So this year’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards were the first to be made open to the public and the choice of venue was The Lowry in Salford. The choice of venue had its plus and minus points. It felt a very different affair compared to previous years, not helped by the formal seating arrangement of the theatre and the large number of empty seats…as a result of artist / public segregation. It was also disappointing that they didn’t choose to film the Young Folk Awards and instead had Mark Radcliffe doing the best he could whilst they transmitted footage of even emptier seats during the 25 minute break for the bar.

The plus point of the venue was that they could open it to the public for the first time.

The live performances on the night included Seth Lakeman, Tim Edy and Brendan Power, The Unthanks and the Brighouse and Rastrick Band, Martin Simpson, Chrsty Moore, June Tabor and Don McLean and The Dubliners who both received Lifetime Achievment Awards.

Martin Simpson opened the award to his footstompin’ Lakes of Ponchatrain from his Purpose and Grace album (review here). In terms of the biggst exposure on the night June Tabor and the Oysterband took three awards and June also received Folksinger of the Year Award.

The evening had more than a few emotional moments particularly for the Awards given to Bill Leader, Ian Campbell and The Dubliners.

For those that just want the short version, the winners are in bold:

FOLK SINGER OF THE YEAR

Jon Boden
Jackie Oates
Emily Smith
June Tabor

BEST DUO

Tim Edey & Brendan Power
Jonny Kearney & Lucy Farrell
Spiers & Boden
Marry Waterson & Oliver Knight

BEST GROUP

Bellowhead
The Home Service
June Tabor & Oysterband
The Unthanks

BEST ALBUM

Last – The Unthanks
Purpose & Grace – Martin Simpson
Ragged Kingdom – June Tabor & Oysterband
Saturnine – Jackie Oates

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

The Herring Girl – Bella Hardy
Last – Adrian McNally (performed by The Unthanks)
On Morecambe Bay – Kevin Littlewood (performed by Christy Moore)
The Reckoning – Steve Tilston

BEST TRADITIONAL TRACK

Bonny Bunch of Roses – June Tabor & Oysterband
Lakes of Ponchartrain – Martin Simpson
Maids When You’re Young – Lucy Ward
Sweet Lover of Mine – Emily Smith

HORIZON AWARD

Megan Henwood
Lady Maisery
Pilgrims’ Way
Lucy Ward

MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR

Andy Cutting
Tim Edey
Will Pound
Martin Simpson

BEST LIVE ACT

Bellowhead
The Home Service
Peatbog Faeries
The Unthanks

BBC RADIO 2 YOUNG FOLK AWARD

Sunjay Brayne
Blair Dunlop
Ioscaid
Graham Mackenzie

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

The Dubliners

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Don McLean

GOOD TRADITION AWARD

Ian Campbell

GOOD TRADITION AWARD

Bill Leader

ROOTS AWARD

Malcolm Taylor

The Event

And so for the longer version of the night:

Best Duo: Tim Edey and Brendan Power
The best Duo award went to Tim Edey and Brendan Power thanks to their Wriggle and Writhe album.

“Two blokes at the top of their mark: one of the world’s best melodeon players and one of the world’s best mouth organ players. An album absolutely chock full of totally brilliant music. I tell you, get it! It’s brilliant!” Mike Harding

Horizon Award: Lucy Ward

This was presented by Badly Drawn Boy…Damon Gough who had a lot of praise for the late Bert Jansch before presenting the award to Lucy Ward for Adelphi has to Fly.

Seth Lakeman then took to the stage to play Blacksmiths Prayer taken from his latest album Tales from the Barrel House.

Musician of the Year: Tim Edey

Cathy Jordan of Dervish presented the award to Tim. Taking to the stage for a second time led him to ask the audience “has anyone got a shot of valium? This was a real surprise…”. He was also mighty pleased it was Cathy Jordan presenting having worked with her in the past.

Best Live Act: The Home Service
Jon Tams took the award and announced that The Home Service are going to have another crack at it…he dedicated the ward to Howard Evans (1944-2006) who played with Homeservice as well as Brass Monkey..the pre-cursors to Bellowhead. Jon also paid tribute to the fact that Howard was also a strong Trade Unionist.

Roots Award: Malcolm Taylor

After a set by Tim Edy and Brendan Power, Billy Elliot playwright Lee Hall presented the Roots Award to a librarian. No ordinary librarian…Malcolm Taylor is the Director of the Vaughan Williams Memorial (VWML) Library at the English Folk Dance and Song Society. The man was clearly humbled by the award and menioned that “climbing Skiddaw is easier than standing up here”.

The Unthanks – King of Rome

Best Tradtional Track: June Tabor and The Oysterband

Comedian Jeremy Hardy presented the Best Tradtional Track Award to June Tabor and The Oysterband for Bonny bunch of roses which our reviewer Neil described as ‘galloping from the speakers like a messenger from the battlefield’ in his review of Ragged Kingdom back in September.

Lifetime Achievement Award – Don McLean
Paul Gambaccini presneted this award to Don McLean who went down a storm at Glastonbury last year. He went on to play ‘And I Love You So’, unfortunately his guitar was slightly out of tune…so not the best of starts but he made up for it on his second more upbeat (and with re-tuned guitar) ‘Homeless Brother’.

Young Folk Award: Ioscaid
It was after this performance that the awards went on hold for 25 minutes and Mark Radcliffe took over to present the nominees for the Young Folk Award.

Mark Radcliffe was in the Compass Room which was not televised, a real shame as it would have beaten looking at a half empty theatre!
Ioscaid performed Close Shave, a song learnt from Andy Irvine.

Blair Dunlop: sang a great song called Blight and Blossom which was based on a poem by Louis MacNeice…best performance I’ve heard so far.

Sunjay Brayne performed a poignant modern day song called Street Riot.

Graham Mackenzie performed a tune called Kitcheners Army followed by a set of reels…..

The Lovely Julie Fowlis joined Mike again to present the second half which was kicked off by The Unthanks and the Brighouse and Rastrick Band performing an arrangement by Adrian McNally.

Good Traditon Award: Bill Leader
Mike Harding showed his heart when introducing this award which was presented by Christy Moore to Bill Leader. This was not surprising as it was Bill that was personally responsible for revolutionising what was then a monopoly by the big labels. Read more about Bill Leader in our artcle here.

It was great that he was recieving this award and Christy gave a fine presentation, recalling the time that Bill recorded the first Planxty album and how he remembered Bill’s kindness and patience…a lot of drink was consumed he joked.

Bill was charming and joked: “It’s great when your name’s is in the frame..especially when it in a zimmer…”. It did get me wondering as to why these type of awards are left so late on in life and Bill also mentioned another great pioneer who is yet to recognised: Reg Hall…he ended with ‘his day will come’…ever the gentleman.

Best Album: June tabor and The Oysterband – Ragged Kingdom

The Best Album award was presented by Robin Denselow…the bus jokes were soon to come as June and the gang ascended the stage yet again…

Best Group: June tabor and The Oysterband
Christy Moore performed a deeply moving song called On Morecommbe Bay which was written by Kevin Littlewood. Steve Knightly presented the award to June and the Oysterband and gave a very good introductory speech which really did set the scene for those that may not have been aware of their history.

The band mentioned that Rolling Stone Magazine had said that June and the band were a match made in heaven…he quipped ‘they had not been at the planning meetings’.

Good Tradition Award: Ian Campbell
The Good Tradition Award was presented to Ian Campbell by Stuart Marconie…Stuart gave a great insight to Ian from another angle altogether. That of a working class political fighter. Ian was an active communist and even had his phone tapped by Special Branch…not the sort of thing you tend to hear about…

I again felt this was another late award…but better late than never as they say. He jokingly explained to the audience that they probably didn’t know who he was, this was a slight tongue in cheek reference to his sons the Campbell brothers who shot to fame as UB40 and whose top ten single outsold all of his 19 albums.

Best Original Song The Herring Girl – Bella Hardy / The Reckoning – Steve Tilston
Best Original Song category made history as there was a 50/50 split by the judges resulting in both Steve Tilston and Bella Hardy picking up an award. I love Steve Tilston’s work and it was great to see him get this award as he is often overlooked which he did joke about in his reference to wind erosion from standing still.

Folksinger of the year: June Tabor
June Tabor gave a lovely touching speech and mentioned that she had intended to learn an instrument but never had the ability to co-ordinate the left and right hand. She also explained that this award was not just for her…she was always part of a team, whether that was with the Oysterband, Andy Cutting or Martin Simpson (with whom she played for ten years and released a great classic: A Cut Above in 1980 on Topic). She also gave a big nod to Topic Records who got several mentions on the night.

Lifetime Achievment Award: The Dubliners
The final Lifetime Achievment Award was presented by Ralph McTell who read a letter from the Irish President which served to show that The Dubliners were more than just a folk group, they were a national emblem.

The evening finished with the Dubliners performing two songs: Dirty Old Town and Whiskey in the Jar….

And that is it for another year…

You can catch highlights of the night from 9pm on Thursday 9th Feb on the BBC red Button service.

Read about last year’s event: BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2011

English folk brother and sister duo Marry Waterson and Oliver Knight are giving away a previously unreleased song from their album sessions as a free download on Valentines Day. The track entitled “The 14th February” will be released exclusively through their Facebook page and website from February 14th but you can catch a snippet in this video made by Mary’s own fair hand:

You can also hear it here

Marry and Oliver are also nominated in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in the Best Duo category. The awards will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 2 and on the BBC’s Red Button Service from 7.30 – 10pm tonight (8th February)

Read our review of: The Days that Shaped Me

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For anyone that has seen OK GO music videos you’ll know that they are unique and inventive, some brim with creativity and gym equipment whilst others are right in the great egg race zone…their latest exploits are a cross between the latter and Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson will eat his hat for not coming up with this one.

Their new music video for Needing/Getting was made in partnership with the car manufacturer Chevrolet. All instruments are played either in the car or with the car using retractable pneumatic arms…1000 instruments are played over two miles of desert outside Los Angeles to be precise. The results below took 4 months of preparation and 4 days of shooting and recording.

There are no ringers or stand-ins; Damian took stunt driving lessons. Each piano had the lowest octaves tuned to the same note so that they’d play the right note no matter where they were struck.

Carrying on with their car theme they came up with what could potentially be their Stig in-car tape playlist:

“Little Willy” – Sweet
“Lies” – The Rolling Stones
“Life Is Good” – Los Lobos
“High On Your Love” – Kings Go Forth
“Everybody’s Talkin’” – Harry Nillson
“Popcorn” – Hot Butter
“You Make Loving Fun” – Fleetwood Mac
“Are You A Hypnotist??” – The Flaming Lips
“Tonight You Belong To Me” – Patience & Prudence
“Can You Get To That” – Funkadelic
“The Night They Drove Down Old Dixie Down (Alternate Mix)” – The Band
“Come And Get It” – Badfinger
“Good Times Roll” – The Cars

You can listen to it on Spotify here.

More about this and OK GO playlist competition here

HI54LOFI Records are releasing a Valentines Day Record Compilation titled ‘I Love You & Stuff’ which you can grab at Bandcamp on a ‘pay what you want’ model with a minimum of £3 which is an incredible bargain for 15 tracks! But this is a special album with an added bonus:

When you purchase the compilation, you will receive an immediate download in whatever format you desire AND… HI54LOFI Records will also send a physical Valentines Day card to the person of your choice (to anywhere in the world). And this is no regular Valentines Day card, it comes with a FREE download of the entire album. How cool is that?

But there is still more… they have made the compilation ‘pay what you want’ so that you have the option of sending out more than 1 Valentines Day card / FREE album download. If you pay £5, they will send out 2 Valentines Day cards to the people of your choice. For every £1 over the £5 mark, they will send 1 Valentines Day card on your behalf. So, if you pay £8: you get an immediate download of the album AND they will send a Valentines Day card / FREE download to 5 people!

Followers of the label will be very pleased to know there is a brand new Patrick Porter song (see our Bachelor Pad Blue… review) which he especially wrote for this compilation (and for his valentine of couse) titled U U U.

There are also two A Singer of Songs side projects: Bellybird and Shedding Feathers which is the debut Collaboration with Craven Canary.

Any newbies to the magic of HI54LOFI Records should read about them in our label feature here…then you should maybe spend some time over at HI54LOFI and get to know some of their artists. There isn’t another label like’em so why not do something a bit different this Valentine’s and help spread the word (and love of course)!

Grab the compilation here

BIG LOVE from the Label:

When I think of Valentines Day, my fondest memories of it are when I was a young chap, and didn’t really think about things like ‘love’. They were innocent times, and you’d give everyone in your class (even the ugly / stikny ones) a cute little card that asked them to be something neither of you were willing to commit to. It was easier to throw around words like ‘be mine forever’ back when forever meant, at tops, about a month. The older we got, the more complex things got. You either were forever alone or stressing out about another last minute stab at being romantic enough to make it through another year. And the cards stopped coming (except from Grandma).

This year, we hope we can help you recapture some of those warm and fuzzy feeling that Valentines Day once brought. So we’ve put together a digital box of 15 musical chocolates for you to not only gorge on yourself, but send it to everyone in your class (even the ugly / stinky ones), via a special Valentines Day Card.

The opening track is just a small taste of the diversity of talents that this album contains and features the lovely vocals of Kaila Abruzzo:

Listen in full:

Dig Deeper: hi54lofirecords.com

Domino records have unveiled the video to the new Eugene McGuiness single ‘Shotgun’. Like his video to ‘Lion’ it musters the same simple ingredients with no over-embellising or intricate plot required…they didn’t need to…the track alone sells it. His new album is out in June 2012! As is his style there’s little information floating around out there..

It must have been inspired by “Murder Weapon”, a classic dancehall hit from Jamaican-born Echo Minott who also inspired Tricky to do a re-working in 2010:

The original: Echo Minott

A Room for London is not a typical room by any stretch of the imagination. It can be found perched like a washed up riverboat from a catastophic flood on top of the Queen Elizabeth hall at the Southbank Centre. This temporary structure was commissioned by Living Architecture. The riverboat is named Roi des Belges after the boat upon which the author Joseph Conrad entered the Congo in 1890, a journey which later inspired his novel Heart of Darkness, which much later inspired Francis Ford Coppola’s cult classic Apocalypse Now.

It is a one bedroom installation that seeks to go beyond the mundane ordinary everyday existence to inspire the poetic and extraordinary through a carefully curated interiror:

There is a deck, a crow’s nest and a cabinet of visual curios – and a centerpiece bed which slides on rails to make the most of the views over London. Before departure, guests will be invited to fill in a logbook in the ‘bridge’ of the boat, detailing what they have experienced during their stay, out of the window as much as within themselves. An octagonal library with a carefully curated selection of books and twin desks looking out across the river enables visitors to use the Room as a remarkable studio space.

A number of artists and writers have been invited by Artangel to stay in the room each month during which they will use their time there to create new works or performances. Andrew Bird recently performed there which you can watch below. Other artists booked in include Wildbirds and Peacedrums in April.

(view in HD here)

Each month a different writer is also invited to stay for seven days to write a new work, a reading of which will be recorded in the octagonal library and boadcast as one of twelve installments of A London Address.

The author Juan Gabriel Vásquez was the first to record a reading on-board. Prior to his stay he explained:

“For any novelist, the prospect of working on the Roi des Belges would be intriguing; for a devotee of Conrad, it is nothing short of magical. The ghosts of Kurtz and Marlow will mingle with the million ghosts of London, which is not a city, but a metaphor. In my days on board, I hope to discover what it stands for.”

www.aroomforlondon.co.uk

Ben Howard has announced details of his biggest UK and Ireland tour for later this year. The tour gets under way on 2nd November at The Dome in Brighton, and concludes at London’s Brixton Academy on the 28th November, his biggest headline show to date.

Tickets are expected to go fast and will go on pre-sale from Wednesday 8th February at 9am, and then on general sale from Friday 10th February through http://tickets.benhowardmusic.co.uk/

Ben Howard releases his new single ‘The Wolves’ on the 27th February. It is taken from his debut album, ‘Every Kingdom’, out now on Island Records.

Buy Ben’s Album Every Kingdom

Tour Dates

2nd November – Brighton, The Dome
3rd November – Plymouth, Pavilions
4th November – Cardiff, University (Great Hall)
5th November – Bristol, Colston Hall
7th November – Dublin, Olympia
9th November – Belfast, Mandela Hall
10th November – Glasgow, O2 Academy
12th November – Manchester, Apollo
14th November – Leeds, O2 Academy
16th November – Newcastle, O2 Academy
17th November – Aberdeen, Music Hall
19th November – Cambridge, Corn Exchange
20th November – Lincoln, Engine Shed
21st November – Leicester, O2 Academy
22nd November – Nottingham, Rock City
24th November – Birmingham, O2 Academy
25th November – Bournemouth, O2 Academy
26th November – Southampton, Guild Hall
28th November – London, O2 Brixton Academy

Willy Mason to Support Ben Howard

This is not only great news for Ben to be undertaking such a high profile tour but also for Willy Mason who will be suporting Ben, this should give him a lot greater exposure in the UK & Ireland.

Willy Mason “Song About A Moth”

Bristol Folk Festival has relaunched its popular Isambard nationwide music award which will be jointly sponsored by Folk Radio UK and Songs from the Shed this year. The award will give one winner a high profile platform at the event this May – and much more!

Last year, organisers staged the inaugural contest to celebrate the first Bristol Folk Festival in 32 years with Welsh band Under the Driftwood Tree emerging as winners.

The 2012 Isambard Folk Award is a nod to Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the famous British engineer who designed the Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge and SS Great Britain. The award is open to UK-based performers of any age, it will give the winner a chance to appear on the same bill as acts of the calibre of Show of Hands, Cara Dillon, Karine Polwart and Afro Celt Sound System, this year’s headliners.

Three of the hottest award-nominated young acoustic roots acts in England have also been added to the already vibrant line-up – Derbyshire singer songwriter Lucy Ward, the hugely popular alt-country band ahab and singer, guitarist and actor Blair Dunlop of the new Albion Band, see the full Line up here.

Says festival co-organiser Jan Ayers:

“Last year we had scores of diverse, high quality entries. We want to hear from both bands and solo artists – be they traditional folk, experimental or contemporary. Everyone is welcome.”

The judging panel will select four acts who will go head-to-head in a semi-final to be staged in March in Hall 2 of the Colston Hall.

The winner will get the chance to appear on the Colston Hall’s main stage during this year’s festival (May 5-7) as well as Somerfest – a one-day folk music and arts festival to be held at the stunning Halsway Manor on the edge of Somerset’s Quantock Hills (Saturday, April 7). Created by and for young people and focusing on all aspects of folk tradition, the line-up will include folk innovator Jim Moray, Dyer: Cummings, James Findlay and many more.

A bonus prize will give the winner the opportunity of having a session featured on with us, Folk Radio UK as well as a session with our good friend Songs from the Shed who have featured many a great session, some of which you can view at the end of this post.

To enter, artists need to email a link to performance footage of one song/tune on YouTube, MySpace, Facebook or any other social networking site.
Entries should be emailed to isambard@bristolfolkfestival.com giving the name of the band or artist, the footage link, a contact number and email and a brief description of the act. The closing date is March 1.

Says Paul Preager of co-organisers Bristol Music Trust:

“We are inviting entries from local artists as well as others from all over the country. It’s a big opportunity for emerging folk acts to play at two key festivals and significantly raise their profile.”

Full Details here

Songs from the Shed Session Highlights

Under the Driftwood Tree (last year’s winner)

Fairport Convention

Alasdair Roberts

Seth Lakeman

More Shed Sessions here

Some Folk Radio UK Session Highlights

Jess morgan

Gregory Alan Isakov

Panda Su

Allysen Callery

More Sessions here