London Gigs
Thur 5th Mouse
http://stage.vitaminic.co.uk/mouse2/
+ Charlotte Greig
http://www.charlottegreig.com
12 Bar Club
Mouse are a young new acoustic duo featuring Nick Marshall and Martha Tilston
(daughter of renowned English singer songwriter and acoustic guitarist, Steve
Tilston - see 22nd below). According to this live review on Net
Rhythms, "Charismatic Martha is very much her own woman, a natural
performer and confident spellbinder. Mouse songs have a unique quality which,
although drawing on 'the tradition', haunt one with their individuality - a
combination of hesitancy and assurance. Martha's vocals, a sweet and gentle
vibrato, implore and seduce. Nick's fingerstyle guitar accompaniment and backing
vocals work wonderfully well, giving their songs a laid-back cohesion and purity."
Their self- produced debut CD is "Helicopter Trees".
Charlotte Greig is a traditional singer from Wales, with, according to
Folk Roots, "A series of albums
that are redefining the parameters of British folk music." Her second album
'Down in the Valley', according to The Oberserver, explores "the English
folk tradition from a minimalist and modernist stance. Set to wheezing harmonium
and delivered with a pure, melodic voice, Greig's songs entwine field and forest,
love and loss...gently haunting and often plain lovely. Her latest album, 'At
Llangennith', includes the famous traditional ballad 'Willie O'Winsbury', which,
Charlotte says in the song notes, "provided the inspiration for the album,
being a tale of reward, rather than punishment, for sexual joy - a rare moment
of liberalism in English folk music."
Thur 5th The Portsmouth Shantymen
http://dspace..dial.pipex.com/alan.j.hardy/Pompies/
Hale End Folk Club, E4 020
8503 3484
Unaccompanied sea shanties from "the pride of Portsmouth". Formed in 1978, the current line-up includes founding members Brian Ingham, Nick Gough and Sooty Broughton, with Pete Luscombe. Whilst mainly concentrating on shanties and songs of the sea, they also include a wide variety of land based songs in their current repertoire.
Sun 8th Jez Lowe
http://www.jezlowe.com
Cabbage Patch, Twickenham 020 8866 2621
Described by Richard Thompson as "the best songwriter to come out of England in a long time", Jez hails from the North East of England, and is best known for his songs describing the mining culture, society and people of the area, which have been covered by the likes of Fairport Convention, The Tanahill Weavers, The Black Family, The Dubliners, Gordon Bok, Cherish the Ladies, Bob Fox and a host of other acts in America, Canada, Australia and the UK. His latest album 'Jez Lowe Live at the Davy Lamp' (Tantobie) is Jez's 11th album, an 'enhanced' double CD containing 22 tracks recorded live at the Davy Lamp Folk Club in Washington, Tyne & Wear in England in May 2000.
Mon 9th Lee Collinson
http://www.leecollinson.co.uk
Croydon Folk Club 020 8698
5322
One of Britain's finest acoustic guitarists and singers playing traditional and contemporary folk to bottleneck interpretations of modern rock and blues. A finalist for two years running in the BBC's Young Tradition Award, Folk Roots said of his highly-acclaimed second album 'Slip the Driver a Fiver' (Fledg'ling Records), "Cover me in vinegar and call me a fish supper if this doesn't put Collinson in the big league" whilst calling him "a fabulous guitar player in the Martin Simpson mould, and a soulful and expressive singer to boot" His latest album 'Breathless', features traditional instrumentals, blues and Lee's arrangements of modern compositions by song writers such as Tom Waits and Rosie Green.
Mon 9th Bob & Gill Berry
http://hometown.aol.co.uk/potfolk/myhomepage/business.html
Herga Folk Club, Wealdstone
01923 250640
Principal organisers of 'Wiltshire Traditions', an organisation that researches, collects, collates, and re-enacts traditional music, song, customs and traditions of the County of Wiltshire Their music is based on traditional & contemporary folk song using guitars, concertina, mandolin and bouzouki to accompany their full harmony sound.
Wed 11th Billy Bragg & The Blokes
http://www.billybragg.co.uk/
Blackheath Halls
Tonight's show will feature songs from Billy's forthcoming album as well as critically acclaimed Woody Guthrie songs from 'Mermaid Avenue' and Mermaid Avenue II. 'Man In The Sand', a 90-minute feature-length documentary on the making of the Grammy-nominated albums was recently released on DVD and video in the States. Shot over two years, the film follows Billy as he searches for the spirit of Woody Guthrie in Oklahoma, New York and the Texas Panhandle. The film is narrated by Woody's daughter, Nora, who opens the archive of her father's unpublished works and asks Billy to write new tunes for the lost songs. At the end of this months Billy heads across the pond for dates in the US and Canada.
Thur 12th Carol Elizabeth Jones & James Leva
http://www.jonesandleva.com/
Hale End Folk Club
UK tour for the Virginia-based duo known for their classic original songs, spine-tingling duets, foot-stomping Appalachian fiddle tunes and tender, catchy portraits of love and life. James is an award-winning old-time fiddler, influenced by the legendary fiddler Tommy Jarrell, whilst Carol Elizabeth was influenced by old-time ballad singers Berzilla and Doug Wallin, whom she often visited in North Carolina, and The Coon Creek Girls and Patsy Montana, among others. Sing Out! Magazine describes their latest album 'Vertie's Dream' (Copper Creek) as having "A healthy respect for and grounding in traditional, old-time country music, superb musicianship, a magical vocal blend and a sensitive, literate style of writing - One of the most refreshing traditional sound recordings of original material to be released in years."
Sun 15th Bill Jones
http://www.brickwallmusic.com
Old Bull Arts Centre, Barnet
Young Sunderland-based traditional singer, Bill (short for Belinda) is joined tonight by former House Band fiddle and guitar player, Roger Wilson prior to their performance together at this year's Cambridge Festival at the end of the month. Winner of the Horizon Award for Best Newcomer at this year's BBC Radio 2 folk awards on the strength of her highly regarded debut album 'Turn to Me' (Bedspring Music), Bill's voice has been likened to Ann Briggs and Kate Rusby. Her recently released follow-up album, 'Panchpuran' (Brick Wall Music) - a Hindi expression that literally means five spices - includes guest appearances by Coope Boyes & Simpson, Kathryn Tickell and Kellie While. According to Colin Irwin in Folk Roots, "it's immediately obvious that Bill Jones is the genuine article, a gifted performer of mainly traditional song whose relative inexperience or schooling in the conventional treatment of this music enables her to take risks without appearing to do so...This is an album of pace and shade and considered structure... with Karen Tweed giving a match-winning performance at the production desk."
Sun 15th Rick Townend and Rosie Davies
http://www.btinternet.com/~hoebv/bgex.htm
Cecil Sharp House, NW1
Bluegrass day at Cecil Sharp House featuring two members of UK band 'Bluegrass Experience'. Rosie learned Lancashire clog-dance in the 60s and Appalachian in the 80s and is now one of the UKs foremost exponents, having given workshops all over the country and in Holland. In 1996 she was voted vocalist of the year by the British Bluegrass Music Association. Since 1998 she has been a member of supergroup 'Sisters Unlimited' with Janet Russell, Peta Webb and Sandra Kerr. Rick, who plays 5 string banjo, guitar, fiddle mandolin, dobro, autoharp and bass. He is also the South East Area Representative for the British Bluegrass Music Association.
Tue 17th Slàinte Mhath
http://www.slaintemhath.com
Purcell Room
Originally formed in 1994, this quintet are now regarded as Cape Breton's hottest young Celtic band. Pronounced 'Slawn-cha Va', meaning "good health to you" in Gaelic, their unique, progressive Celtic sound is achieved partially through the use of a variety of unusual instruments, including Latin percussion, reel pipes and even a sewer pipe! The band consists of pianist Ryan and fiddler/bazouki player Boyd MacNeil, younger brothers of the famous Barra MacNeils, along with piper John MacPhee, fiddler, stepdancer and bodhran player Lisa Gallant and drummer Brian Talbot. Describing a recent performance the Glasgow Herald said "flying bagpipe tunes, fizzing fiddle reels, complete with Stax-style funky guitar rhythms, a percussion-dominated finale which took in an African groove and a nimbly co-ordinated six-footed step dance routine."
Fri 20th Gjallarhorn
http://www.gjallarhorn.com/
Queen Elizabeth Hall
World music with roots in the Swedish folk music of Finland, whose debut album 'Ranarop - Call of the Sea Witch (Warner Finlandia Innovator - Northside in US) is described in this Folk Roots feature as having "strong melodies, the assured energy in its gutty combination of fiddle, viola, didgeridoo and drums with the clear, grace-noting and microtonal poised beauty of Jenny Wilhelms' singing." Of their latest album, 'Sjofn' (an enhanced CD including two videos) named for an ancient Scandinavian goddess who awakens love and passion between people) Sing Out! magazine says "Even though all the instruments used are acoustic, the hand percussion rocks hard and the didgeridoo creates boingy-boingy drones underneath the vocals, mandola, violin, and hardanger fiddle. From those acoustic instruments Gjallarhorn creates a dramatic and distinctive "wall of sound". And over it all is Jenny Wilhelm's outstanding singing. Sweet and melodic yet powerful enough to shine above the buzzing didg, strings and percussion."
Sat 21st Yat-Kha
http://www.yat-kha.com
Purcell Room
From Tuva, South Siberia, fronted by the ultra-bass Kargiraa voice of Albert Kuvezin who first came to prominence when he performed at the Alma-Aty festival "Voices of Asia" in 1990. One particular judge - Brian Eno - was so astonished that he made up a special prize on the spot for Albert's unique double-bass voice and its mixture of thunderous growling and high harmonics. Exploring the borders between Tuvan traditional instruments, throat-singing (khoomei) and western rock, their latest album is 'Aldyn Dashka' (the golden cup) and last year the band toured the US as special guests of The Chieftains (See this Concerted Efforts biography).
Sun 22nd Steve Tilston
http://www.steve-tilston.co.uk/
Cabbage Patch, Twickenham 020 8866 2621
Described by Living Tradition Magazine as "an absurdly accomplished singer/songwriter and guitarist who, for years without number, has drawn from the tradition and replenished it with five-star classics like "Slip Jigs and Reels" and "Here's to Tom Paine". Still renowned for his partnership with fine traditional singer Maggie Boyle, both as a duo and as members of 'Ship of Fools' with John Renbourn and Tony Roberts, in recent years Steve has been performing solo, his most recent album being 1999's 'The Greening Wind' (Hubris Records). Colin Harper, writing in Q Magazine, said "The man is, in short, not only one of life's good guys but a consistent deliverer of the goods, a dry wit, a quietly compelling performer and as a songwriter, guitarist and singer one of England's best kept secrets."
Tue 24th & Wed 25th CPR
(featuring David Crosby, Jeff Pevar and James Raymond)
http://www.crosbycpr.com/
Jazz Cafe
First European tour promoting their latest (second) album 'Just Like Gravity' (Gold Circle Records) - See the David Crosby feature in this month's UK News section.
Tue 24th Slaid Cleaves
http://www.slaid.com
+ Stewboss
http://www.stewboss.com/
The Borderline, W1 020 7734 2095
Slaid is a past winner of the prestigious "New Folk" competition
at the Kerrville Folk Festival. His 1997 debut album 'No Angel Knows' (Philo)
received widespread accolades. According to Entertainment Weekly, reviewing
his latest album 'Broke Down' (Philo), "The sparse, roots-country sound
of Cleaves' second album precisely mirrors the forsaken lives and godforsaken
landscapes of his songs."
"Roots rock, Americana, and tender, supple country" from Stewboss,
led by singer songwriter Gregg Sarfaty, whose debut album 'Wanted a Girl' has
been described as "a gem of an album" by The
Music Box Online.
Wed 25th Ron Sexsmith
http://www.ronsexsmith.com
Mean Fiddler
Acclaimed Canadian songwriter, said to be inspired by the music of Tim Hardin and other 60's singer songwriters. His 1995 self-titled debut, produced by Mitchell Froom was described by the LA Times as "a heartwarming debut whose seductiveness is based on its simplicity and craft." His latest (4th) album 'Blue Boy' (Europe andAustralia: Cooking Vinyl ; US: spinArt Records ; Canada: Linus) is produced by 'The Twangtrust' of Steve Earle and Ray Kennedy. According to the LA Times "As before, his best work combines the lyrical sophistication of Costello and the intimacy and detail of John Prine."
Wed 25th & Thur 26th Richard Thompson
http://www.amug.org/~deeg1225/
Union Chapel
Just back from an extensive US tour promoting his latest 19 track compilation album 'Action Packed - The Best of the Capitol Years'. "Hailed as a great folk-rock romanticist for his dark wit and sardonic lyrics and admired for his biting guitar playing, Thompson has been cited as an influence by many of today's top artists." His songs have been recorded by a wide spectrum of artists including Bonnie Raitt, Nanci Griffith, Linda Ronstadt, Elvis Costello, Shawn Colvin, and, most recently, Kate Rusby, amongst many others. A critics' favorite for more than thirty years starting with his days in the pioneering British folk/rock group Fairport Convention. After leaving the band in 1971, Richard went on to write and record a series of stunning albums with his then-wife Linda, including 1973's classic 'I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight' (which Rolling Stone voted one of the best albums of the past 30 years) and 1982's stripped-down 'Shoot Out The Lights', "a record that has no contemporary equal," according to Time magazine. With a new 'Official Richard Thompson Website' due to be launched shortly, Richard talks about this, the new 'Action Packed' compilation and his plans to record a children's album "definitely next year" in this recent interview with Andy Graham in the Bloomington Indiana Herald- Times.
Wed 25th Country Joe McDonald
http://www.countryjoe.com/
The Borderline, W1 - 020 7734 2095
Brief UK tour promoting 2 new albums (see below). According to Joel Selvin, in this 1994 biography, "After 31 albums and more than a quarter century in the public eye as a folksinger, Country Joe McDonald qualifies as one of the best known names from the '60's rock scene still performing...McDonald released the first 'Country Joe and the Fish' record, containing an agit-prop folk version of "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag" on Rag Baby in October 1965, in time for the Vietnam Day Teach-In, a massive anti-war protest organized in Berkeley, California. Within months the nascent folk group had exchanged their acoustic instruments for electric, plugged in and were playing the burgeoning San Francisco psychedelic ballroom scene at the Avalon and Fillmore." But it was the solo performance of his rag, including the infamous "Gimme an F!" cheer, that was to become the anthem of the Woodstock generation at the legendary 1969 Festival, when it was featured in the subsequent film. (see lyrics/tab, listen in RealAudio, and read Country Joe's stories about the rag here). Today he "remains a thriving, working musician who travels the world and continues to sell records" - his 1995' album 'Carry On' was described as "a remarkable return to his folk roots" and he has just released two new albums - a solo acoustic studio album called 'www.countryjoe.com', 20 songs and instrumentals spanning 30 years, and also a limited edition CD, 'I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Sing...', an intimate live album that was originally broadcast as an internet concert.
Wed 25th La Bottine Souriante
http://www..millepattes.com/Anglais/bottine/index.html
Queen Elizabeth Hall 020 7960 4242
Sun 29th Kenny Young & The Eggplants
http://www.quixoticrecords.net/eggplants.html
Ronnie Scott's
An oddball semi-acoustic trio from New York who play idiosyncratic songs about giant squirrels, scary bits of cheese, and finding Elvis in a pizza, among other important rock and roll concerns. Various attempts to describe their music have been made, but perhaps the most entertaining quote comes from the New York Times, which said that "the Eggplants give eloquent voice to the multifaceted neurosis of prolonged adolescence." The band's initial connection to the UK was made through punk icon and ex-folkie Tom Robinson, who heard a demo tape and invited Kenny to play as a "special guest performer" at Tom's Edinburgh Fringe Festival shows and on a subsequent tour of Ireland. Their most recent CD is 'Toxic Swamp and Other Love Songs' (Quixotic Records)
Mon 30th Buddy Mondlock
http://www.buddymondlock.com
+ Tom Hingley
http://www.computerlove.co.uk/hosted/tomhingley/
The Borderline 020 7734 2095
Buddy is a top Nashville writer whose songs have been covered by the likes
of Nanci Griffith, Joan
Baez and Janis Ian. His latest album,
'Poetic Justice' includes guest artists Guy
Clark, Ellis Paul and Nanci Griffith,
who says "Buddy represents the best of the new generation of singer-songwriters
in folk music, ...he is one of my favorite new writers", whilst Peter Yarrow
of Peter, Paul & Mary, who
recorded his song 'The Kid' on their recent 'Lifelines' album, says, "with
writers like Buddy around I don't think we need to worry about the future of
folk music!"
Tom Hingley was previously lead singer with Inspiral
Carpets. His debut album 'Keep
Britain Untidy' is described as "an emotional and yet uplifting masterpiece
of pure musical intelligence. No need for complex mixes or backing, it's simply
one voice, one guitar and eleven beautiful songs."
Mon 30th Suzanne Vega
http://www.vega.net/
Shepherds Bush Empire
Final UK date on her current European tour following her headline appearance at this year's Cambridge Festival for the first time in ten years - an acoustic performance accompanied by her long-time bassist Michael Visceglia. Suzanne's recently completed new CD, originally announced as 'The Mother and The Matador', will now be called 'Songs In Red and Grey' (Interscope Records) and is due to be released later this year.
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