Interviews

Having released one of the best albums of the year so far, we caught up with Jackie Oates to talk about her musical journey from her early days of singing at Topsham Folk Club to pursuing her solo career. We also talk about the making of The Spyglass & The Herringbone.

We caught up with Fabian Holland for a quick chat about his exceptional second album ‘A Day Like Tomorrow’ and the way his narrow boat life is starting to influence his work. Whilst life is not all plain sailing there are plenty of upbeat moments as he admits “…there are times when you just forget that you’re living in London, which is probably why I like it so much.”

We talk to Chris While and Julie Matthews about their latest album ‘Who We Are’ an album that includes songs about a village decimated by the plague in the 17th century and women working in Sheffield’s steel industry during wartime. Plus guest artists: O’Hooley & Tidow, Joe Broughton, Kellie While and Kit Bailey.

With a talent partly forged in Florida and fuelled by French cinema’s New Wave Robert Chaney’s Cracked Picture Frames marks the arrival of a notable new voice on the London music scene. The album is sharp, intelligent, thoughtful and moving, as Robert sings, “I got some simple words to say,” but he says them so well, you can’t fail to be mightily impressed.

We have a video teaser from Beyond The Marches / Dros y Ffin and an update from Elan Rhys about their performance at Hoddinott Hall in the Millennium Centre, Cardiff. Their final performance is this evening at Cecil Sharp House.

Elan Rhys of Welsh band Plu updates us on Beyond The Marches / Dros y Ffin – Day Five. The live performances take place over this weekend and Monday. Try and see them if you can, they really do deserve the support for all the hard work they’ve put in.

David Gibb updates us on Day Four of Beyond The Marches / Dros y Ffin which starts off with the word ‘Rum’ and ends on ‘Rum’. Next thing you know they’ll be turning up for breakfast late in their pyjamas…Archie.

We continue our guest blog series Beyond The Marches / Dros y Ffin. Elan heads to the National Library of Wales, receives a talk from Welsh harpist Robin Huw Bowen including an insightful introduction to the triple harp before looking at some of the difficult to access archives. A perfect example of why a digital archive is needed.

As part of our ongoing coverage of Beyond The Marches / Dros y Ffin award winning song writer and story teller David Gibb shares his thoughts on Day Two. A visit to the Museum of Welsh Life in St Fagans, a lecture from Wales’ answer to Cecil Sharp, Roy Saer and you can watch them all performing Lord Randal.

In our latest Photo-Interview feature we talk to Blue Rose Code who’s busy touring before heading to the studio in May to record the next record. “Then for the next six months I’m going to sit on my arse on the beach in Bournemouth and read…and just be actually.”

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.

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.