After a festival-packed summer, The Urban Folk Quartet continue to celebrate their year-long 10th anniversary with an Autumn 2019 tour.
The dozen dates take The UFQ from Derby’s last surviving coaching inn (The Old Bell Hotel) to a 14th century Devonshire church (St Mary’s, Kingskerswell), by way of several arts centres and theatres.
Marking a decade together, the summer months saw the band temporarily transform into an eight-piece, and reimagine material from across their career. With added strings, brass and bass, the so-called ‘extended line-up’ made notable appearances at such major festivals as Green Man, Kendal Calling, Shambala, Shrewsbury and Towersey – where their electrifying set concluded with a standing ovation!
Now back to their core quartet – Joe Broughton (fiddle, mandolin, guitar), Paloma Trigás (fiddle), Tom Chapman (percussion) and Dan Walsh (banjo) – are out with a completely new set in readiness for their forthcoming new studio album, provisionally titled On The Things We Can Change.
Says Tom: “We’re really looking forward to playing these new tunes live, especially after the summer festival shows, which were very much about looking back and celebrating how far we’d come from our first gigs, in 2009.
“Rearranging some of those old tracks for the extended line-up has really invigorated us, and you can already hear that broader sound in the new material – it still sounds like The UFQ, but things are definitely moving into new areas. On stage, it sometimes sounds like there’s still eight of us up there!”
Formed in the West Midlands during the summer of 2009, The Urban Folk Quartet quickly garnered a reputation for playing live, hosting high-energy, genre-defying acoustic shows featuring dazzling musicianship that left audiences breathless. After playing their first four concerts in four different countries (UK, Spain, Italy and Belgium) the quartet released their self-titled debut album in 2010. Five more long-players have followed to widespread acclaim with the most recent, Live III, released in 2016. Their seventh album will follow late 2019/ early 2020.
Though rooted in folk music, The UFQ’s sound defies easy categorisation, pulling in influences from Galicia and the Mediterranean, Asia, Europe, as well as American bluegrass and Celtic traditions.
The UFQ – 10th Anniversary – Autumn Tour
Friday 27 September – Bridport Arts Centre, Bridport, Dorset
Thursday 3 October – The North Wall Arts Centre, Summertown, Oxford
Friday 4 October – Derby Folk Festival, Derby
Thursday 10 October – The George, South Molton Devon
Friday 11 October – St Mary’s Church, Kingskerswell, Newton Abbot
Sunday 13 October – The Place, Bedford
Friday 8 November – Threlkeld Village Hall, Threlkeld, Cumbria
Saturday 9 November – Prohibition Bar, 2Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
Friday 15 November – Blaxhall Sessions, Blaxhall Village Hall, Woodbridge, Suffolk
Friday 22 November – The Vyne Theatre/ Berkhamstead Arts Centre, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire
Wednesday 27 November – Stamford Arts Centre, Stamford, Lincs
Saturday 30 November – The Swan Hotel, Maldon, Essex
More details and ticket links here: https://www.theufq.com/