There will be fiddles, mandolins, acoustic guitars and banjos galore, lively traditional tunes and evocative songs of heartbreak coming up at the Streaming Across The Sea online festival. This feast of acoustic Americana, folk, roots and bluegrass kicks off (fittingly) on the Fourth of July. Yorkshire promoter Maria Wallace ( True North Music) has put together an impressive line-up of renowned acoustic performers from the USA and UK, including Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno, Benjamin Hunter, Joe Troop (Che Apalache), Liv Greene, Melody Walker (Front Country) and acclaimed UK bands Jaywalkers and The Jellyman’s Daughter. The evening concerts will be completely live on Facebook and YouTube on Sunday 4th July & Saturday 10th July, with donations welcome.
Maria Wallace said “We’re very busy preparing everything for our upcoming Streaming Across The Sea festival which kicks off this weekend. This was originally set to be our first real-life Yorkshire Americana & Bluegrass festival, planned to take place in May 2020. After postponing for a year, we took the decision to adapt our plans to online, including filming and livestreaming our UK artists from an empty concert room, assisted by the talented team at Northern Cowboy Films/Roots Live. We do hope to be able to run a real-life festival next year! We’re grateful for the Arts Council funding support, but we’ll also be requesting donations so that we can balance our budget and pay each musician as much as possible. As FRUK readers are well aware, it’s been a terrible year for grassroots artists, and they need our ongoing support.”
Participatory workshops will also be led on Zoom by several renowned folk and roots artists. Sensational Canadian dancer and fiddle player April Verch will lead a class in Ottawa Valley step dancing, a fun workshop for beginners or experienced dancers. Award-winning banjoist BB Bowness will lead a bluegrass banjo workshop for intermediate level and above. BB performs with top contemporary bluegrass band Mile Twelve, and won the prestigious Steve Martin Banjo Prize in 2020. A mandolin workshop will be led by one of the UK’s top players of the instrument, Mike Giverin (aka Mando Mike) of Jaywalkers. Also for intermediate level players and above, this class will focus on accompanying fiddle tunes.
For more details please visit http://www.truenorthmusic.co.uk/streaming-across-the-sea/
The concerts will be livestreamed on Sunday 4th July and Saturday 10th July 2021, at:
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Photo Credit: Michelle Stone