A very highly anticipated and long-awaited release from Rosie Hood is just around the corner, for which she is supported by some fellow super-talented Sheffield-based musicians Nicola Beazley (Fiddle, 5-string fiddle, vocals), Rosie Butler-Hall (Fiddle, 5-string fiddle, vocals), and Robyn Wallace (Melodeon, percussion, vocals).
Rosie released her debut solo album ‘The Beautiful & The Actual‘ in 2017, described by Folk Radio’s David Pratt as a “pure delight.” Their new album, A Seed of Gold, is self-released on Rosie’s label, Little Red Recordings, on 3rd November. The album features traditional and newly written material and touches on politics, struggle, women’s voices and unheard stories.
Their album tour starts on 21st October at Manchester Folk Festival (recently previewed here); see dates below. Dates include London’s Cecil Sharp House on 25th October, which will also be livestreamed by Live To Your Living Room.
Talking about the new collaboration, Rosie shared:
“I feel privileged to be working with Nicola, Rosie and Robyn to bring this material to life. Their playing creates awonderful chamber sound and Ifeel like it adds areal depth to my songs. Since we started rehearsing together early last year. I’ve been so much more inspired to write, and alot of that is down to being able to imagine how it will sound played by the band,”
Lyddie Shears is the first single from A Seed Of Gold, and the accompanying lyric video is a collective effort between them, including the puppets, filming and editing. The song tells of a shapeshifting witch from Rosie’s native Wiltshire.
Rosie shares: “Lyddie was supposedly a witch who lived in Winterslow, Wiltshire, in the 19th Century and could turn into a hare. While I was writing this song, I kept seeing hares around where I live on the edge of Sheffield, having rarely seen them before. The tune in the middle is ‘Baby Brock’, written by Rose Butler-Hall for her lovely friend Sue in memory of Auntie Pauline’s Woodland, where there was a badger’s set with lots of baby badgers born in the spring.
You can read more about shapeshifting, witches and hares here.
One of the most commonly referenced superstitions (maybe because it’s the most fascinating and incredulous) concerns witches and shapeshifting. This may also be why hares were often referred to in the feminine form, as many thought them all to be female…Another common form they were said to take was that of a cat, a belief that led to some refusing to talk near a cat in case a witch learned of their secrets.
Some believed it was bad luck even to utter the hare’s name, giving rise to alternative names. A Middle English poem featuring many words for the hare (many of which are insults) was translated by Seamus Heaney. It included the names: scotart, big-fellow, bouchart, beat-the-pad, white-face, funk-the-ditch, the skidaddler, the nibbler, the slabber, the starer, the wood-cat, the purblind, the furze cat, the skulker, the bleary-eyed, the wall-eyed, the glance-aside and hedge-springer.
Tour Dates
21 Oct – Manchester Folk Festival 2023
22 Oct – The Cumberland Arms, Newcastle Upon Tyne
25 Oct – Cecil Sharp House, London
25 Oct – Live To Your Living Room @ 7:30 PM BST*
26 Oct – The Barn in Baston, Baston
27 Oct – Holy Trinity Church, Barrow Upon Soar
28 Oct – Otley Courthouse, Otley
31 Oct – Dartford Folk Club, Dartford
02 Nov – The Fleece Inn, Bretforton
03 Nov – The Pound Arts Centre, Corsham
04 Nov – Wiveliscombe Community Centre, Wiveliscombe
09 Nov – Folk at the New Room, Bristol
10 Nov – Norwich Folk Club, Norwich
12 Nov – Yellow Arch Studios, Sheffield
*Live Stream of Cecil Sharp House Gig
Tickets: https://www.rosiehood.co.uk/gigs
Pre-Order A Seed of Gold via Bandcamp