News

This is what happens when you have a chat down the pub and decide to mix traditional Irish music with hip hop beats from the 1990s. Meet Jiggy: Daire Bracken (fiddle) Éamonn Galldubh (pipes), Niwel Tsumbu (guitar), Anttoin Bracken (guitar), Robbie Harris (percussion) and DJayzus on decks…and occasional guests including Beatboxer MIC Bandit.

Called one of the ‘best voices in England’ by Ralph McTell, Bob Fox has a busy month ahead as he tours across England and Wales. Dates include Tredegar House Folk Festival in South Wales. Watch this performance from Songs from the Shed from 2013.

Today is Christy Moore’s Birthday, and we have a Song of the Day from the great man with a cover of Black is the Colour, a traditional song he learned from Hamish Imlach who he first met in 1967. Christy also has a big tour kicking off this month so get your tickets quick.

On Saturday June 6th 2015 Halsway Manor will be running a 24 hour fund raiser to help secure their future with live folk music, dance and storytelling. Get involved and please help spread the word as the work they do is great.

Esteesee – Along the Coleridge Way is a new folk music project featuring BBC Folk Award nominee Ange Hardy along with Steve Knightley, Patsy Reid, Lukas Drinkwater, Archie Churchill-Moss, Jonny Dyer and more.

Our Song of the Day is from Steve Ashley, one of our most gifted songwriters in the British Isles today. The Last Deeds Of Love is a beautifully moving song taken from his latest album This Little Game.

To mark the release of their self-titled album, out today, (New York, NY) Nashville-based, heartland rock band, Midnight Pilot, are to release four new live session videos which will be shown exclusively on Folk Radio UK through the month of May. Watch the first ‘Elizabeth’ here.

Our Song of the Day is from the bagpipe-driven Scott Wood Band with a piece composed by the late Martyn Bennett. Their debut album is due out in August 2015 and with the solid reputation they’ve managed to build that album will create quite a fanfare.

The Month of May – one of tradition and ritual. One of the most famous is the Obby ‘Oss festival of Padstow in Cornwall. Watch this short film by Alan Lomax, Peter Kennedy and George Pickow about the festival from 1953. Brilliant!

We have a video premiere today from Lotte Mullan for her new single ‘Dear Elvis’ which is released on 18th May. A very British blend of Alt Country which skips along on the surface but is, at it’s heart, one of the darkest songs on Mullan’s new record ‘Love’s Bonfire’.

I’ve been looking forward to this new album from Eliza Carthy & Tim Eriksen for what seems like ages, so it’s with great pleasure Folk Radio UK can offer you this premiere of the title track from their new album ‘Bottle’ due for release on 18th May via Navigator Records.

We have a lovely hazy folk song premiere today from Welsh born folk singer/songwriter James McArthur. ‘The Day It Rained Forever’ features on the long awaited new album ‘Strange Readings From The Weather Station’