Peter Knight and John Spiers - December Festive Tour

Peter Knight and John Spiers head out on their festive tour next month. They will feature some songs and tunes to reflect the season and a generous helping of material from their albums Well Met (2018) and Both in a Tune (2022).

“When two of the most venerated figures in the recent history of folk music get together, there can be little doubt that the result will be something special.” Those were the opening words of Thomas Blake in his review of Well Met, the debut album from Peter Knight and John Spiers released in 2018.

He later adds that, musically, the emphasis of the album is on the differences and connections between the fiddle and melodeon and the new nuances and details that this synergic approach can coax out of these well-worn compositions, which range from the familiar to the almost-forgotten.

The magic of this synergy was touched on in an in-depth interview following the release of their 2022 album Both in a Tune, in which Peter Knight says:

“Someone once said, I think it was in a film or something: ‘don’t be frightened of the unknown because it’s a fabulous place when you get to know it’. It’s that lovely feeling of making music or not quite sure where you are on the instrument or where you are with anything. I don’t mean disappear in some airy-fairy way; you can’t disappear completely because if something goes wrong, you have to be there, to put it right! But how lovely sometimes when you’re playing, and you’ve arrived at a place, and you’re not quite sure how you’ve arrived there. But it’s the most beautiful music you’ve ever heard, and you’re playing it!

“And then what you have to do is to say to yourself ‘keep it there!’ It’s the music that’s important. Then you’ve got all the thing of egos and ‘this sounds really nice’ and then maybe you start feeling a bit guilty about it! But don’t! Hang on to it! It’s not to do with you, it’s to do with, as a musician, playing the best music that you can, that you can make. When it arrives through this form of making music keep it there, keep it there, just enjoy it. It’s a privilege to be able to play music in that way when it works. It’s getting me excited now – I just want to go and do the gigs!”

John Spiers adds…

Peter Knight & John Spiers: The Folk Radio Interview

“It feels like a very natural way to make music, as Peter touched on. I don’t come from any other real kind of musical background other than the self-taught sort of accumulator of other people’s ideas and style. Apart from when you get to a certain level on your instrument, you can then start mucking about.

“I’ve always treated most of my practice regime as just exploring, not even playing things, but just looking for patterns and stuff – when I know no one’s listening, just me, giving myself feedback. A lot of the things that are more composed, that I’ve done in the past, have come entirely out of that.”

“I’ve always really enjoyed that,” continues John, “The same thing happens, you don’t realise what the time is and you should have been making dinner or something, you realise that you’ve been playing for hours on your own!”

In his review of their latest album, Both in a Tune, Billy Rough concludes: “Effortlessly impressive, sublimely performed and gloriously invigorating, it is a sheer delight to listen to two masters of their instruments. A beautifully charming duet and a stimulating welcome to a new year. This is innovation, experimentation and improvisation, played between two friends, at its very best. Early days, but come the end of the year; this album will surely still be in the minds of many as one of the best of 2022.”

The duo are on their festive tour next month, details below – They will feature some songs and tunes to reflect the season, but also a generous helping of material from Well Met and Both in a Tune.