A CURIOUS MIX OF BRITISH FOLK MUSIC AND AMERICAN POLITICS
The Watersons, Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, Kate Rusby, Jake Bugg, The Unthanks
“English folk music says everything I need to say and in the most glorious way. I don’t listen to newly written stuff. There are people who call themselves folk singers and they write half their own stuff, and I think, why? When you’ve got thousands of songs from hundreds of years behind you which is real folk music, why are you writing something yourself?”
READ FULL STORY at Source: Shirley Collins: “I’m a conduit… I understand this music better than anybody else” – Uncut
Eliza Carthy first assembled the Wayward Band in 2013 in order to explore and celebrate her long and varied career in folk music; ‘the last truly underground music scene’.To do this Eliza put together a team of hugely talented people from across the UK, and set out on the road to promote her ‘Best Of’ compilation, Wayward Daughter (Topic Records), which coincided with a biography of the same name.Since then the band has become a festival favourite, and Eliza has been awarded the MBE for services to folk music.
Source: Folk legend Eliza begins a new UK tour with Bury St Edmunds show – Newmarket Journal
Folk duo The Unthanks win album of the year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, while Joan Armatrading receives a lifetime achievement prize.
The Unthanks have won album of the year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for the ambitious, melancholy Mount The Air.
The record, which received a host of five star reviews, is notable for its 10-minute title track, which marries a traditional Dorset folk song with Miles Davis-inspired trumpet figures.
The band closed the ceremony, at London’s Royal Albert Hall, by playing the song, complete with clog dancing.
Source: The Unthanks win best album at Folk Awards – BBC News
“John Peel has a show on Number One [Radio 1] on which he plays the latest gramophone records,” says Ivor Cutler “He put one of my records on, and a few days later there was a cloud of envelopes coming in. But some people like Cutler, and some people don’t. […] One man called in and said ‘Hey! Get rid of that guy! He’s driving me nuts and his voice is making my wife’s hair stand on end!'”
Scottish poet, humorist and songwriter Ivor Cutler performs his touching, absurd short poems in a gentle Scottish burr. He recorded a total of 21 Peel sessions between 1969 and 1991. ‘I gained a whole new audience thanks to Peel,’ said Cutler. ‘Much to the amazement of my older fans, who find themselves among 16-to-35s in theatres, and wonder where they come from.’ – Keeping It Peel