Glymjack
“As good as contemporary folk comes”
– Acoustic
“Folk with attitude”
– Froots
“Life-affirming”
– Folk Radio
Glymjack is one of the most exciting emerging artists in UK folk music.
The folk-roots project of award-winning songwriter Greg McDonald, Glymjack sees McDonald’s hard-hitting vision lit up by Gemma Gayner’s lightning fiddle and Radio 2 Folk Award nominee Saul Bailey’s melodeon on songs BBC DJ Tom Robinson says “remind you why you got into music in the first place.”
Featuring Show of Hands legends Phil Beer and Steve Knightley, debut album Light the Evening Fire has enjoyed airplay across BBC radio, and rave reviews, with Acoustic declaring Glymjack “as good as contemporary folk comes”.
Live, Glymjack’s touring acoustic line-up of Greg, Gemma, Saul and bassist Dickon Collinson plays acclaimed original songs and dynamic English folk music leavened with plenty of laughs and bonhomie, while the Glymjack Festival Band sees pianist Art Toper and drummer Paul Richards join the line-up to create a sound more reminiscent of the E Street Band, with a take-no-prisoners energy which has brought the house down at festivals from Cambridge Folk Festival to Larmer Tree.
Greg’s award-winning songs have been called “passionate, powerful and poetic” (Rolling Stone), “inspired” (The Times) and “captivating” (Q magazine), and featured in films and TV shows such as Alan Partridge and Match of the Day. Away from Glymjack, Greg also plays in The Phil Beer Band.
The term “Glymjack” is Victorian criminal underworld slang for a street child who led strangers through the streets of London at night with a lantern.