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Newsletter 23 February 2010 |
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Contact
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A
quick a reminder of our upcoming
shows… |
“Walsh's
songs have a fragility not heard since Kathryn Williams last picked up her
guitar.' Music
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Saturday 27 February |
Kate
Walsh |
Chequer
Mead |
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Monday 8 March |
Dave
Swarbrick |
Ravenswood,
Sharpthorne |
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Tuesday 23 March |
2010
BBC FOLK AWARDS BEST GROUP |
Chequer
Mead |
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Thursday 1 April |
Martin
Simpson |
Chequer
Mead |
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Monday 26 April |
Emily
Smith |
Ravenswood,
Sharpthorne |
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Saturday Support:
Jono Harrison £12 (£10
conc)
Click
here for News Release (PDF) |
Two years ago, 26 year old
Kate Walsh recorded her
breakthrough album, Tim’s House, in her producer’s bedroom for £500. It
became an iTunes sensation, knocking Take That from the No1 spot (the only
independent artist ever to have achieved the top spot). The song Talk of
the Town became Single of the Week in March 2007. Her career took a step
up from that time and she is regularly now featured in the music press and
radio. A graduate of the Brighton
Institute of Modern Music, pianist/guitarist Walsh has been likened to
singers such as Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush. She writes delicately
fragile, confessional songs that make the listener feel like a close
personal confidante as she bares her soul with sometimes shocking
candour. Musically, Walsh undoubtedly
falls into the category of ‘singer-songwriter’ - but one who adores
Debussy, studies cello, listens constantly to Classic FM (and little
else), bemoans the demise of vinyl and CDs, is entertainingly scathing
about the conventional music industry (”it’s fickle, selfish, impersonal
and backstabbing”). And she has established her own cottage industry to do
it her way. Of the title
track from the album, Walsh says: “It’s the saddest song I’ve ever written. It’s
about two men and they both heard it independently and knew it was about
them,”
she grimaces. “There was
a lot of trouble…it was awful going through it, but it’s a great song! I
think it’s one of my best songs ever.” One of the first
times she sang it in public – at Playing grand piano and guitar,
with cello accompaniment, you’d better lock up your hearts when she
appears at Chequer Mead on 27 February. “Several
leagues ahead of the Melua-factory female artists active in the UK”
BBC
Music “So
intimate, it's like peeking at your best friend's diary”
The
Guardian Support is from the
increasingly popular (and local to |
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“Kate
Walsh's story is more proof that the big record companies should start
being very afraid… this is a very special album from a very special
talent” OMH
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Monday at
The
Ravenswood Support: Dana & Susan
Robinson or ‘book now,
pay later’ on 01342 714810 |
Dave
Swarbrick first became a hero of the
British folk scene as as young instrumental virtuoso in the Ian Campbell
Folk Group. By 1967, he'd teamed up with Martin Carthy has a duo.
This remarkable pairing played an important part in the tremendous shake
up given to British folk music. When they split as a duo in
1969, 'Swarb' went off to join the finest line-up of the hugely
influential Fairport Convention and his contribution to folk/rock music is
legendary and well documented. In 1984 Swarb left Fairport
and, along with Kevin Dempsey, Chris Leslie and Martin Jenkins, formed
Whippersnapper, a group renowned for its drive and acoustic prowess.
In 1993, Swarb moved to
"The
intensity of Swarb's fiddling ensures that sparks fly, its very occasional
wheeziness only adding to the essence of spontaneity and conveying the
total conviction in his music-making" NetRhythms Support is from Dana and Susan Robinson, described by
Radio 2’s Mike Harding as “Authentic, rooted and fused with great music if
the past” “Outstanding” Froots |
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Tuesday at
Chequer
Mead Support: Matthew Ord £15 (£12
conc) Click
here for News Release (PDF) |
Three times
winners of Best Group at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
(including the 2010 awards announced on 1 February), Lau are a formidable trio of three of
the finest and most innovative exponents of modern traditional music in
Highly regarded musicians in
their own right, the combined talents of Kris Drever, Martin Green and
Aidan O’Rourke make for a fantastic and all-conquering trio. It is no
surprise they were once again triumphant at this year's BBC Folk
Awards. "Creative
and genre bursting" **** The
Scotsman "Lau
are so special’ **** The
Guardian “…quite
frankly the best band in the world right now” Channel
4 Music Support for this show is from
the brilliant guitarist and singer, Matthew Ord,
described by |
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Thursday at
Chequer
Mead Support: Emily Slade £15 (£12.50
conc) Click
here for News Release (PDF) |
There is no doubt that after 35
years as a professional musician Martin is, right now, better than ever.
Widely acknowledged as one of the finest acoustic and slide guitar players
in the world, his interpretations of traditional songs are masterpieces of
storytelling. His solo shows are intense, eclectic, spellbinding and
deeply moving. There is no-one who has more
successfully combined the diverse elements of British, Afro- American and
old-timey music than Simpson. His 15 years living in the
His career includes
collaborations on stage and record with June Tabor, Kelly Joe Phelps,
Jackson Browne, Danú, Martin Carthy, Cara Dillon, David Lindley, Roy
Bailey, Martin Taylor, David Hidalgo, Steve Miller, Dick Gaughan and many
more. Simpson is a very regular
nominee in the BBC Folk Awards having received Musician of the Year in
2002 and 2005, album of the year in 2002 and, most recently, Best
Traditional Track in the 2010 awards (in which he received an
unprecedented 6 nominations in 5 of the
categories). Whether playing American
old-time music, blues, a Dylan song or his own material, Martin Simpson is
unpredictable, individual and a guitarist of immense
subtlety. Although
it’s his guitar virtuosity that’s frequently lauded, it’s as an
interpreter of song that Martin Simpson really scores. Simpson delivers
narratives with colour and conviction. Fittingly be-gonged several times
at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Martin Simpson is taking his place, not
just as a hero for guitar-besotted acolytes but as one of the national
treasures of English traditional music." BBC
Radio 2 |
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Monday at
The
Ravenswood Support
tbc £11
advance only or ‘book now,
pay later’ on 01342 714810 |
Scots Singer of the Year 2008/9
Emily Smith has firmly established herself as a leading light in the folk
scene. Since winning the 2002 BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year
Award, she has now released four critically acclaimed albums, toured
extensively with her band on the international folk circuit and is
recognised not only as one of Scotland’s finest interpreters of
traditional song but also as a talented songwriter and
multi-instrumentalist. Her songwriting has not gone
without recognition – She became the first ever winner from Scotland in
the USA Songwriting Competition in 2005 after winning the folk section
with her song ‘Edward of Morton’, another of her songs ‘Always a Smile,’
about the life of her Polish grandmother, was short listed in the final
ten. Alongside her solo career Smith
has written, recorded and toured with artists from the folk scene and
beyond including Eddi Reader, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Karine Polwart, John
McCusker, David Scott and Phil Cunningham. She also appeared on the most
recent series of BBC’s Transatlantic Sessions (Series
4). “As
far as I’m concerned she can walk on water” Mike Harding, Radio
2 “Smith
could become to Scottish folk what Joni Mitchell is to its Californian
cousin” Q
Magazine “Smith
deserves to become yet another new folk celebrity”
The
Guardian |
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Don’t forget
that as well as our own shows, the Acoustic Sussex website has a
Regional Gig
Guide and links to
venues and clubs in the South East that offer folk, roots and acoustic
music – and our MySpace site
contains over 500 links to a variety of other MySpace ‘friends’ sites,
including musicians, venues, magazines and lots
more. |
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For
your
future diaries...
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Future 2010 dates in the
Acoustic Sussex programme include: Ø
16 September – Show of
Hands + Ella
Edmondsen Ø
October (date tbc)
Thea
Gilmore More
information can be found on our website: www.acousticsussex.org.uk. You
can also find us on MySpace (with samples from some of the artists
appearing) at: www.myspace.com/acousticsussex. If
you know anyone who you think may enjoy our events, please forward this
email to them. |
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