It’s been a while since we last heard from Urban Folk Quartet. Since forming in 2009, the Midlands-based quartet – multi-instrumentalist/ producer Joe Broughton, Galician fiddle player Paloma Trigás, percussionist Tom Chapman, and revered banjo-man Dan Walsh – released albums almost annually, although it’s been distinctly quiet on the release front since 2016’s in-concert Live III. But now, after an eight-year gap, UFQ are back with True Story (out 22 March 2024).
Split 50/50 between their calling-card instrumentals and vocal material, True Story also features several notable guests, making it – on the surface at least – a very different Urban Folk Quartet album…
“We set out to make a different album – yes, but in that intention, it wasn’t different,” states Joe. “I’ve produced all the UFQ albums and I always set out trying to do something different – I think we’re just getting a bit closer to achieving it each time.”
While “the chaos of COVID”, scheduling (everyone has extensive careers outside of UFQ), and a desire to embrace studio recording more fully contributed to the LP’s longer-than-normal gestation, in the context of their back catalogue, True Story is less about difference and more about UFQ’s evolution.
Says Paloma: “We never set out to do anything other than to try and make the best music we can at the time. It’s what we’ve always done.
“As we evolve as a band, and as individuals, you could say the final result is influenced by these developments …. but I think the core to our music making remains the same.”
Long-standing UFQ fans will find much they’re familiar with in True Story: the band still embrace a myriad of influences, blending Celtic folk with everything from subtle Afro touches to more overt bluegrass sounds, while the tracklist includes polished studio takes on Long Time Traveller and Before Your Eyes/ The Whiplash Reel, which previously graced Live III. However, the musical palette has undoubtedly expanded between releases, and there are also several notable guests, namely Fairport Convention’s Dave Pegg and Chris and Kellie While.
“My amazing youngest brother Sal [Broughton] played bass on a lot of the album, but sadly we lost him to cancer in December 2022 at just 30 years old,” reports Joe. “It was shortly after that I found myself chatting to ‘Peggy’ [Dave Pegg] over a beer in Ibiza, and when I explained that Sal wouldn’t be playing on the rest of the album, he asked if he could help. I, of course, jumped at the chance and the fact that ‘Peggy’ stepped in and played such an absolute blinder means a lot to me personally, and a lot to the band.”
Dave takes bass duties on two True Story tracks, and the Whiles appear on Coal Minin’ Man (previously recorded by Ricky Skaggs), with Chris also contributing to Long Time Traveller.
“Chris and Kellie are family really, and just so right for, in particular, Coal Minin’ Man,” Joe adds.
Opening True Story is a surprising yet addictive rootsy take on Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill. Dan, who bought Gabriel’s 1977 solo debut single to the band, sings the lead vocal.
“I was touring in Canada and on a night off sat in a pub with about six people listening to a brilliant live performer called David Bradshaw,” Dan recalls. “He did a lovely finger-style guitar version of Solsbury and that’s what put it in my head – although I always loved the song. Then, at a band sound check, I was figuring it out on banjo, and Ben said it sounded good and that we should do it.
“It’s totally not typical of the band,” Dan continues of the now live favourite. “But I think that’s great, and it goes down very well at gigs, perhaps partly for that reason. It’s really nice to have banjo and two fiddles … it’s our only number with no guitar.”
Coinciding with the release of the eight-track album, the band head out for a series of live appearances (including a summer stop-off at Kendal Calling), yet are already looking further ahead, keen to monopolise on True Story’s momentum.
“Next is a big project to celebrate 15 years of the UFQ,” teases Joe. “[So] watch this space for a big event in November and something special in the recording department to go with it!”
* Urban Folk Quartet’s True Story is out now via SAE Records. For more information and tour dates, see: www.theufq.com