After celebrating its milestone 10th-anniversary last year, FolkEast have shared this year’s first names for their 2023 lineup, featuring artists from England, Scotland, Wales, Canada and Australia and also from their own corner of the world, East Anglia.
The festival is held at the historic Glemham Hall estate near Woodbridge in Suffolk from August 18th -20th, 2023.
The 2023 event will be played out on five stages – Sunset main stage, Moot Hall, Stage in the Woods, Sanctuary Space and the Dance Stage, while the event’s three pubs will feature sing-arounds and sessions.
Making appearances throughout the weekend will be the festival’s hugely popular ‘life enhancers’, multi-award-winning patrons, The Young ‘uns (Sean Cooney, Michael Hughes and David Eagle). The trio were our Artists of the Month in March, with the release of their new album Tiny Notes, which our Danny Neill described as having ‘the potential to become a benchmark classic in modern topical folk music.‘ Also, “When singing unaccompanied and in unison, The Young’uns make an elemental sound, and on ‘Tiny Notes’, it pins you to the wall.” FolkEast is the place to see the endearing trio up to things you won’t see anywhere else, and they will once again be presenting their hugely popular podcast. If you haven’t read it, be sure to read our recent interview here:
On Saturday, Scottish band Capercaillie will lead the way with their dazzling traditional Gaelic and contemporary English song repertoire. Founded in 1984 by Donald Shaw, the line-up is led by Karen Matheson, whose mature melodies and heartfelt poetry dazzled us with her 2021 solo album ‘Still Time’…leading Folk Radio’s Billy Rough to declare, ‘It doesn’t get much better than this.’ Here they are, with special guests at Celtic Connections from a few years back.
Kicking things off on Friday are Ímar, whose latest album ‘Awakening‘, has just been reviewed by Folk Radio’s Johnny Whalley, who said, “If I had to single out just one quality in praise of this album, I’d pick the sheer joy they exhibit when playing music, a quality that infuses Awakening from start to finish.” While all five are now based in Glasgow, their backgrounds encompass England, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and Scotland. Johnny concludes, “The band have said their aim for Awakening was to revisit the “vibes of our debut album” after the more produced sound of their second. There’s no doubt in my mind they’ve succeeded splendidly while adding the polish that seven years of playing together brings.” Festival goers are in for a real treat.
The legendary Seventies folk-rockers Lindisfarne. They are playing the Sunset stage on Sunday, led by original founder-member Rod Clements.
Also hailing from the North-East, Saturday’s Moot Hall headliner will be Folk Radio favourite – Kathryn Tickell with her band The Darkening (interviewed here). In 2018 they unleashed Hollowbone – In Neil McFadyen’s words: “Kathryn Tickell’s music flows so naturally you could be forgiven for thinking it’s plucked from the air – distilled from birdsong, a light south-westerly, and sunlight (or often moonlight); as natural, and as compelling as a waterfall. Hollowbone belies that notion in magnificent style. The music is complex and animated, exploring the mists of millennia but singing in a clear, contemporary voice. Hollowbone is a wonderful, brave, and intoxicating album.”
Known for playing the Northumbrian smallpipes, Kathryn is also a fiddle player, composer and BBC Radio 3 ‘Music Planet’ presenter; she has released 15 of her own albums, won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards ‘Musician of the Year’ title and was awarded an OBE for services to folk music.
Heading over from Australia for one of only a handful of UK performances this year will be the ever-popular Spooky Men’s Chorale, led by sole Kiwi Stephen Taberner.
Variously described as ‘as thunderous as a herd of wildebeest’, ‘as sly as a wagonload of Spike Milligans’ and ‘as sonorous as a cloister of monks,’ this masculine maelstrom is every inch the musical chameleon. They can do mellow, and they can do mayhem, dashing and deadpan, bitter and sweet. And they can do it all with aplomb.
FolkEast are also featuring Canadian star Son of Dave (Benjamin Darvill). This one-man band has been shaking up the blues scene for many years now – You may well have heard his music on the likes of Breaking Bad, Preacher and others. He has also been on Later with Jools Holland, and it’s pretty much a case of once seen – never forgotten.
In 2022, he released Call Me King, which saw him returning to the authentic sound that earned him his reputation. The album was reviewed for Folk Radio by Philip Thomas, who said: “He uses his voice, beatboxing skills, percussion and looping/ effects technology to create a sound that riffs on authentic delta blues while still sounding current and relevant. Leaving aside the jaw-dropping rhythm tracks that underpin his songs, it’s the harmonica and the voice that push buttons for me. There are similarities to John Lee Hooker in the semi-spoken delivery of some songs, and I can hear a little of Ben Harper in there sometimes. He is extraordinary; listen to the ‘Someday Soon’; it’s hard to believe it’s just voice, harmonica and a conga drum.” He concludes, “If you like your blues loud, raw and energetic, you will love this.”
Here’s a slightly older favourite from 2020…Carry On.
The ‘Welsh Springsteen’ Martyn Joseph is making his first appearance at FolkEast whose 2021 album ‘1960‘, was hailed by Mike Davies on Folk Radio as one of the most personal albums he has ever made, declaring it one of his albums of the year.
Another Martin, known for his powerful songwriting and exceptional guitar and banjo skills, is the legendary Martin Simpson. Nominated no less than nine times for Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and twice the winner, Simpson has also been named one of Gibson Guitars’ Greatest Acoustic Guitarists of all time. In 2021, he celebrated the 20th Anniversary of his album, “The Bramble Briar”, an English folk gem if ever there was one. Towards the end of 2020, he shared his stripped-back Home Recordings, one of our Featured Albums of the Month, that was reviewed here by Glenn Kimpton. In his review, Glenn described it as having a relaxed nature featuring a mix of originals, covers and instrumentals. He concludes his review: “Although of course impeccably performed with a huge amount of skill and musical prowess, there is still something pure and beautiful about this music that finely balances it and sets it apart from any other Martin Simpson album I can think of. A wonderful achievement and gratefully received.”
That wasn’t the only musical offering Martin made us that year…he also joined forces with Nancy Kerr, Adam Holmes (later replaced by Findlay Napier), Tom A. Wright and Alex Hunter for Magpie Arc, who delivered three EPs between September 2020 and March 2021. Then towards last year, they dropped Glamour In The Grey, described by Thomas Blake on Folk Radio as an incredibly varied album which shows that there is nothing predictable or pedestrian about folk-rock. “It’s a welcome shot in the arm and a wild ride.”
Following a popular duo tour, John Smith will return to FolkEast, this time with the exceptional Katherine Priddy. In 2021, John delivered ‘The Fray‘, described by Mike Davies as a grip of iron, while John Smith described the songs as the most honest ones he’s ever written. As for Katherine Priddy, she really does take some beating…in 2021, she was one of our Artists of the Month in the lead-up to the release of The Eternal Rocks Beneath on Navigator Records. David Weir opened his review, “To listen to The Eternal Rocks Beneath is to sink into a reverie. Elemental and evocative, the much-anticipated debut from Katherine Priddy finds the Birmingham-based singer/songwriter putting a contemporary spin on the mythological. With a voice like the water that swells from a mountain spring, the eddying grace of Priddy’s tone echoes that of Celtic & British folk greats.”
Here they both are performing their 2022 single Talk to Me of Mendocino.
Another Folk Radio favourite appearing at FolkEast is Lady Maisery, the combined multi-talents of Hazel Askew, Hannah James and Rowan Rheingans. Towards the end of last year, they released ‘tender’ (one of our Featured Albums of the Month), their first studio album in six years.
The importance of the place of women in the world is a theme that runs right through tender, and it comes out again on Rest Now, Rheingans’ passionate plea to remember the roles of women who gave everything for the cause of suffrage and never saw the fruits of their work. Elsewhere, James’ Noughts and Crosses employs a more abstract method of songwriting that nonetheless manages to put forward a powerful message, in this case, the simple, transformative power of ‘blinding love’.
And that is what Lady Maisery do so well: get across incredibly powerful messages in the most memorable and distinctive ways. While this may be their first studio album in six years, they have come back with their strongest collection of songs yet and instantly re-established themselves at the forefront of British folk music.
Thomas Blake, Folk Radio
Writing this preview made me realise how much happened towards the end of last year. Among those highlights was Sam Sweeney, who made his most personal record to date – Escape That. He was Artist of the Month for November, and Glenn Kimpton declared that Sweeney’s playing has never been more confident or fluid, and the accompaniments are also stellar in their subtlety. It is gorgeous, joyous playing, possibly his best yet.
The good news is that the Sam Sweeney Band, who were such a brilliant opening act for the recent Bellowhead reunion tour, will be performing material from Sam’s album, no doubt including this one:
Also announced are Cornwall-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Angeline Morrison whose 2022 album Sorrow Songs : Folk Songs of Black British Experience was voted our No. 1 Album of 2022. The album was hailed as one of the most significant and most anticipated releases of 2022. It would not be facile to suggest that the album will be viewed as a landmark release in the canon of British folk music.
In an earlier interview with Folk Radio UK (read it here), Angeline told how she wanted the stories of historic British Black ancestors retold through song. She adds, “…telling stories through song is common to all cultures and the people whose stories are made into songs are those we remember”. The Sorrow Songs tell those stories so well, and they are now there for future generations to be remembered.
As to our favourite albums of 2023, Hack-Poets Guild (featuring “three of the finest musical minds that the British folk scene has to offer” -Marry Waterson, Lisa Knapp and Nathaniel Mann) is a name that would definitely feature. Their debut album, Blackletter Garland, was highly praised and supported on Folk Radio and the music press.
…it’s tempting to say that Blackletter Garland is a blueprint for how folk music should be made, but prescriptive statements like that are narrow and limiting, and Blackletter Garland is the opposite of that. It shows many possible futures of folk music, all of them varied and vibrant.
Thomas Blake, Folk Radio
Another firm favourite is Burd Ellen, whose Tarot of the Green Wood was also in our Best Albums of 2022…a suitably bewitching, disconcerting and often profoundly moving experience from the most innovative duo in folk music.
The exuberant natural troubadour Rory McLeod, Bristol-based singer-songwriter Nick Hart, Birmingham acts Filkin’s Ensemble and Bonfire Radicals, Warwickshire folk musician Ellie Gowers, Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne (of Granny’s Attic – and an incredibly witty young man), and Owen Shiers (Nominated for ‘Best Solo Artist’ at the inaugural 2019 Welsh Folk Awards). Owen is the brainchild behind Cynefin. In 2020 he released Dilyn Afon (Following A River), which Glenn Kimpton reviewed. He described the album as “an essential masterpiece in traditional music collection and interpretation, performed to an exemplary level…It is a journey piece of pure and utterly beautiful music and singing…I implore you all to buy it.”
Here is a more recent performance of a very old Welsh folk tune Lliw’r Ceiroes (Colour of Cherries).
Elsewhere there will be performances from melodeon player extraordinaire John Spiers, who this time joins forces with stand-out fiddle-singer Jackie Oates – one of the best-loved and most intuitive folk performers of her generation.
Jackie will also team up for an appearance with Hampshire‘s Jon Wilks – an acclaimed fingerpicking guitarist and singer of traditional English folk songs and broadside ballads. Jon’s new album ‘Before I Knew What Had Begun I Had Already Lost’ drops next month, and we’re looking forward to reviewing it.
Elsewhere there will be a chance to catch another Folk Radio favourite – Joshua Burnell – the highly original York-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist – along with his band. Expect a performance influenced by everything from pop to rock, trad and indie folk, gypsy jazz, Bowie-esque cabaret & modern musicals. In 2020, Joshua was our Artist of the Month when he released Flowers Where the Horses Sleep.
Joshua Burnell grabs our attention and imagination with this brilliantly accessible album, bursting at the seams with ideas, imagery and an assured ability with melody and song structure. Outstanding.
Danny Neill
Closer to home, from East Anglia, will be Kiteworks (Christina Alden & Alex Patterson and The Shackleton Trio) and East Anglian Traditional Music Trust’s Vaughan Williams Youth Showcase.
Flying the dance flag will be none other than Boss Morris, unlikely performers alongside Wet Leg at this year’s Brit Awards and Ballet Folk, who create inspired ballet works in collaboration with folk artists.
For more details and tickets, visit: https://folkeast.co.uk/