This October and November, DMP introduces a brand new and exciting run of events, all part of the ‘London Folk and Roots Festival’! The festival will take place across multiple London venues, each hosting a night of great Folk and Roots music.
Having spent many years promoting Folk & Roots music in London we felt it was about time there were a series of events that showcased a mixture of talent from Traditional to Contemporary artists especially to give new talent an opportunity to be heard.
DMP have teamed up with National Promoters Kilimanjaro, Folk Radio UK, and EFDSS to bring you a celebration of Folk and Roots music in London.
Tickets for all events can be purchased at: dmpuk.com/buy-tickets
This is a pilot event. Next year’s event will bring a lot more shows that will take place under this one flag of ‘The London Folk & Roots Festival’ and will feature artists from around the world as well as the UK.
The Shows are
:
DANNY & THE CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD
(Dingwalls – Friday 24th October)
Danny George Wilson has been touring the world and making critically acclaimed records for nearly 20 years now, the first Grand Drive release was on Loose Back in 1997. Danny & The Champions Of The World are and have always been a loose collection of great musicians, songwriters, stowaways and adventurers. Danny talks of Stay True as being inspired by the ‘great soul, country and rock n roll of Stax, Muscle Shoals, The Band, Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham, Dion DiMucci, Van Morrisson, Ronnie Lane meets Ronnie Spector’! It is an album steeped in good times, bad times, family, friends and powered by a great jukebox. It is without a doubt, the work of a champ.
THE FULL ENGLISH
(The Union Chapel – Thursday 30th October)
In 2013, Fay Hield was invited to assemble this group of stella musicians in order to record The Full English album, with material based on a new digital archive of folk music and related materials. The album was released in October 2013 and was followed by a sell out tour. The Full English went on to win Best Group and Album of the Year at BBC Radio 2 2014 Folk Awards, with Fay Hield also gaining nomination for Folk Singer of the Year. This year, they have released a single from their acclaimed album and appeared at many festivals including ‘Hop Farm’, ‘Cambridge Folk Festival’ and ‘Shrewsbury Festival’.
FOY VANCE
(Bush Hall – Saturday 1st November)
Foy Vance was born in the North Ireland town of Bangor, but his passion for traditional music was born in the southern states of America. As a child, Foy relocated with his father, a preacher, to the American Midwest settling in Oklahoma. With his father, Foy travelled the American South, widening his horizons and absorbing the rich musical traditions he was exposed to. Returning to Ireland some years later, Foy began writing his own music, deeply shaped by the sounds of his youth. Since those days, he has spent a considerable amount of time on the road, touring with the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Michael Kiwanuka, Marcus Foster, Snow Patrol, Ed Sheeran and Brett Dennen. Foy also scored Oscar-winning short-film The Shore with David Holmes, who collaborated with Vance on his 2012 Melrose EP. Foy’s latest album, Joy Of Nothing was released in 2013 on Glassnote Records.
THE MASTERSONS
(The Islington – Monday 3rd November)
The Mastersons are Brooklyn based husband-wife band who make “music that fuses indie pop and folk music with big, sweet melodies…” (Houston Chronicle.) Denton, TX-born Eleanor Whitmore and Housten-Bred Chris Masterson have both been making music for most of their lives and began playing instruments and performing from a young age. They met in 2005 and after each releasing solo projects, they eventually found more satisfaction in writing, performing and recording together. The Mastersons plan to promote their new album ‘Good Luck Charm’ it in the best way they know how: by getting in front of people and singing and playing together.
HOT CLUB OF COWTOWN
(Jazz Café – Thursday 6th November)
From the bright lights of the Grand Ol’ Opry to the UK’s Glastonbury and Cambridge Festivals, regular appearances on Prairie Home Companion, the BBC’s ‘Later…with Jools Holland’ and festival stages worldwide, The Hot Club of Cowtown has ascended from its unlikely beginnings in NYC’s East Village more than a decade ago, to become the premier ambassador of Hot
Jazz and Western Swing through sheer tenacity, virtuosity and the unstoppable power of their breathtaking live show.
https://vimeo.com/27580482
GEORGIA RUTH
(The Slaughtered Lamb – Monday 10th November)
Raised bilingually in Aberystwyth, West Wales, Georgia Ruth is a singer, songwriter and harpist whose haunting voice has drawn favourable comparisons with the melancholy folk sirens of the late-60s. Her harp playing was inspired more by the finger-picking style of guitarists such as Bert Jansch and Meic Stevens than by the classical method she was taught as a child. Yet Georgia’s own music is more than an amalgamation of those early influences. It is something quite different. In May 2013, she released her debut album – Week of Pines – on Gwymon Records. Recorded and produced by David Wrench over six days last August at Snowdonia’s Bryn Derwen studios, the record has received enthusiastic praise. From the motorik drive of the title track, to darker Eno-like arrangements, the stark joyfulness of a Welsh sea shanty accompanied by wheezing reed organ, or the more wistful folk ballads: this is a varied and intriguing collection of songs.
SAM BAKER
(Dingwalls – Monday 10th November)
Sam Baker grew up in the Texas prairie town of Itasca. He is a man of few words. Always beautifully chosen, and fully wrought. Words are placed like plants and objects in a Zen Garden. Baker turned inward, to relearn the use of his body and brain after a Peruvian train bombing almost killed him in 1986. It’s taken years to heal. Time to reconnect. The road back was arduous, but it opened up new vistas in painting, poetry and music. Mercy, released in 2004, was the first in a triology of compelling albums with sparse instrumental and poetic delivery. It was followed by Pretty World in 2007 and Cotton in 2009. Baker’s pen is precise, cunning and original, often weaving humour with human suffering and tender beauty. Say Grace, his newest collection, was released in the summer of 2013.
MAZ O’CONNOR + ADAM HOLMES
(The Slaughtered Lamb – Tuesday 11th November)
One of British Folk’s rising stars, Maz O’Connor is a gifted singer with a rare talent for fusing traditional and contemporary folk sounds. Performing a mixture of traditional folk songs and her own compositions, Maz accompanies her uniquely pure voice with guitar, piano, shruti box and harmonium.
Adam Holmes, one of the brightest rising stars on the Scottish music scene, joins her. 23-year-old singer/songwriter Adam Holmes crafts lyrics that resonate like old folk songs, set to melodies rooted in haunting slow airs. John Martyn’s strum and sting, laced with a slice of Paolo Nutini soul and a touch of traditional folk.
MICK FLANNERY
(Bush Hall – Wednesday 12th November)
Mick Flannery is a singer and songwriter who was brought up on a farm outside Barney, Co. Cork, Ireland. If asked, Mick adamantly refuses to talk about himself. So, if you’re determined to get up close and personal with him, you’re gonna’ have to kick back and listen to his music because that’s where he actually talks about himself. Mick has realised that songwriting is the best part of this strange job of being a jobbing-gigging-talking-singing-musician. ‘By The Blue’, Flannery’s fourth and most recent album, is the work of a confident, assured songwriter, someone who knows how to turn a list of nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs into graceful, minor-key pen-pictures which will resonate with the listener. The songs usher us into a world which is by times emotional, romantic, dark, insightful and hopeful. ‘By The Blue’ is the sound of a man at ease with his work, the sound of a master songwriter creating his best work to date.
MARTHA TILSTON
(Bush Hall – Thursday 13th November)
Martha Tilston (currently a featured Album of the Month on FRUK) has grown up emerged in music, with father Steve Tilston (acclaimed singer songwriter) and step mother Maggie Boyle (renowned folk singer). It has taken her to many interesting places; opening the acoustic stage at Glastonbury; touring the far reaches of the globe; gaining a BBC nomination for best new comer at folk awards; releasing several albums and playing with some of the world’s most inspiring musicians. But as Tilston’s star drew closer to the mainstream, she found she preferred smaller, intimate gigs, and felt more at home strumming out sets at low-key campfire jams and underground folk festivals. Martha tours with her band; a handful of very talented and faithful players and has just released her first traditional album, ‘The Sea’. Every song has the magic and talent of each guest singer suffused within. There is an enticing constancy running through all the tracks like strong fisherman’s rope.
https://soundcloud.com/folk-radio-uk/martha-tilston-fisherlad-of-whitby
MARC O’REILLY
(The Islington – Thursday 13th November)
Irish folk/blues troubadour Marc O’Reilly released his new album ‘Human Herdings’ on 28th March’14. Following the release of his critically acclaimed debut album ‘My Friend Marx’ in 2011, Marc O’Reilly has established himself as one of the most exciting artists within the folk/blues genre gaining comparisons with artists such as John Martyn and Bon Iver. Marc has also provided vocals on 3 tracks for the new album by MOBO winning act Karios 4tet which was recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, has received 4 star reviews from Mojo, The Independent and Guardian and has led to the recording of a live BBC Maida Vale session for the Jamie Cullum Show on BBC Radio 2.
PORT ISAAC’S FISHERMAN’S FRIENDS’
(The Union Chapel – Saturday 15th November)
The Fisherman’s Friends are shanty singers from Port Isaac who have delighted visitors and locals there for more than 15 years, with almost 300 live performances under their belts.
Down on the harbour front of the tiny fishing village of Port Isaac on the north Cornwall coast, the authentic sound of the shanty can be heard loud and clear via the mighty, brawny chorale of The Fisherman’s Friends. There’s no gang leader, no choirmaster and no holds barred in the singing of The Fisherman’s Friends. And fisherman’s friends they truly are – each and every member of this unique group are or have been fishermen, boatmen and coast guards. With Port Isaac’s Fishermen’s Friends, the Shanty Man is back in business. Be prepared to have your ears blown clean off…
Head her to book tickets: http://dmpuk.com/buy-tickets/