KLOF

One of the most remarkable vocal harmony trios ‘The Devil’s Interval’ feat. Lauren McCormick, Emily Portman & Jim Causley reunite for mini tour and Sidmouth Folkweek. Watch them warming up for the tour as they perform Silver Dagger.

Emily Portman will release her new album in June titled Coracle. It promises to be her most ambitious release to date. Produced by Andy Bell it features featuring her regular trio of Rachel Newton & Lucy Farrell as well as a number of guest musicians from the world of folk music including Bellowhead’s Sam Sweeney.

Richard Thompson will release Still, an album of new music produced by Jeff Tweedy, on June 29, 2015 via Proper Records. Still was recorded in a two-story rehearsal loft in Chicago over the course of just nine days with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy at the helm, backed by several longtime players from both Thompson’s and Tweedy’s bands.

As part of our ongoing coverage of Beyond The Marches / Dros y Ffin which is now underway, we have the first guest blog from Elan Rhys, the lead vocalist of folk group Plu. Day one included a performance on Radio 4’s Front Row programme and research at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library at Cecil Sharp House.

I quite literally stumbled across Three Pilgrims this morning and was immediately taken by their studio demo of ‘Don’t Look Down’, so much so it just had to be the Song of the Day on Folk Radio UK. They run a weekly residence at The Eagle on Ladbroke Grove.

The Demon Barbers have revealed the first in a series of videos about the making of their latest album and stage production Disco At The Tavern. It includes an insight from Damien into his early beginnings on the folk club scene and his influences ranging from Cordelia’s Dad to Peter Bellamy.

In July this year Rosanne Cash heads to the UK touring as a duo with husband and sideman John Leventhal for dates which include London’s Union Chapel and SummerTyne Americana Festival.

Our Song of the Day comes from Best Group in the BBC Folk Awards this year – The Young’uns. Watch their powerful new video for The Streets of Lahore, a song they wrote about Farzana Parveen who in May last year was murdered by 4 members of her own family in broad daylight outside the High Court of Lahore for marrying without their consent.

Sidmouth FolkWeek has another great lineup this year including winners of the recent BBC Folk Awards with Nancy Kerr and Sam Sweeney. Also amongst their extensive lineup are some wonderful folk music stars who performed at the Awards: Julie Fowlis and Kate Rusby. Get your tickets quick as Early Bird reductions run until end of this month.

We get the first thoughts from Elan Rhys and David Gibb on Beyond The Marches / Dros y Ffin which will be exploring and celebrating in the shared history of England and Wales. We will have more from them this week as the project progresses.

Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan head out on tour this month under the combined tour banner of I’m with Her. Dates include London’s Union Chapel on 28 April. It promises to be a great tour as Sara declares “very time we play together we are learning how to be a supportive, explosive, good band.”

Our Song of the Day is a track premiere from London indie-folk duo Worry Dolls. Be So Cruel is taken from their new EP Burden which will be released on 8 June 2015. Don’t miss them on tour from May through the Summer.