john spiers

At the heart of Spiers & Boden’s “Fallow Ground” is the utter joy of two friends making music together. It’s a joyful, exciting, and beautifully produced release and it’s so great to have them back.

Having parted ways back in 2014, Spiers & Boden, one of our finest folk duos, are back together again with a new album titled Fallow Ground, which you can pre-order today. They have also announced festival appearances and a 23 date UK tour.

The line-up on ‘I Am of Ireland’, reads like a who’s who of the mainly Irish but also Irish American and British folk music world. There’s plenty of enjoyable music here and if it guides you back to Yeats’ poetry, well, that’s a worthwhile bonus.

The Gigspanner Big Band announce official launch gig for Natural Invention this month, to be live-streamed on Monday, September 21 via Oxfordshire’s famous Nettlebed Folk Club.

Thomas Blake interviews the Gigspanner Big Band, our Artists of the Month, who demonstrate they are admirably democratic not just in their music-making process, but also in their interviews where everyone gets their say.

Natural Invention is a piece of music that feels thrillingly, frighteningly, beautifully of our time. With the Gigspanner Big Band, Peter Knight has assembled a group of musicians intent on making some of the most important and exhilarating art ever to sit under the banner of folk music.

The Gigspanner Big Band take to the road again next month with an expanded lineup which, as well as Edgelarks, now includes John Spiers. Watch them performing Awake Awake which will feature on their new album set for release in April 2020.

Peter Knight and John Spiers were unable to resist the lure of hooking up before the year is through. They will be reuniting to play just eight concerts in December…not to be missed.

Improvisation and invention meet the listener at every turn of ‘Well Met’. Knight and Spiers have created a musical document that should inspire future generations of musicians to engage with Britain’s folk dancing heritage, and the beautiful, mysterious tunes that can be found within that heritage. 

Peter Knight (ex-Steeleye Span) and John Spiers (ex-Bellowhead) announce March UK Tour and share ‘The Cuckoo’, a medley of tunes taken from their debut album ‘Well Met’ which is ready for imminent release.

There has never been a force of nature quite like the exhilarating juggernaut of bombastic, swaggering, buffed, multi-coloured big band folk that is Bellowhead and it is unlikely there ever will be again. Pandemonium presents highlights from Bellowhead’s incredible career.