News
Sweet Liberties is a new folk music project commissioned by EFDSS and Folk by The Oak featuring four songwriters: Nancy Kerr, Martyn Joseph, Sam Carter, and Maz O’Connor alongside musicians Patsy Reid and Nick Cooke – a musical journey exploring the pursuit of democracy and the events that have made a difference to our liberties.
Da Fishing Hands, the latest release from Inge Thomson, saw its debut performance on Fair Isle in May 2014, this short film documents that performance and provides background to a project which ultimately aims to protect the marine environment around the Island and for it to be sustainably managed as it has been historically by Fair Isle folk.
Our Song of the Day is The Devil’s Nine Questions which is performed by Appalachian ballad-singing duo Anna and Elizabeth, they are on tour in the UK from May. Their Show is a captivating mix of ballads, foot-stomping dance tunes, stories and visual art. They also use what are called crankies to illustrate the song ballads which you can find out about here.
All good things must come to an end and so The Full English collective featuring some of the biggest stars on the English Folk music scene will head out on their final tour in May. But what a great job they’ve done of promoting the digital archive. Watch a new documentary about the project and a TEDx talk by Fay Hield: Why aren’t we all folk singers?
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.