Brit Folk

The Watersons, Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, Kate Rusby, Jake Bugg, The Unthanks

Review: The Young’uns “Strangers”

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The north-east of England boasts an enviably rich seam of fine folk musicians, past and present. Artists as diverse as the late Vin Garbutt, Alex Glasgow and The Unthanks have all found universal acclaim with songs that are steeped in particular local detail. Perhaps the one thing that links them is their ability to be both intensely personal and unabashedly political, often in the same stroke, a quality that reflects the area’s rich working-class industrial heritage, its bleak natural beauty and the hardships and joys that those things bring.

Teessiders The Young’uns are the latest in a long line of hugely talented singers and musicians to bring the singular, distinctive sound of the region to a wider audience. The trio – singer-songwriter Sean Cooney and singers Michael Hughes and David Eagle – have been around for a while now. Strangers is their fourth album, and they have been a popular feature on the folk circuit for a decade, but in the last two or three years their appeal has deservedly blossomed, thanks to rave reviews [ . . . ]

Read Full Review: The Young’uns: Strangers (Featured Album Review) | Folk Radio UK

Richard Thompson: Acoustic Classics II | Folk Radio UK

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It’s a great idea, cataloguing Richard Thompson’s substantial material into stripped back acoustic versions as a collection; the songs themselves are of such high quality that they’ll be around forever, and we all know that Thompson is a hugely accomplished guitarist. His career is a frightening one, spanning five decades thus far, starting in 1967 with Fairport Convention when the guitarist was in his late teens. We can be thankful then for a compilation series of Thompson’s output and also interested in hearing the songs in a contemporary setting. It’s a reassuring and accessible run so far and a very useful gateway for anybody looking to familiarise themselves with some of the most important song writing in modern British folk history [ . . . ]

Read Full Review at: Richard Thompson: Acoustic Classics II | Folk Radio UK

Offa Rex On World Cafe

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Portland, Ore.’s The Decemberists and British singer-songwriter Olivia Chaney have teamed up to cover traditional English (and Irish and Scottish) folk songs under the name Offa Rex.

It’s a match made in harpsichord heaven. Colin Meloy of The Decemberists has always dreamed of recording an album of British folk songs, and found the perfect English collaborator in Chaney. For Chaney, Meloy’s slightly-less-reverent American perspective was the push she needed to cover the traditional songs she loves.

As you’ll hear in my chat with Chaney and Meloy, the collaboration was definitely a balancing act — and it kind of still is. We’ll also talk about how the idea for an old-timey album began with a tweet.

This episode also features a performance by Offa Rex of “The Queen of Hearts,” recorded live on stage at the XPoNential Music Festival in Philadelphia.

Click link to listen:
https://www.npr.org/player/embed/552590978/552606181″>

Source: Offa Rex On World Cafe : World Cafe : NPR