June 2001

London Gigs - June 2001

Fri 1st Ed Harcourt
http://www.edharcourt.com
with special guest, Mary Gauthier
http://www.marygauthier.com
The Borderline, W1 - 020 7734 2095

First of a weekly residency this month for young UK singer songwriter,
whose debut album 'Here Be Monsters' is released later this month.
Each week, Ed will be introducing special guests new to London
audiences, kicking off with US country/folk singer songwriter Mary
Gauthier (pronounced Go-Shay) whose latest (second) album 'Drag
Queens in Limousines' was nominated for Outstanding Folk/Acoustic
Album of the Year in the Boston Music Awards, and, according to Vin
Sclesa, host of 'Idiot's Delight' on WNEW-FM, NYC, "writes songs
that I can easily compare to the work of the late great Townes Van
Zandt, and sings 'em like she's sometimes channeling the voice of a
folkier Janis Joplin ....The kind of record that reinforces my faith in
music and art."

Fri 1st Runrig
http://www.runrig.co.uk/
+ Great Big Sea
http://www.greatbigsea.com/
Shepherds Bush Empire

Top Scottish band, Runrig, originally formed in 1973, whose music
blends the influences of folk, rock and traditional Gaelic singing,
currently on a European tour promoting their latest album, 'The
Stamping Ground' (Ridge Records), their first studio album featuring
new singer Bruce Guthro from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.
Founding members and main songwriters, brothers Calum and Rory
MacDonald, have recently put together 'Flower Of The West - The
Runrig Songbook', containing the music and lyrics for 115 songs, and
now available from their website. Support on the tour comes from
'Great Big Sea' from Newfoundland. Describing their latest live album
'Road Rage', Folk Roots Magazine said that the "clash of rockist
intentions and folksy source material make for robust, rambunctious
listening on a grin-inducing CD..."

Sat 2nd Niamh Parsons & Graham Dunne
http://www.niamhparsons.com
The Hammersmith & Fulham Irish Centre, W6

UK tour for top Irish singer Niamh (pronounced Neeve) Parsons,
previously a member of 'Arcady' and her own 'Loose Connections'.
Her debut solo album 'Blackbirds and Thrushes' (Green Linnet) was
a major critical success. Her latest, 'In My Prime' (Green Linnet),
features her regular accompanist, guitarist Graham Dunne. According
to Jamie O'Brien in Rambles Magazine , "Describing Niamh Parsons'
singing is like to trying to describe color to a blind person. Her voice
is husky, it's warm, soulful, expressive ... perfectly suited to Irish folk
songs, both accompanied and old style, but it's also one that could
easily handle other genres... She thoroughly transcends styles and
really defies categorization. Niamh is a rare musician; she is pure
quality."

Tue 5th Tom McRae
http://www.tommcrae.com/
University of London Union, Malet Street, W1 020 7344 4444

"Tom McRae's already been compared to Paul Simon, Bob Dylan,
Coldplay and David Gray. Not bad for a twenty-something singer/
songwriter who recently made the move from a small Suffolk village to
London. His self-titled 2000 debut features stark acoustic guitars lifted
by lush string arrangements and clean melodies sharpened by hard-
hitting lyrics." GetMusic

Wed 6th Eileen Rose
http://www.compassrecords..com/rose.htm
Dingwalls, Camden Lock, NW1

Irish-Italian Boston-born singer songwriter, who has lived in London for
the last 10 years, with a voice described by Q Magazine as "an earthy,
expressive thing conveying lived-in loveliness and battered vulnerability
somewhere between Stevie Nicks, Patti Smith and Michelle Shocked."
A member of trans-Atlantic band Fledgling in recent years, her new
debut solo album 'Shine Like It Does' (Compass Records in US,
Rough Trade in UK), according to Mojo Magazine, "shows the single-
minded spirit and intensity of Ani DiFranco, full of attitude and gritty,
evocative portrayals of life on an emotional knife-edge...The arrival of
a forceful new talent whose day will surely come."

Thur 7th Yann-Fanch Perroches & Stephane Morvane
http://www.perroches.com/aframe.htm
Islington Folk Club

Highly regarded diatonic accordion player over from Brittany, France.
A founding member of Skolvan in1984, described at the time by Folk
Roots Magazine as "the best Breton music group, and maybe Celtic
music group, today." Describing his latest album, last year's 'Daou ha
Daou', with fiddle player Fañch Landreau, Dirty Linen Magazine said,
"You'll be entranced. For Breton music listeners, this is a joy, but for
players in search of tunes, it's essential!", whilst according to Accordéon
Magazine, "The power, purity and delicacy of his playing sends shivers
down your spine, he is truly one of the great diatonic players." Tonight
playing with Stéphane Morvan, a former member of the group BF15,
on wooden traverse flute.

Fri 8th Turin Brakes + Special Guests
http://www.lavapepper.com/turinbrakes/
Union Chapel, Islington

South London acoustic duo, Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian, are
regularly being lauded as 'the next big thing' in the UK at the moment.
According to Leagues O'Toole in Muse Online Magazine , they write
"understated, rootsy, gentle, folk-fused songs embedded in spacious
atmospherics and showered with radiant harmonies." The band
appeared on BBC TV's prime-time 'Top of the Pops' show last month
singing their new single 'Something In My Eye' from 'The Optimist Lp'
(Source/Astralwerks ) which is currently in the UK charts (The U.S.
version is an enhanced CD featuring the video for 'The Door').
Describing their lyrical influences, Gale and Olly give a nod to Joni
Mitchell, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen and the whole seventies singer
songwriter 'movement'.

Sat 9th - Wed 13th The Eagles
http://www.eaglesfans.com/
Earls Court

Five nights at the cavernous Earls Court exhibition centre for Don
Henley, Timothy B Schmit, Joe Walsh and Glen Frey. "A notable
absentee, though, is guitarist Don Felder" according to this Q Magazine
article. "He was present for the 'Hell Freezes Over' tour but has since
been dismissed. Litigation is ongoing.... The Eagles are planning to
make their first complete studio album since 1979’s The Long Run and
view their forthcoming European gigs as a means of bonding anew for
a task that Don Henley – drummer, singer, Eagles’ "lyric police" –
likensto walking a tightrope....To date, the Eagles have sold 120 million
albums."

Sat 9th Mary Chapin Carpenter
http://www.marychapincarpenter.com
+ Shawn Colvin
http://www.shawncolvin.com
Hammersmith Apollo, W6 020 7416 6083
also Sun 10th Fairfield Hall, Croydon

Multi-Grammy-award winning country singer songwriter Mary Chapin
Carpenter, touring the UK promoting her latest album 'Time*Sex*
Love*' (Columbia) - the album's full title is 'Time is the great gift; sex is
the great equalizer; love is the great mystery' - produced by guitarist
John Jennings, Blake Chancey (Dixie Chicks), and Mary Chapin herself
(see this press release). Support from Shawn Colvin (see UK news
section), promoting her new album 'Whole New You' (Columbia) - see
this CNN review and this music.com interview.

Sun 10th Roy Harper
http://www.royharper.co.uk/
Royal Festival Hall

See special feature in the UK news section.

Sun 10th Baka Beyond
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/Members/baka/index.html
Jazz Cafe

Guitarist Martin Cradick's search for common links between Northern
European and West African traditions took him and vocalist, Su Hart,
deep into the Cameroon rainforest where they lived with the Baka
Pygmies. Inspired by his experiences there Martin formed 'Baka
Beyond', teaming up with Breton fiddler Paddy Le Mercier (previously
a member of Gabriel Yacoub's French folk-rock band, Malicorne),
percussionists Nii Tagoe from Ghana, Ayodele Scott from Sierra
Leone, Lakh Niasse and Seckou Keita from Senegal, bass player Sam
Djenge from Cameroon and vocalist Eleanor Churchlow. According to
Jamie Renton in Folk Roots reviewing their latest album, 'Sogo' "...
judging by Sogo, Baka Beyond are rather wonderful...an acoustic
based mix of Celtic and african (a bit like Afro Celt Sound System only
without the Sound System). A light, flowing sound full of warm female
harmonies, percussion, Breton fiddle and Martin Cradick's acoustic
guitar... Looks like I've got a whole back catalogue to catch up on."

Sun 10th Doug B Smith
http://www.guitarist.fsnet.co.uk/
The Cabbage Patch, Twickenham 020 8866 2621

Young acoustic guitarist described as "a phenomenally expressive and
passionate player", whose debut album 'Diving for Pearls', according
to Time Out Magazine, "beautifully showcases Smith's deftly
accomplished, intelligent and enjoyable approach to all manner of
rootsy, original and traditional folk song. A major acoustic guitar talent."

Mon 11th Little Feat
http://littlefeat.net/
Ocean, Hackney

Legendary California band with a Southern-fried blues feel playing their
only UK date on a very brief European tour. Today, the band includes
Paul Barrere, Sam Clayton, Kenny Gradney, Richie Hayward, Shaun
Murphy, Bill Payne and Fred Tackett, whilst the late Lowell George
remains in spirit. 'Rock 'n Roll Doctor' - A Tribute to Lowell George
was released a while back featuring Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson
Browne, Randy Newman, and others, whilst Little Feat's latest album
'Chinese Work Songs' is their 60th recording in a history that spans
over 30 years. Rhino Records have also recently released a 4 CD Box
Set called 'Hot Cakes and Outtakes', which includes a 75 page booklet
detailing the history of the band.

Mon 11th Martin Curtis
http://www.kiwifolk.org.nz/artists/mcurtis/home.html
Herga Folk Club

UK tour from one of New Zealand's top folk songwriters and 'bush
poets'. Originally from England, Martin settled in the remote Cardrona
Valley in the high country of the Southern Alps in 1975, founding the
first Cardrona Folk Festival the following year, still an annual event that
has become one of the highlights of the New Zealand folk music year.
He began songwriting soon after this, with his anthem to the Cardrona
Valley gold rush, 'Gin and Raspberry', becoming a folk club standard.
"Superbly written songs", says The Press - Christchurch, N.Z..."Martin
Curtis presents another alternative to the music of New Zealand - music
that is unlikely to get any airplay on commercial radio stations, and yet
thoroughly deserves to."

Tue 12th & Wed 13th Willard Grant Conspiracy
http://wgc.hinah.com/
The Borderline, W1 - 020 7734 2095

Categorised by the UK newspaper The Guardian as "Acid/ Folk/
Country", the Boston band's latest album 'Everything's Fine' (Slow
River - Rykodisc) has been described by Q Magazine as .."mellow,
languorous and tuneful country rock redolent of CSN&Y or J.J. Cale
at their best" whilst The Guardian calls singer Robert Fisher's songs
"New England mini-tragedies with a swamp-blues edge against a
tumbleweedy backdrop." On this current UK tour they will be playing
as a 3-piece with Robert Fisher and Paul Austin joined by multi-
instumentalist Simon Alpin, focusing on quieter more acoustic versions
of songs from their latest album along with a selection of old songs and
choice covers.

Thur 14th Chris Wood
http://www.cutting-tweed.demon.co.uk/wac.htm
Islington Folk Club

Solo gig for fine English fiddle player and guitarist, renowned for his
collaborations with Martin Carthy and Roger Wilson as 'Wood
Wilson Carthy', and as a duo with melodeon player Andy Cutting who
form one of the 'Two Duos Quartet' along with Karen Tweed and Ian
Carr .

Fri 15th Paul Lamb & The King Snakes
http://www.paullamb.com
The Borderline, W1 - 020 7734 2095

Chicago Blues from one of Britain's best Blues bands. Paul plays
"bluesy, cleanly-executed-but-drivingly delivered blues harmonica."
The British Blues Connection has voted them 'UK Blues Band of the
Year' on five separate occasions. Their most recent album is last year's
'Take Your Time & Get it Right' (Indigo)

Sat 16th London Fleadh
http://www.meanfiddler.com/fleadh
Finsbury Park, N4

Neil Young & Crazy Horse
http://www.neilyoungmusic.com/
The Waterboys
http://www.mikescottwaterboys.com
Aimee Mann
http://www.aimeemann.com
The Gypsy Kings
http://www.gipsykings.com
Afro Celt Sound System
http://www.afrocelts.com
Billy Bragg & The Blokes
http://www.billybragg.co.uk/
Victoria Williams
http://www.victoriawilliams.com/
Andy White
http://www.andywhite.com
and many more

The annual Fleadh, this year headlined by Neil Young. A member of
the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - he has cut fifteen gold, platinum and
multi-platinum albums over the course of his four-decade career. His
latest Reprise Records' releases include the acoustic 'Silver & Gold'
and the 1999 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album, 'Looking Forward'.
He has also recently released a live album 'Road Rock Volume 1'
which includes eight selections recorded during his recent 'Music In
Head' tour, and there is also a DVD/ Video, 'Red Rocks Live', of his
performance at Denver's Red Rocks Amphitheater, scheduled for
release by Reprise Records.

Sun 17th Bert Jansch
http://www.folklib.net/index/j/jansch_bert.shtml
Old Bull Arts Centre, Barnet 020 8449 0048

Bert began performing his unique synthesis of folk, blues and jazz on
the folk club scene of the early sixties, having hitch hiked to London
from his hometown of Edinburgh. The recent biography 'Dazzling
Stranger: Bert Jansch & The British Folk Blues Revival' by Colin
Harper (Bloomsbury) is according to Ian Anderson, editor of UK's
'Folk Roots', "a major work of Britfolk scholarship, and fun with it."
(Order online here). To date, Bert has made twenty-one albums and
is still as active, innovative and influential as ever, his latest, 'Crimson
Moon' (When! Records) being widely regarded as his finest album of
recent years. According to Neil Young, "As much of a great guitar
player as Jimi (Hendrix) was, Bert Jansch is the same thing for acoustic
guitar ... and my favourite."

Wed 20th Chris Thomas King + Band
http://www.christhomasking.com/
The Borderline, W1 - 020 7734 2095

The 21st Century Bluesman from New Orleans, who made his acting
debut playing the role of wandering bluesman 'Tommy Johnson' in the
Coen brothers' Oscar nominated movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
The 'O Brother' soundtrack has now sold in excess of one and a
quarter million copies and has been top of the US Country charts for
seven weeks. Chris's own musical background is firmly rooted in the
blues. The son of "The King of the Swamp Blues", Tabby Thomas,
his own songs stem from a far reaching 'gumbo' of influences including
hip hop and rap. According to Pulse Magazine his 1998 album 'Red
Mud (Black Top) was "a back-to-the-basics acoustic showcase
featuring his take on tunes by Robert Johnson and Son House, as well
as a wide selection of originals in the tradition." His latest album 'The
Legend of Tommy Johnson - Act 1: Genesis 1900's -1990's' (21st
Century Blues) is inspired in part by the 'O Brother movie. Read the
liner notes here.

Wed 20th (& Mon 25th) Jeff & Vida
http://www.jeffandvida.com
12 Bar Club, Denmark Place, W1

Described as New Orleans' answer to Nashville's Gillian Welch and
David Rawlings , acoustic duo Jeff Burke and Vida Wakeman blend
various forms of American roots music, such as old-time country and
Appalachian bluegrass with original songs invoking stark images of
heartache and hard times in the American landscape, delivered with
emotional conviction and musical prowess. Their debut CD, 'One
Horse Town', features appearances by some of Southwest Louisiana's
finest acoustic musicians.

Thur 21st Kings of Convenience
http://www.kingsofconvenience..com/
Union Chapel, Islington

As with 'Turin Brakes' (see above), another young acoustic duo up for
the title of 'next big thing', according to Leagues O'Toole in Muse
Online Magazine who describes the Norwegians Erlend Øye and Eirik
Glambek Bøe's latest album 'Quiet Is The New Loud' (Source/
Astralwerks) as "A trickle of Belle and Sebastian, a whole heap of
Simon and Garfunkel, [and] a sprinkling of Donovan.

Sat 23rd John Martyn & Danny Thompson
http://surf.to/john.martyn
http://www.grunthos.demon.co.uk/danny_thompson.htm
Ocean, Hackney, E8 0207 314 2800
also Sun 24th Shepherds Bush Empire 0207 771 2000

Billed as 'The Sunshine Boys Tour' this will be the first time since their
1986 tour that John and ex-Pentangle double-bass player Danny
Thompson have toured together. To mark the event, Voiceprint have
just brought out two new releases, both taken from that brief reunion
tour - 'Live in Germany 1986' and 'Live at Kendal 1986'. Also, a new
documentary film about John, 'Tell Them I'm Somebody Else' , has just
been released. According to Record Collector Magazine, "Now a
shambling bear of a man ....universes away from the Dylan-like waif,
that first wowed the London folk clubs in '68, Martyn is still a
passionate player and singer injecting songs such as "Cocaine Lil",
"Can Can" and the Nick Drake eulogy "Solid Air" with genuine humour
and pathos".

Sun 24th Kate Rusby
http://www.katerusby.com/
Queen Elizabeth Hall

Final date in a UK tour with her all-star band - fiddler John McCusker,
accordion player Andy Cutting, flautist Michael McGoldrick, guitarist
Ian Carr and bass player Andy Seward, before flying across the pond
to Canada in July to play at this year's Mariposa, Winnipeg and
Vancouver Folk Festivals, followed by dates in Seattle, San Francisco
and Santa Cruz. A past member of both 'Equation' (which grew out of
her original duo with Kathryn Roberts) and 'The Poozies', Kate
subsequently released two highly acclaimed solo albums, 1997's
'Hourglass' and 1999's 'Sleepless', the latter winning BBC Radio 2's
'Folk Album of the Year' Award. Her new album 'Little Lights' (Pure
Records in the UK - Compass Records in North America) includes
guest appearances by Tim O'Brien, Darryl Scott, Alison Brown ,
Danny Thompson and Eddi Reader amongst many others.

Sun 24th Laura Cantrell
http://www.dieselonly.com/breaker.html
The Borderline, W1 - 020 7734 2095

US country singer songwriter. According to Rolling Stone,"As the host
of the best country radio show in the New York area, the weekly
Radio Thrift Shop on WFMU (91.1-FM), Laura Cantrell plays the
kind of records - honest and simple, dirty and sweet -- that Nashville
used to make. Now she's made one of her own. Cantrell's debut
album, 'Not the Tremblin' Kind', is an austere beauty, a record of such
graceful hill-country minimalism -- sturdy acoustic picking, whispered
rhythm, tart electric and pedal steel guitar -- that you can hear every
ounce of sorrow and steel in Cantrell's strong, direct voice....On the
radio, Cantrell plays country music the way it used to be. On 'Not the
Tremblin' Kind', she sings it the way it oughta be."

Wed 27th & Thur 28th Hubert Sumlin
http://www.hubertsumlin.com/
The Borderline, W1 - 020 7734 2095

Howling Wolf's legendary former lead guitarist returns for a 2 day blues
extravaganza. Born in Greenwood, Mississippi in 1931, his first gig was
as a fill-in guitarist for harp player James Cotton. Both men went on to
become major players in the Chicago blues community, both sharing
time with Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters. However, it was Hubert's
association with Wolf that helped him make his mark in the blues world
and music history. "In Hubert's music you hear the acoustic stylings of
the delta meshed with the loud excitement and bright lights of Chicago
and Memphis, combined with the artistry of Charley Patton, Robert
Johnson, Pat Hare, Son House and Howling Wolf. Sumlin brought
these influences to the next level, creating his own exceptional sound.
His tone and intensity were instantly identifiable."

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