More great guitarists booked
Adding to an impressive list of guitar players which already includes jazz and blues legend Woody Mann and Nancy Grifiths’ sideman Pete Kennedy we have now confirmed West Midlands guitar maestro Madi Stimpson who plays anything from Charlie Parker to Chet Atkins and Mozart and Dorset based singer songwriter and fine fingerstyle and lap steel guitarist Alex Roberts.
Hicks & Goulbourn and Maniere des Bohemiens added
Manière des Bohémiens
Two of our favourite local acts will be making a welcome return over the weekend, ace guitarist Steve Hicks with partner Lynn Goulbourn and gypsy jazz band Manière des Bohémiens
JC & Angelina, The Dovetail Trio and The Tundra added to bill
J.C. & Angelina
Brother and sister duo JC & Angelina from the Isle of Wight, who specialize in old time jazz, country and blues have been added to the line-up for Friday and Saturday. Also performing Friday and Saturday is English trad. threesome The Dovetail Trio, comprising Jamie Roberts, Rosie Hood and Matt Quinn.. Three piece progressive folk trio The Tundra from South Wales have been added to the weekend line-up
BBC Award Winners Play Southwell This Summer
Three prize-winning acts acclaimed at the recent BBC Folk Awards 2014 are set for the Southwell Folk Festival this summer, confirming its place as one of England’s best annual music events.
Alongside Bella Hardy, who won the coveted Best Folk Singer award, there’s also Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar who collected the Horizon Award, and rising stars the Mischa Macpherson Trio who were named Young Folk Artists Of The Year.
BBC Young Folk Award Winners, The Mischa Macpherson Trio
The Southwell music event (June 5th to 8th) is clearly going from strength to strength having received a prestigious Festival of the Year award from influential Fatea magazine. It’s even been described as “the biggest little folk festival in Britain”.
Headline acts will include The Bills from Canada’s West Coast and Scotland’s Treacherous Orchestra, an eleven piece roots supergroup who were nominated for Best Act in the BBC awards. Vin Garbutt and Martyn Joseph will be making welcome returns to Southwell and, commemorating the centenary of the Great War, there’s also the premiere of A Day’s Work, Mick Ryan’s folk opera. Plus The Sojourners, a much-acclaimed gospel trio from Vancouver, will bring something soulful and different to Nottinghamshire.
Other top line performers include the Ross Ainslie & Jarlath Henderson Big Band, jazz and blues guitar legend Woody Mann, American duo The Kennedys and Jools Holland favourite, boogie-woogie pianist Ben Waters. The young Huddersfield “sci-fi folk” band Maia have also been added to an already eclectic line-up.
Early Bird tickets are still available until midnight this Friday February 28th from http://www.southwellfolkfestival.org.uk/
Maia added to line-up
Alternative young, acoustic 4 piece band Maia have been added to the weekend bill. Expect gentle melodies, eclectic material and a great stage presence.
Southwell Folk Festival 2014 – “International Feast of Folk and Roots Music”
The line-up for this year’s Gate to Southwell Folk Festival (June 5-8 2014) is almost complete and, yet again, promises an international feast of folk and roots music.
Headline acts will include The Bills – the award-winning acoustic folk roots quintet from Canada’s West Coast, internationally acclaimed for their panoramic, mischievous, fiercely unpretentious sound – and Scotland’s Treacherous Orchestra, stars of the Shrewsbury Folk Festival last year. Already one of the most entertaining acts on the festival circuit, this 10 piece roots supergroup (featuring fiddles, flutes, banjos, bagpipes and drums) were nominated for the Best Group in the 2013 BBC Folk Awards.
Plus there’ll be the acclaimed all-female folk band The Poozies and the extraordinary, ever-changing 20-years-young Feast of Fiddles, an outfit starring fiddling legends such as Phil Beer (Show of Hands), Ian Cutler (Fairport collaborator), Peter Knight (Steeleye Span), Chris Leslie (Fairport & Whippersnapper). As one reviewer quipped, “they look like geography teachers, they play like angels”.
One of the most popular acts on the folk scene, Vin Garbutt will be making an overdue and very welcome return and there’s also the premiere of A Day’s Work, Mick Ryan’s fifth folk opera which will open the festival on the Thursday night.
Since winning the Best Original Song award for ‘The Herring Girl’ at the 2012 Folk Awards, Bella Hardy has become one of the major attractions on the British festival circuit. Mojo magazine celebrated her debut album ‘Night Visiting’ and R2 described her 2009 LP ‘The Shadow Of The Mountains’ as simply “stunning”. From Edale in Derbyshire, Bella and her band The Midnight Watch will be making their first appearance at the Southwell Folk Festival 2014, by which time she may well have won the Folk Singer of the Year award!
Confirming the growing international pull of the Southwell festival, the organisers are flying in The Sojourners, a much acclaimed gospel trio originally from Texas, Louisiana and Michigan but now based in Vancouver. As leader Marcus Moseley explains, “this is real gospel, blessed with a soul that can’t be faked. It’s music for the sinners or the saved, no matter where you are on your spiritual journey!” The Sojourners have worked with such eminent artists such as the Dixie Hummingbirds, Dr John and The Blind Boys of Alabama so they’re bound to bring something original and different to Nottinghamshire.
Over the last seven years, the festival has grown to become the premier roots music and dance event in the East Midlands, guaranteeing more than 40 top quality performers over four days.
In addition to returning folk stars such as The Henry Girls and the excellent award-winning Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar, the festival will also showcase major performers including Martyn Joseph and Stewart Henderson, acclaimed young Irish band Caladh Nua, American guitar legend Woody Mann, The Ross Ainslie & Jarlath Henderson Big Band, The Ben Waters Band plus the mainstays of Nanci Griffiths’ band, The Kennedys, who will be performing with British songstress Edwina Hayes.
Other acts so far confirmed include Polly & The Billets Doux, Blackbeard’s Tea Party, Jeff Warner, the Liam Robinson Dance Band, Keith Donnelly, Estonian duo Kadri Laube and Marju Varblane, the BeauBowBelles, Skippers Alley, Hatful Of Rain, the Maccaferri Club, plus the UK’s latest folk-singing sensation, 15-year-old GraceSarah from Cambridge.
As previous visitors to the folk festival will testify, if you want to enjoy the best of folk and roots music or simply dance the nights away, Southwell is the place to be from June 5 to 8.
Early Bird reduced price tickets are now on sale for the event which, in addition to three days of international quality music and dance, promises a beer and cider festival, workshops, children’s entertainment and pub sessions throughout the town. Tickets are available online – www.southwellfolkfestival.org.
Feedback and dates for next year
Please go to the ‘Get Involved’ tab to send in your online feedback form.The festival will take place over the weekend of the 6th-8th June 2014. We will post here very soon if we decide to include Thursday 5th June
Big Top Up – Weather Glorious and Looking Good
The site build has started with our brand new cosy sized big top up and looking brilliant!
GREAT FOLK HEAD FOR SOUTHWELL
Five thousand visitors are expected to attend this summer’s Gate to Southwell Folk Festival in Nottinghamshire bringing a welcome boost to the local economy.
Some of the best artists from the British and International Celtic, folk and roots music scenes will be performing on the site (near Southwell’s National Trust Workhouse) between June 6th and 9th including multi-award-winning headline acts such as Oysterband, Show of Hands, Home Service, Eliza Carthy & Jim Moray, Roddy Woomble and, from Canada, Genticorum and Gordie MacKeeman & His Rhythm Boys.
Alongside these established acts, the Midlands’ premier music event has also attracted bright new talent like BBC Folk Award winners Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar, Luke Jackson and Jess Morgan, who’s been championed by BBC DJ Steve Lamacq. Derby-born Lucy Ward – the singer /songwriter guitarist and concertina player, who featured on the BBC’s Inside Out – returns to Southwell by popular demand.
Also on the bill, there’s the newly-reformed Faustus, British folk’s best double act Tim Edey & Brendan Power and the award-winning Rura from Scotland. Ireland is well represented by multi-instrumentalist Niamh Ni Charra, sibling trio The Henry Girls and in-demand guitarist John Doyle.
Plus there’ll be many other eclectic acts such as the Derby-based acoustic collective The Open Road, Western swing combo Rip Roaring Success, fine purveyors of Celtic & English traditional folk like Newcastle’s Chloe’s Passion and Liverpool’s Galloway Culbert & Doyle, and the prohibition-era decadent jazz-swing sound of The Chuck Pinkett Quintett.
In addition to ceilidhs, musicians’ workshops and puppet shows, this family-friendly, volunteer-run community festival also promises a beer and cider festival, craft and food stalls, street theatre, sculpture in the woods and a children’s festival.
Guaranteed to provide a great long weekend of music, song, dance and fun, at the Workhouse site and other locations throughout Southwell, tickets are selling fast but still available via the website – http://www.southwellfolkfestival.org.uk/- For more information call 01636 816678.
