summer – to give you a flavour of what’s to come and keep up your spirits while we try to get back to something approaching normal.If you know of anything happening or are organising an event, please let us know and we will do our best to help to publicise it.

Thanks for your support. Stay safe and keep supporting folk music and dance.

​

Forget the weather – stay home and enjoy great music!

• Live to Your Living Room continue their brilliant series of online gigs with Boo Hewerdine on Saturday 8 May, Ellie Gowers on 11 May, Bella Hardy on 12 May, The Askew Sisters on 19 May and Chris Hulme on 22 May. Details and tickets available on their website.
• On Sunday 9 May at 7.00pm BST Ninebarrow are presenting the third of their Wandering Minstrels shows. This is free to watch (but donations welcome if you can) and details can be found on their website here. And on Saturday 29 May at 7.00pm BST (with a 7 day catch-up), this very talented duo are presenting a live performance from Ninebarrow HQ. All their shows throughout the pandemic have been brilliant and their rapport with the (invisible) audience is amazing too – don’t miss this one! Tickets are available on the website. Their new book will be available soon too – I’m sure there will be plenty to enjoy and lots of Jay’s lovely photos too
• The details of the ‘pint-sized’ Towersey Festival 27 – 30 August 2021 have now been announced. It’s a great lineup. Get your tickets now!

• If you missed Chris While and Julie Matthews’ last online ‘Live in the Lounge’ gig – you can still catch it here on YouTube – it starts 15 mins in after the countdown
• This year the Chester and Chippenham Festival will be online over the late May Bank Holiday 28 – 31 May. There is a great lineup and you can buy your tickets here. Full details on the website.
• As well as the concerts they are hosting, on the last Wednesday of May to September 2021, English Folk Expo will present a series of 90 minute virtual showcases that will also be a chance for industry to connect with each other.  Think of this as your monthly industry social with some great music discovery into the bargain!  The events are free to attend but registration is needed.  Why not register now to get email reminders to your inbox ahead of each event? English Folk Expo have also launched the Folk Talk Academy, a virtual college campus providing a learning hub for artists and industry which gives access to a broad range of music industry expertise to equip artists and industry for music careers in a post-Covid world. Central to Folk Talk Academy is a wide-ranging and ambitious series of nearly fifty Zoom webinar lectures running from May to August 2021 by industry and artist experts.  Lectures will last for one hour, with most including a fifteen minute Q&A with online participants towards the end of the session.  All lectures will be recorded live and be available to view again on the Folk Talk Academy website.  Folk Talk Academy is free and available to all, and all lectures will be closed captioned.

And while I’ve been typing this, the sun has come out! So things are looking up all round. Stay safe and keep supporting live music!

Farewell to Jan Ayres

We are very sorry to announce the death of Jan Ayres, who was a folk poet, the holder of Waltham Abbey Folk Club and the organiser of an annual Midsummer Sing, as well as being an avid member of many folk clubs.

Her friend Keith Kendrick has penned these words of farewell:-

‘Just a few days ago, myself and Sylvia and a great many others, lost a very, very good friend. We are all feeling the loss of an effortlessly kind, generous, good spirited lady – a lady with immense literal talent and a wicked sense of humour. Anyone seeing her perform or reading one of her fabulous poetry books will stand testimony to that. Frequently seen and revered over many years at a variety of Folk Festivals like Broadstairs Folk Week, Tenterden Folk Festival – including her own very special annual Folk Weekend in Essex and her own Folk Club in Waltham Abbey, she was a complete one-off and was known and loved by all who knew her. She will be severely missed by us all. Bless you Jan and R.I.P. They broke the mould.’

We offer our sincere condolences to all Jan’s family and friends at this sad time.

The future of Waltham Abbey Folk Club has yet to be decided.

The Music Plays On……

Freedom beckons and in the meantime, here is some great music to keep you entertained.

• This Saturday and every Saturday at 10.00pm, Tim Edey treats us to a wonderful session of late night music. See his Facebook page for details
• On Saturday 10 April at 7.45pm, Mike Silver is performing at the (virtual) Nub Sessions in Cornwall. Free to watch on YouTube
• On Sunday 11 April at 7.30pm, Show of Hands are doing a special online reunion request show entitled Steve and Phil ‘Show off Sheds’. Details on their Facebook page and tickets available here.
• On Friday 16 April at 8.00pm, Folk at the Maltings, St Albans will feature award winning young Scottish singer Iona Fyfe plus New Roots finalists Callum Granger and Oisin Kisdon-Ireland. Iona has become one of Scotland’s finest young folk singers, rooted deeply in the singing traditions of the North East of Scotland. She was the youngest ever winner of Scots Singer of the Year at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2018 and a finalist in the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2021 award.

Iona Fyfe

Tickets are £10 for individuals, £15 for two people using the same device, and £20 for three or more people using the same device. Concessions are £8, £12 for two people sharing the same device and £15 for three or more sharing the same device. Book at www.ticketsource.co.uk/stalbansfolkmusic. http://www.stalbansfolkmusic.org.uk and https://ionafyfe.com/

Skerryvore

• On Saturday 24 April at 7.00pm, there is a treat for those of you who follow men in kilts. Skerryvore are preforming on board Fingal, a sister ship to the Royal Yacht Britannia. Tickets for the live stream include a virtual tour of the Britannia. Details on the Skerryvore Facebook page and tickets are available from Eventbrite
• If you are interested in Morris dancing, you might like to seek out a book by Mike Salter which I’ve just come across. Entitled ‘All About The Morris’, this 88 page book with over 100 photos, describes each of the many forms of traditional and seasonal dance known collectively as The Morris. It also deals with references to early Morris going back to the 15th century, the collection of dances and tunes by Cecil Sharp and Mary Neal and others at the beginning of the 20th century and the rivalries that arose between them. It describes how performing of the various forms of Morris, Sword and Mumming had become an all-male preserve by the mid 20th century and how that situation has gradually changed since the 1970s with female teams now almost as common as male teams and mixed-sex teams currently the most common category amongst the 750 or so teams currently existing. Author Mike Salter, trading as Folly Publications, has been publishing his own books about old churches, castles, ancient monuments and walking trails within the British Isles since 1988. As a dancer, percussionist, hobby-horse and fool he has performed with many varied teams over nearly fifty years, most notably as leader of Madcap Morris. 

‘All About the Morris’ costs £8.95  plus £2 postage and is available by post from the author (see www.follypublications.co.uk) and at festival stalls run by Hedingham Fair and P.J Music.

I hope you are finding these updates interesting and the news of folk happenings is keeping up your spirits as we work through these difficult times. Stay safe and thank you for keeping music alive.

St Albans Concert and Ninebarrow on Countryfile

On Friday 26 March at 8.00pm, Folk at the Maltings, St Albans presents an online concert with Lizzy Hardingham plus New Roots finalists Cathy Bennett and Robbie Sherratt.

Hertfordshire-based based folk musician and songstress, Lizzy Hardingham, is a powerhouse performer with “beautifully delivered songs that sing straight to the heart”. 2019 saw her storm the UK folk club and festival scene, including Cambridge Folk Festival, while in 2020 she captivated online audiences with “a voice that could fill a stadium and the sensitivity to bring a room to attentive silence”. Having recently been nominated for Fatea’s Female Artist of the year, Lizzy is currently being mentored by Young’uns Michael Hughes under the English Folk Expo artist mentoring programme and working on “firmly nailing her place as one of the rising stars of the folk scene”.

Cathy Bennett sings a mixture of traditional and recently composed songs in both Cornish and English and also plays the viola, sometimes using it to accompany her singing.

Robbie Sherratt is a fiddle player from the Staffordshire Moorlands. His debut album ‘Provenance’ draws from traditional music and melodies in and around his home county.

Tickets are £10 for individuals, £15 for two people using the same device, and £20 for three or more people using the same device. Concessions are £8, £12 for two people sharing the same device and £15 for three or more. www.ticketsource.co.uk/stalbansfolkmusic

And on Sunday 28 March at 6pm, Dorset duo Ninebarrow (Jon Whitley and Jay LaBouchardiere) are due to appear on BBC-1’s flagship rural affairs programme Countryfile.

Jon and Jay hard at work planting their woodland

To celebrate the recent release of their fabulous new album ‘A Pocket Full of Acorns’ and tying in with the arboreal title of the recording, Jon and Jay decided to set about redressing their touring carbon footprint by planting the Ninebarrow Woodland on three acres of land near Gillingham in north Dorset – no mean feat as it numbered 1,000 native English trees (including 500 oaks) and 200 shrubs.

The new album ‘A Pocketful of Acorns’

Supported by a 75% grant from The Woodland Trust as part of their MOREwoods initiative and 25% from a crowdfunder, the project also ties in with the Plant Britain campaign, a two year challenge launched by BBC Countryfile, aimed at getting the nation planting in the light of climate change. www.plantbritain.co.uk/

The album’s title track was triggered by the inspirational true story of Newcastle-on-Tyne born Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, Lord Nelson’s second-in-command at the Battle of Trafalgar.

At the time of the Napoleonic Wars, the grand ships of the Royal Navy were built from mighty oaks and became concerned that forests were being depleted. Fearful for the future of the Navy and the nation he took to carrying acorns in his pockets, planting them in suitable places as he went on his rambles. Says Jay: “The story really touched us. The notion of using one’s time on earth to help secure a future for those who come after us seems to have been lost in modern times.”

Nominated for the coveted Horizon award (Best Emerging Act) at the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards thepair have carved themselves a distinctive niche on the folk roots scene for their outstanding harmonies, high production values, and engaging original songs.

Says Jon: “Our music will always be inspired by the incredible landscape and history of our native Dorset as well as our sense of home and belonging. But these days we can’t help but be moved by the many changes happening to our planet and society – we hope this fourth studio album reflects that.”

PS. Don’t forget the clocks go forward at 01.00am on Sunday 28 March – I’d hate you to miss something you were looking forward to.

Stay safe and keep supporting live music.

St Patrick’s Day Craic

Baldock Folk Club in Hertfordshire is organising a special St Patrick’s Day event online.

In normal times, 17th March would see streams of black porter flowing around the pubs of North Herts, with plenty of shamrocks, harps and other paraphernalia such as oversized leprechaun hats adorning happy partygoers celebrating the annual feast of Saint Patrick.

Local Irish musicians, dancers and singers would also be rushing from gig to gig in the area over the busiest few days of their year.

Alas, for the second year in a row, this will not be happening as pubs are still shut and no parades or music outside are allowed.

However, riding to the rescue locally is Baldock Folk Club, which for its 25th virtual show, is putting on a St Patrick’s Day spectacular featuring singers and musicians not only from the local talent pool but nationally and internationally, incorporating acts from Ireland, Scotland and Europe.

Joint club organiser Brian Burke said: “The virtual shows have gone down really well over the past 10 months with an ever-growing audience on Facebook and views as far away as Australia and Canada, as well as Baldock and Ashwell!“

Wishing all of you a Happy St Patrick’s Day!!

Let the Music Play…..

We may be locked down but there’s plenty of music to get us through!

• There are still three more days (12-14 March) of a full programme of online and socially distanced events for ‘The Gathering: A Celebration of the Spirit of Vin Garbutt‘ curated by ‘The Wild Rover’ Mike Mcgrother. The events celebrate the life, music and legacy of the much loved and much lamented Teeside Troubadour. For all information and tickets go to www.vingarbutt.com/thegathering. If you’re quick, you can even catch the show that went out last evening (available until tonight).
• On Sunday 13 March at 8.00pm, Firebrand Music presents Miranda Sykes Live with Cotleigh Brewery. The performance on YouTube will consist of a 45 minute set from Miranda, followed by a 10 minute interval, then the gig starts again at 8.55pm for another 45 minute set. Miranda will be available for an optional Q&A session after the gig via Zoom. Ticket price is per household, allowing any number of people in your residence to watch. However, if more than one person is watching in your home and you can afford it, please buy the appropriate number of tickets as you would at a concert as this helps both the artist and the venue. Tickets are available here and sales will close at midday on Saturday 13 March 2021.
• Live to Your Living Room are presenting some awesome gigs online. On Saturday 13 March at 8.00pm four members of Dervish will be pulling out all the stops to put on a fabulous show. On Sunday 14 March at 3.00pm the fantastic Keith Donnelly, Geordie, tall-tale-telling-singer-songwriter-guitarist. is providing some much-needed light relief with his Family Show. Full details and tickets on the website. And later in March and April there are concerts with Iona Lane, James Delarre, Martin Simpson, Andy Cutting, and The Young ‘Uns and many more.
• On Sunday 21 March at 7.30pm, there’s a special double header from Show of Hands. A ‘fly on the wall’ film about the the making of the ‘Wake the Union’ CD plus ‘Show of Hands and the ‘Urban Soul Orchestra’ in their 2013 concert at Shrewsbury Folk Festival. The DVD & tickets for the stream link are available now from the Show of Hands shop on their website.
• On Saturday 10 April at 7.30pm BST, Joshua Burnell and his full band present ‘For One Stream Only’ – a live-streamed concert in a great space, with great lighting, great sound and great camera quality – basically, recreating their live show for you in lockdown. They promise entertainment and escapism is equal measure, performing songs from Flowers Where The Horses Sleep – described as “Outstanding” by Folk Radio UK – as well as some brand-new songs alongside tried and tested classics from Joshua’s previous albums. If you’re new to Joshua Burnell’s music, ​The Guardian described it as, ​”… adding lashings of Peter Gabriel stylings to the world of trad arrangements,” and he was recently winner of the Rising Star award in the Folk Awards. You could call it ‘Folk-fused baroque ‘n’ roll for the modern world’. Tickets available from the Veeps website here.

NB Please check times of the gigs carefully – as the clocks go forward one hour in late March in the UK.