Ange Hardy - The Lament Of The Black Sheep - The Lament Of
The Black Sheep - Story Records www.angehardy.com/
Ruth Keggin - Tree Eeasteyryn Boghtey - Sheear - Purt Sheearan Records
www.ruthkeggin.com/
Kate Rusby - Ghost - Ghost - Pure Music www.katerusby.com/
Sarah McQuaid - Hardwick's Lofty Tower - The Plum Tree &
The Rose - Waterbug www.sarahmcquaid.com/
The Green House Band - The Retreat - Big Sun - www.graemetaylor.com/
Craig Bickhardt - Crazy Nightingale - The More I Wonder - Stone Barn Records
www.craigbickhardt.com/
Ange Hardy - The Tilling Bird - The Lament Of The Black
Sheep - Story Records www.angehardy.com/
Ruth Keggin - Fin As Oshin - Sheear - Purt Sheearan Records
www.ruthkeggin.com/
Kate Rusby - The Youthful Boy - Ghost - Pure Music www.katerusby.com/
The Green House Band - The Ship's Carpenter - Big Sun -
www.graemetaylor.com/
Claude Bourbon - A Light In The Night - Disc 1: ...The Travellin' Man - Frog
Records www.claudebourbon.org/
Craig Bickhardt - There Is No Night - The More I Wonder - Stone Barn Records
www.craigbickhardt.com/
Ange Hardy - Third album from this Somerset, UK singer-songwriter, and FATEA Magazine's 2014 Female Vocalist of the Year, who writes immensely listenable story songs that sound remarkably familiar and yet brand new. Relatively new to the folk scene, she has nonetheless received considerable plaudits for her 2013 Bare Foot Folk album, and now with The Lament of the Black Sheep she demonstrates her ability to spin glorious occasionally harrowing tales of her family history, regional farming traditions and customs, and the well-rung out nursery rhyme that gives the album its title, herewith retold in new cadence and melody to be enjoyed anew. Joined by James Findlay (vocals, fiddle) Lukas Drinkwater (double bass, backing vocals) Jon Dyer (flute, whistle) Alex Cumming (accordion, backing vocals) and Jo May (percussion) - magic
Ruth Keggin - debut solo album from Manx Gaelic singer, flautist, whistle player and pianist, who intends to propel the world of Manx traditional Gaelic music into the popular consciousness both home and abroad. Critically acclaimed band performances at Lorient's 2014 Interceltique Festival with David Pearce on guitar, Vanessa McWilliam on double-bass and Eoghan O Ceannabhain on flute, have set the wheels in motion. Concurrently she is also a member of a Manx-Norwegian Collaboration, a duo with singer/flautist Eoghan O Ceannabhain, and the band Nish as Rish from her University of York days. With excellent liner notes about the songs, and lyrics in Manx and English this recorded live in the studio album of songs in both Manx and English is one to be savored unhurriedly and preferably without interruption;
Kate Rusby – The Barnsley Nightingale’s 14th release that sees no radical departure from her well established, and very successful, trade-mark neo-trad-melancholia sound, notwithstanding her transition to producer alongside husband Damien O’Kane, and the inclusion of electric guitar here and there throughout the album. As always the musicianship is peerless with guest Ron Block (Alison Krauss and Union Station) on banjo, along with a gaggle of the usual suspects including Mike McGoldrick on flutes and whistles, Steve Byrnes on bouzouki and tenor guitar, John Doyle and Steven Iveson on electric guitar, Nick Cooke and Julian Sutton on diatonic accordion, Duncan Lyall on double bass, Rex Preston on mandolin, Donald Grant on violin and string arrangements, the aforementioned O’Kane on guitar, tenor guitar and banjo, and herself on guitar, piano. With an exploratory toe dipped into the waters of possibility presented by approaching the studio environment as an additional instrument itself, the album ends with the title track comprising just Kate and her piano… and the voice!
Sarah McQuaid – singer- songwriter and dazzling guitarist making a welcomed return to Little Rock Folk Club on Sat Oct 4th 2014 with her vast repertoire of trad and self-penned gems, medieval/renaissance pieces and the occasional choice contemporary piece such as John Martyn’s Solid Air fitted to her purring vocals – heaven!
The Green House Band – evidently a one-off project from 2008 from multi-instrumentalist and electric/acoustic guitar wizard Graeme Taylor (Gryphon, Home Service, John Kirkpatrick Band, Albion Band, The Road) along with ex-Albion, ex-JKB, ex-Fuchsia, ex-The Road friends Neil McArthur on piano, electric and acoustic guitar, Dave Berry on bass guitar and double bass, Michael Gregory on drums and percussion, and vocals by stage and TV actress Madeleine Worrell. Comprising contemporary material, 2 pieces provide Taylor with an opportunity to stand up and be seen (heard J ) - his lovely composition The Retreat, and the sole trad offering The Ship’s Carpenter. Quality musicianship abounds throughout but if you want to hear the soaring guitar work that makes him the guitarist of choice for so many bands check out his work with Home Service and you’ll be hooked!
Craig Bickhardt – nimble guitarist, well-seasoned vocalist, Nashville based singer songwriter with an album of finely crafted songs looking back down the years and documenting in verse and rhyme the lessons learned and observations made from a lifetime of living. Crazy Nightingale looks at Welsh poet, and inevitable trainwreck, Dylan Thomas; The Restless Kind (language alert!) examines the need to move on and leave what is for what maybe; co-writes with Nathan Bell and Ireland’s Jimmy MacCarthy show the kind of company he keeps as do the album’s musicians including Jack Sundrud (Poco), Andy Leftwich (Ricky Skaggs’ Kentucky Thunder), Kenny Vaughan (Marty Stuart’s Fabulous Superlatives) and, icing the cake, his daughter Aislinn Bickhardt providing the harmony vocals that only come of shared DNA.
Claude Bourbon – French singer- songwriter and dazzling guitarist also making a welcomed return to Little Rock Folk Club on Sat Sep 27th 2014 bringing along medieval and Spanish blues. Parfait!