the young’uns

The Young’uns present a new and unique piece of modern folk theatre – The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff is the story of one man’s adventure from begging on the streets in the north of England to fighting against fascism in the Spanish Civil War, taking in the Hunger Marches and the Battle of Cable Street.

The Young’uns earn themselves a very special place in the history of Ceòl Cholasa – The tiny Hebridean Island of Colonsay, population circa 120, location, on the left of Scotland in deep water, finally rose as one to give a standing ovation to the first English band to appear at the festival.

Stockton-On- Tees’ The Young’uns, nominees for 2018’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Best Album (Strangers) and Best Original Track (Be The Man), are very pleased to today announce their brand new project, ‘The Ballad Of Johnny Longstaff’, an incredible new audio-visual UK tour for spring 2018.

Johnny sits down in a teepee at FolkEast with The Young’uns to chat about their new album Strangers and the some of the incredible people that feature in the songs. Strangers is out now.

Strength and courage is what ‘Strangers’ is all about. Despite the hardships it describes, there is barely a moment on this album that doesn’t hum with positivity. The Young’uns have perfected a sound that is as unique as it is uplifting, and it would be no surprise if their already burgeoning popularity were to rise to even greater heights.

Johnny shares some his many highlights of this year’s FolkEast festival including The Young’uns, Jon Boden, Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys, Martin Carthy, Hughie Jones, Hannah Sanders and Ben Savage, LAU, Dan Walsh, Will Pound, Damien O’Kane and many more.

In the first video in this series, The Young’uns Talk To Strangers, they meet Matthew Ogston, the courageous anti-homophobia campaigner whose heart-wrenching story inspired their song Be The Man.

This week’s Folk Show features rituals, Cuckoos, poachers, Lapwings, Gypsies and a Golden Plover to name just a few of the themes that crop up in the folk songs we’ve pulled together. We’ve also got a sneak peek at some advance releases from Martin Simpson, Tom Russell, The Young’uns and Mairearad Green and Mike Vass plus more.

This Thursday (Aug 17) Teesside trio The Young’uns will finally get to meet face-to-face Teesside grandfather Ghafoor Hussain who inspired their heart-warming song Ghafoor’s Bus. The song features on their forthcoming studio album Strangers, due for release on 29th September

On September 29th, The Young’uns will unveil their fourth studio album Strangers – playing their strongest suit to date.  Bold, profound and resonant it showcases the growing talents of Sean Cooney, fast becoming one of folk’s finest songwriters.

The 40th-anniversary all-star revival of Peter Bellamy’s ‘The Transports’ starts this month taking it dates at Celtic Connections, Cecil Sharp House and more. Watch this excellent short documentary about the ballad folk opera.

The Young’Uns announce that they will once again don their festive jumpers for a lighthearted romp through Christmas’ past. Plus, we have David Eagle’s DJ set from FolkEast to share in which Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar join forces with Daft Punk, The Watersons share the stage with Van-Halen, the Prodigy embrace sea shanties…