The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2012 Nominees have been announced. The winners will be announced on Wednesday 8 February 2012 and will NOT take place in London, centre of the universe! Instead they will be held at The Lowry in Salford. That’s not the only thing changing. Every year when we cover this we get emails about whether members of the public can attend. Well it looks like the BBC have finally woken up and instead of being a music industry centric event audience tickets will go on sale to the public for the first time. They also seem to be making more effort at crossing borders this year and it feels a more rounded selection including some great Scottish acts (Emily Smith, Peatbog Faeries) and Irish acts (Christy Moore, Ioscaid)! With Celtic Connections also championing English folk this may be the beginning of something that finally represents the folk music of the British Isles although Wales is missing from the equation yet again…
So are there any surprises? Yes and no…some you would expect to get mentioned and there are a fair few we have championed over the past year, three of which we had exclusive previews for (June Tabor and The Oysterband, Martin Simpson and Peatbog Faeries). We’ve included some links to our coverage over the year as well as some videos to give you a flavour.
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2012 Nominees are:
FOLK SINGER OF THE YEAR
Jon Boden
Jackie Oates
Emily Smith
June Tabor
BEST DUO
Tim Edey & Brendan Power
Jonny Kearney & Lucy Farrell
Spiers & Boden
Marry Waterson & Oliver Knight
BEST GROUP
Bellowhead
The Home Service
June Tabor & Oysterband
The Unthanks
BEST ALBUM
Last – The Unthanks
Purpose & Grace – Martin Simpson
Ragged Kingdom – June Tabor & Oysterband
Saturnine – Jackie Oates
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
The Herring Girl – Bella Hardy
Last – Adrian McNally (performed by The Unthanks)
On Morecambe Bay – Kevin Littlewood (performed by Christy Moore)
The Reckoning – Steve Tilston
BEST TRADITIONAL TRACK
Bonny Bunch of Roses – June Tabor & Oysterband
Lakes of Ponchartrain – Martin Simpson
Maids When You’re Young – Lucy Ward
Sweet Lover of Mine – Emily Smith
HORIZON AWARD
Megan Henwood
Lady Maisery
Pilgrims’ Way
Lucy Ward
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
Andy Cutting
Tim Edey
Will Pound
Martin Simpson
BEST LIVE ACT
Bellowhead
The Home Service
Peatbog Faeries
The Unthanks
BBC RADIO 2 YOUNG FOLK AWARD
Sunjay Brayne
Blair Dunlop
Ioscaid
Graham Mackenzie
Tickets
Buy tickets to attend the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
Box office number: 0843 208 6000 (calls cost 14p per min from a landline; mobile costs may be higher)
Box office opening hours: 9.30am-8pm, Monday-Saturday and 11am-6pm on Sundays.