Interviews

Celtic Connections features some 2,100 musicians and more than 300 events in 18 days. Dave McNally talks to Donald Shaw about the latest 25th festival, drawing on the challenges and rewards of being the Artistic Director and more.

Rachel catches up with folk supergroup ‘I’m With Her’ in London and chats to Aoife O’Donovan about their upcoming album See You Around. Aoife reveals how it was working alongside Sara Watkins and Sarah Jarosz and what they all learned from the experience.

We talk to John Oates about his forthcoming new album Arkansas, inspired by blues legend Mississippi John Hurt. He tells us “The album is the expression of everything I’ve done up to this point.”

Matthew Crampton and Paul Sartin talk to FRUK about the epic folk opera The Transports which is released as a live album this week and embarks on a 14-date UK tour from tomorrow.

We talk to David Harrington about the Kronos Quartet project Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire, a string quartet commissioning, performance, education, and legacy project of unprecedented scope and potential impact.

We caught up with Kate Rusby while on her Christmas tour, she reflects on what’s behind these special celebrations, the family and friends who take part, and her approach to the music itself. We also talk about her glittering, fun-filled new album Angels and Men and share her new video.

This month, Karine Polwart releases her latest studio album A Pocket of Wind Resistance. She has just finished ten performances of Wind Resistance at The Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, and we were keen to ask her about the inspiration behind those live performances, the attendant studio release and what else these wonders might lead to.

We talk to the Wild Ponies (Doug and Telisha Williams) who are now nearing the end of their UK tour. They provide an insight into their unique history as well as the genesis of their new album ‘Galax’ and their creative process.

To mark the tenth anniversary UK tour of the acclaimed National Theatre production of War Horse, Songmaker John Tams and Songman Bob Fox release A Garland For Joey The War Horse Songbook. Listen to Bob Fox performing ‘Only Remembered’ and read about the stories behind the songs in John Tams own words.

Rob Bridge catches up with John Smith at Kenilworth Arts Festival. He talks about his new album ‘Headlong’ and his involvement in Martin Simpson’s new album ‘Trails and Tribulations’. He also manages to capture John performing ‘Save My Life’ live.

We talk to Christine Primrose about Gaelic song and her latest album ‘Gràdh is Gonadh – Guth ag aithris’. She is to be inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame in recognition of her contribution to Gaelic music.

Eight years after the first of Jon Boden’s dystopian albums was released comes Afterglow, an urban tapestry of sound and stories that leaves one impatient for the final chapter. Here he discusses the albums’ conceptions, folk sociology and the art of leaving space.