“Sparky, charismatic and intensely assured” – fRoots
“An excellent debut album” ★★★★ – R2 Magazine
“A hugely talented lass” – Mike Harding
The Shackleton Trio (formerly The Georgia Shackleton Trio) play an exciting blend of Americana, folk and self-penned material.
Accompanying herself on the fiddle, Georgia writes and performs ‘wordy songs about other people’, instrumentally influenced by British, American and Scandinavian folk traditions, with a regional twist from her native East Anglia.
Georgia’s skills as a singer and instrumentalist have been put to the test in numerous different contexts, and this trio sees her teaming up with guitar powerhouse Aaren Bennett and mandolin ace Nic Zuppardi.
Together they have toured the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands, appeared at Rotterdam Bluegrass Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival, Towersey Festival, Broadstairs Folk Week, Folk East, and concert halls and folk clubs across the UK.
annA rydeR is an original and inventive singer-songwriter with a musical style that, although based in folk, spans an array of genres. A multi-instrumentalist dynamo, she intertwines this fluency with a poetic and intimate lyricism, communicating her unique take on the world around her.
Her captivating stage presence is combined with a playful approach to performing which reaches out to the whole audience.
annA has played all over the UK and Europe, from small clubs to large festivals and venues, including Cropredy Convention, and has recorded six albums, featuring some of British folk’s finest musicians including members of Fairport Convention.
Attracting various invitations to perform and record with, and for many different artists, Anna is a musician’s musician – Eddi Reader, All About Eve, Jacqui McShee (Pentangle), Fairport Convention, Rabbit Bundrick (Keyboards The Who), Alan Thomson (John Martyn Band, Martin Barre Band), Clive Bunker (ex-Jethro Tull), Martin Brunsden (Hothouse Flowers), Steve Tilston and Bob Fox to name a few.
More recently with Sally Barker and Marion Fleetwood, annA is part of exciting touring trio IOTA performing original co-written material and she is also in Listen-Listen – the Fotheringay spin-off band playing the songs of Sandy Denny and Fotheringay featuring PJ Wright and Sally.
Something A Bit Different is another annA-collaboration with long-time friend and songwriter Keith Donnelly performing their favourite covers.
Tom Patterson and Dave Morton are a Midlands based folk duo who perform original traditionally based material, mainly using twin nylon-strung guitars.
Tom’s songs cover a range of subjects, including people and events linked to his native North East of England. A number of his compositions have won competitions at the Morpeth, Sedgefield and Darlington folk festivals. In April 2014, leading folk music magazine ‘The Living Tradition’ wrote, “Tom is a skilled songwriter ably painting pictures of characters, stories and places he has come across over the years.”
Dave, who was born near Stoke-on-Trent, has been a regular on the Leicestershire folk scene for a number of years. Originally classically trained, he arranges the songs and provides lead musical accompaniment playing guitar, banjo, mandolin and concertinas. A typical Patterson and Morton set usually includes a solo from Dave on guitar.
As well as performing in folk clubs, Tom and Dave have been heard on local radio programmes and made recent guest appearances at the Bedworth, Lichfield, Alcester, Fastnet and Tenterden folk festivals. They have made two albums – ‘We Are The Lucky Ones’ recorded in 1993 and the 2014 release ‘Just The Way It Is’ which was described by ‘The Living Tradition’ as “a CD of great songs”.
Atherstone Folk Club
Acoustic Union
Acoustic Union are a four-piece band from the East Midlands area. The band was formed in early 2010 by musicians who each have about 30 years of experience in the music business.
They produce acoustic arrangements of a wide variety of pop and rock classics, as well as their own material, bluegrass, instrumentals and traditional songs.
The band have been influenced and inspired by musicians such as The Beatles, Abba, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and many more.
They use a wide variety of instruments including guitars, fiddle, dobro, banjo, mandolin, double bass, and ethnic percussion instruments, to give a rich and varied texture to the music.
With their unique onstage-chemistry and their widely praised harmonies, the Anglo-German duo ‘Paul Walker & Karen Pfeiffer’ entertain and engage their audiences wherever they perform. Combining their original material with a fine choice of folk favourites Paul and Karen craft a show of “songs with groove and goosebumps guaranteed”, as the Stuttgart press put it recently. Karen’s voice, clear and yet so powerful, leaves audiences mesmerised. She adds with alto recorder, tin whistle and percussive instruments to Paul’s vocal and individual guitar style. In addition to their UK tours, these “two exceptional musicians” (Stuttgart press) have established a significant reputation in Ireland and Germany and therefore sometimes the odd German folk song, or even a German ‘joke’ will find its way into a “fantastically entertaining night” (Secret Sounds).
The duo hails from Staffordshire although Karen is originally from Stuttgart, Germany, where Paul ‘discovered’ her busking in a city centre park. He invited her to perform in England and the two of them have now been playing music together since 2012.
Sharing vocal duties, Paul Walker & Karen Pfeiffer have their individual styles which combine beautifully and, together with their light-hearted banter, they provide a truly memorable experience: “The likable, humorous style in which they treat their audience is also reflected in their own songs” (Ludwigsburger Zeitung), which they present along with a selection of classics from folk icons such as Richard Thompson, Dougie MacLean, Jimmy MacCarthy or Christy Moore. Known primarily for their exquisite harmonies, their lyrical and melodic song writing has begun to gain well-deserved attention.
Their most recent project was with producer Scott Ralph who re-recorded their acclaimed songs ‘Play Me A Love Song’ (set in a bar in Cologne) and ‘Lift This Weight’ (a homage to industrial Stoke-on-Trent) adding a string quartet (featuring Clare ‘Fluff’ Smith) and a colliery style brass band. Their CDs “One by One” (2013) and “Marble Town” (2015) have received glowing reviews in folk and music industry magazines (e.g. Acoustic Magazine, Folk North West) and have been played on BBC Radio Stoke, Radio Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire as well as in various Folk Podcasts.
Currently Paul and Karen are spending time in the studio recording their third full album.
“It seems that there is nothing that this duo cannot bring into fruition with their own unique style and passion.” Secret Sounds (website)
“WOW! Paul Walker & Karen Pfeiffer did not disappoint, they gave us 110%, keeping us entertained with wonderful songs and great harmonies. They left us calling for more, and well deserved the standing ovation they received at the end. Look forward to their next visit” Brewood Acoustic Music Club (Facebook page)
The Clarksville Mountain Band were formed in 2005, and play well known songs in a Bluegrass, Hillbilly style. Pete Dunn on bass guitar and Steve Layton on acoustic guitar played together for many years in a 12-piece Latin-American band called Octaves, in which Steve was the founder member. They enjoyed success all over the world travelling as far as South America.
Richard Heath – vocal, mandolin, washboard and ukulele – was originally a drummer with Blues / Rock bands with some success; recording and working with people such as Jim Lea (Slade), Stevie Young (AC/DC), and Steve Gibbons. Richard mellowed slightly to join the Bushbury Mountain Daredevils for three years, with three successful albums. He then went on to form the Gravelly Hillbillies, playing their own type of skifflebilly, performing at many Folk and Blues festivals in the UK and abroad, and recording three successful albums.
With this wealth of experience, the Clarkesville Mountain Band guarantee an entertaining evening.
Atherstone Folk Club
Harp and a Monkey
Songs about cuckolded molecatchers, a lone English oak tree that grows at Gallipoli, care in the community and medieval pilgrims… we can only be talking about the folk experimentalists Harp and a Monkey.
The harp ‘n’ banjo driven electro-folk-storytelling of Martin Purdy (vocals, glockenspiel, accordion, harmonica and keyboards), Simon Jones (harp, guitar, viola) and Andy Smith (banjo, melodica, guitar and programming) is imbued with a deep Lancashire sensibility that shines through in their beautifully crafted and sometimes spooky vignettes of northern life, love and remembrance.
The outfit, who have been friends for more than 20 years, channel the ghosts of summers spent in municipal parks and winters walking on the moors. Ask them about their influences and they are as likely to cite Ordnance Survey maps and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as they are Bert Jansch, Bjork or Bellowhead.
Formed in 2008, Harp and a Monkey have been building up a loyal following via the old fashioned practice of relentless gigging and modern practice of social network sites.
Regulars on the northern festival circuit, in recent years they have expanded their live outreach across the country. The band are particularly proud of the fact that they have gained a strong reputation for building an excellent rapport with their live audiences and the fact that they have never played anywhere and not been invited back. Such is the strength of their reputation as a quality live act, they have twice been asked to perform at the Homegrownfestival; the annual international showcase of the best of English folk music.
The trio’s melodic and hauntological storytelling, which is always underpinned by a firm commitment to classic songsmithery, has caught the attention and support of the likes of Steve Lamacq, Mark Radcliffe and Mike Harding on BBC Radio 2, Lopa Kothari and Nick Luscombe on BBC Radio 3, Folk Radio UK and many more international, national and regional broadcasters.
The band’s self-titled debut album received critical acclaim on its release in late 2011 and they collected excellent reviews for their contribution to the 2012 ‘Weirdlore’ compilation which highlighted Britain’s most promising practitioners of alternative folk. Their second album, All Life Is Here, was released in April 2014 and again received outstanding reviews, with the likes of fRoots magazine describing them as “undoubtedly one of the most vital and charismatic things happening in English folk music right now”.
The band’s third album, War Stories, was released in July, 2016, as part of their ongoing project (part-sponsored by Arts Council England and The Western Front Association) to mark the centenary of the First World War. The band have been performing new material and re-worked traditional songs (which strive to challenge stereotypes of the conflict) in unusual venues related to the war on British shores. The album has received outstanding reviews, with the likes of The Observer describing it as “bold and brilliant”. Support from BBC Radio 2 has been substantive, including sessions and interviews with Clare Balding (Good Morning Sunday) and Mark Radcliffe (The Folk Show).
Winners of Best Band of 2016
And the winner of the annual folking.com awards for best folk group is – Harp and a Monkey!
They say “To be honest, we were just flattered to be short-listed by the site’s writers and to be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Afro Celt, Fairport, Nancy Kerr and Merry Hell. We didn’t expect you lot to take the story further!”
During his early career, Geoff, now from Manchester, played the circuit of folk clubs and pubs in his native northwest. In August 1985, he was placed third in a competition at the Warwick Folk Festival. In the November of the same year, he released Songs From The Levenshulme Triangle. The following year, he performed at the Sidmouth Folk Festival, and was subsequently re-booked for 1987 and 1988. This gave Higginbottom a wider profile, and brought club and festival bookings all over England.
He has since ventured further afield, playing Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands. In addition to his musical career, Higginbottom has also made numerous appearances on UK television in bit parts, turning up in such soaps as Coronation Street, Brookside and Emmerdale, as well as a number of other productions.
Flowers Tomorrow received a good response and brought Higginbottom to wider attention. The title track has been sung by a number of other performers, and the album as a whole mixed contemporary and traditional styles, with his guitar and bodhrán to the fore. More Than Pounds And Pence, released in December 1990 has helped to establish Higginbottom as a highly-regarded performer and writer.
Atherstone Folk Club
The Redhills
The Redhills hail from Warwickshire and have played at AFC several times, in both their full 5 piece electric and slightly reduced “Lite Acoustic” line-ups.
The ‘Hills play complex arrangements of traditional songs and dance tunes drawn from all over the Isles, interspersed with some songs of their own. Pretty well anything is fair game – a Morris tune, a broadsheet ballad, a jig, a reel and a hornpipe might all end up glued together into one combined set.
The sound has been described by one newspaper reporter as being “Like Bellowhead facing off Eddie Van Halen – but it works a treat”! -but that’s not to say they can’t also manage quieter numbers like “The Blacksmith” or “The Doffing Mistress” in between the jigging and reeling.
Whatever they’re playing, they keep it lively, keep it fun and make it rock along like it was always intended to, using whatever ancient or modern device is needed to help achieve it.
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