We first wrote about The Brothers Gillespie (brothers James and Sam Gillespie) in 2016 upon the release of their debut album Songs from the Outlands. Describing themselves as North Tyne troubadours who “sing in honour of the spirits, of lands, cultures, tongues and silences, ways of being beyond the centres of control”, that debut more than lived up to expectations with our reviewer, David Kidman, declaring that it was “destined to become one of my albums of 2016″…and it was only February at that point.
In 2019, they followed up with The Fell which was reviewed on Folk Radio UK by Thomas Blake who concludes “there is a kind of alchemy at work: the Brothers Gillespie use ostensibly simple musical ingredients to create songs that feel like classics in the making. These are songs that map out specific localities (physical, emotional and spiritual) but aren’t afraid to make use of a cosmopolitan array of influences”, adding “The Fell shows off British acoustic music in its best possible light.”
They have now launched a crowdfunding campaign for a further album titled The Merciful Road. In their campaign they state:
After the strange hiatus of the pandemic we find ourselves with a new collection of songs that we want to record and a renewed gratitude and desire for the vocation of sharing the joy of music with people. These are songs born of an awareness of the myriad graces and resilient blessings in a world that is nonetheless unravelling and the album shall be called The Merciful Road.
Over the past few months, we have been developing the skills needed to record and produce our own music and the plan is to record this album ourselves over a two week period this Winter in the little cottage on the banks of the River Tweed where our Grandmother lived. It will carry the spontaneity and energy of a particular moment in time and the spirit of this particular place. We’ll then take this new album on the road, playing music all through 2022. We are asking for support from the community of music lovers and dreamers to help make this album a reality. We are asking for support to spend nearly two weeks in the studio, allowing us time to drop down into the darkness of the space and return hopefully with the album recorded, we also need to pay for the mastering of the album so that it sounds as creamy and loud as the rest of the professionally recorded music out there and to press the record onto CD.
Get on board and support them via IndieGoGo here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-brothers-gillespie-the-merciful-road#/
https://thebrothersgillespie.com/