The Folk Forecast: May 2022
Featuring Jackie Oates, Katie Spencer, Rachael McShane & The Cartographers and a celebration of the songs of Leon Rosselson.
Hello, and welcome back to The Folk Forecast! Hope you had a lovely bank holiday weekend to welcome in the summer (maybe even some morris dancing?).
Looking ahead to the next few weeks, there’s heaps coming up, including online gigs with Jackie Oates, Katie Spencer, Rachael McShane & The Cartographers and lots more, plus a special event celebrating the songs of Leon Rosselson which has a fantastic line-up of artists taking part. With the weather warming up, there are also plenty of festivals coming up in May, as well as a whole host of artists heading out on tour, so hopefully you’ll be able to find something that takes your fancy wherever you are.
Have a great month, and see you again soon!
If you enjoy this issue and fancy saying thanks, you can make a small donation on Ko-Fi to help support my freelance work on the folk scene. Thank you!
This month’s playlist
Head over to this month’s playlist to hear a selection of tracks from artists featured in this issue. Listen to something new, and see which gigs you might fancy going to. Remember to support artists by buying their music and booking gigs too!
TOP PICKS: ONLINE
The Official Folk Albums Chart Show* — Tuesday 3 May, 7pm GMT
Folk on Foot website, YouTube and podcast feed. Commissioned by English Folk Expo and compiled by the Official Charts Company.
See which albums have made the Official Folk Albums Chart this month, with Folk on Foot. Packed with stories, music and exclusive content, this is always a joy to watch. I’ll also be on the show to talk about the latest folk news.
Free to access, but you can support the podcast by becoming a patron.
Jackie Oates in Conversation and Song — Thursday 5 May, 8pm BST
Home Stage
As you may know, Home Stage have been running a series called Tuesday Folk People for quite a while, where they chat to different artists about their careers and share some of their music. During lockdown this meant carrying out interviews remotely, but with things opening up more now, Maddy travelled over to meet Jackie Oates at home in Oxfordshire to record this special broadcast. Expect new insights into Jackie’s life and career, interspersed with songs and tunes recorded in Jackie’s own music room.
Tickets £5.
Pons Aelius — Friday 6 May, 8pm BST
The Globe Newcastle
Join Newcastle-based instrumental powerhouse Pons Aelius in their home city, as they perform live from The Globe. Drawing together influences from far and wide, this talented group of multi-instrumentalists is a force to be reckoned with.
Hybrid gig. Livestream tickets £7.50 / £15 / £20, pay what you can.
Bridget Marsden and Leif Ottosson* — Friday 6 May, 8pm BST
Live to Your Living Room
Bridget Marsden & Leif Ottosson will be performing live from Stockholm on 6th May. Mixing original compositions with traditional material, their thought-provoking music is dynamic, poetic and sure to take you by surprise. Their acclaimed debut album Mountain Meeting was listed as one of the 100 most important Swedish folk albums of all time.
Tickets £10 / £16.50 / £25 - one ticket per household; choose the price that suits you best.
The Last Inklings* — Wednesday 11 May, 8pm BST
Live to Your Living Room
The Last Inklings released their debut album, The Impossible Wild, a few months ago, and it shot straight into the Official Folk Albums Chart. The band’s innovative sound crosses genres, centred around cello, mandolin and vocal harmony, layered with guitar, piano, strings, synths and percussion. With vibrant backstories and creative musicianship, their songs have a modern flavour that is rich with imagery and narrative, exploring at their core what it is to be human.
Tickets £10 / £16.50 / £25 - one ticket per household; choose the price that suits you best.
The Shackleton Trio — Saturday 14 May, 8pm BST
The Globe Newcastle
The Shackleton Trio are touring their brand-new album Mousehold this summer. Blending self-penned material with reworkings of folk standards, the trio take inspiration from British, American and Scandinavian traditions, as well as being influenced by their native East Anglia.
Hybrid gig. Livestream tickets £7.50 / £15 / £20, pay what you can.
Rachael McShane & The Cartographers* — Sunday 15 May, 8pm BST
Live to Your Living Room
Rachael McShane is a singer, cellist, fiddle and viola player perhaps best known as a member of folk big band Bellowhead. More recently, she's been performing as a trio with her band The Cartographers, and you can see them play live online on 15th May.
Tickets £10 / £16.50 / £25 - one ticket per household; choose the price that suits you best.
Cup O’Joe* — Thursday 19 May, 8pm BST
Live to Your Living Room
Cup O’Joe is a progressive bluegrass and folk band founded in Northern Ireland by three siblings (Tabitha, Benjamin and Reuben Agnew), later joined by Tabitha’s husband David Benedict. Their unique mix of original compositions and re-imagined traditional songs, paired with their lively performances, has given them a growing presence on the acoustic music scene.
Tickets £10 / £16.50 / £25 - one ticket per household; choose the price that suits you best.
Turning Silence Into Song: The Music of Leon Rosselson — Sunday 22 May, 8pm BST
People’s Music Network
Join an international line-up of musical luminaries celebrating the life and work of Leon Rosselson, including Billy Bragg, Nancy Kerr, Sandra Kerr, Martin Carthy, Martin Simpson and Leon Rosselson himself.
Free to view on YouTube, or donate at least $2 (about £1.60) to the People’s Music Network to join on Zoom.
Nick Hart* — Monday 23 May, 8pm BST
Live to Your Living Room
Nick Hart is an award-winning singer and multi-instrumentalist whose work with English folk song is rapidly gaining him a reputation as one of the most acclaimed performers of his generation. His latest album, Nick Hart Sings Ten English Folk Songs, was Record of the Month in April, and I’m looking forward to hearing it played live!
Tickets £10 / £16.50 / £25 - one ticket per household; choose the price that suits you best.
Katie Spencer — Thursday 26 May, 7.30pm BST
Rosslyn Court
Katie Spencer is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Yorkshire who writes songs imbued with the Northern landscapes of her home. Her new album, The Edge of the Land, is out on 6th May, so this is a perfect opportunity to see her play live if you can’t catch her in person.
Hybrid gig. The first hour of the performance will be livestreamed free of charge (donations encouraged). The second half will be exclusively for the in-person audience.
ALAW* — Thursday 26 May, 8pm BST
Live to Your Living Room
Described by Songlines magazine as a “Welsh supergroup”, ALAW is a group of three leading musicians who bring a wealth of experience to a shared passion – the traditional music of Wales. From stirring songs to driving jigs, they communicate their music with relaxed humour and a genuine affection that is truly infectious.
Tickets £10 / £16.50 / £25 - one ticket per household; choose the price that suits you best.
Holly and the Reivers — Friday 27 May, 8pm BST
The Globe Newcastle
Holly and The Reivers is a band brought together through their love of singing together and telling old stories. Bertie Armstrong, Merle Harbron and Holly Clarke create a musical setting for their songs by combining the traditional styles of old time banjo, Scottish fiddle and the ballad singing tradition, as well as bringing forth their own compositions that have been deeply influenced by these traditions. The intricate melodies and words they have woven together shine through with their soaring three-part harmonies and driving instrumental pieces.
Hybrid gig. Livestream tickets £7.50 / £15 / £20, pay what you can.
Also coming up online…
3 May - Covid Sings Singaround*, run by Soundpost on Zoom, 8pm - this month’s theme is International Worker's Day and the struggles and achievements of workers and labour movements throughout history. Don’t worry if you don’t know any songs on the theme though - all songs welcome!
5 May - Jali Fily Cissokho, Rosslyn Court, 8pm
7 May - Fabian Holland, 7pm - Singer-songwriter and guitarist Fabian Holland is doing a free livestreamed gig from his website - join his online community to access this and more exclusive content coming up in the future.
12 May - Ian Petrie - Rosslyn Court, 8pm
19 May - Henry Parker - Rosslyn Court, 8pm
Regular bits to look out for:
The Folk Room on Clubhouse is on Wednesdays at 7pm, and The Ballad Room is on Thursdays at 8pm.
Tim Edey often holds online concerts on his Facebook page on Saturday nights.
Piers Cawley hosts regular Song Swaps with special guests - check out his YouTube channel for the latest additions.
All times are in BST.
Recently, there have also been some great radio shows available on catch-up:
The Young’Uns: The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff, BBC Radio 3
Woman’s Hour: Women and Folk Music, BBC Radio 4
TOP PICKS: IN PERSON
Soundpost Song Cycle* — 6-8 May
As mentioned last month, Soundpost are running a Singing Weekend from 6th-8th May. As part of this, they’ve commissioned Nancy Kerr, Rowan Rheingans, Sean Cooney, Cath Carr and Rowan Piggott to write new songs for a song cycle in collaboration with the Sheffield Lakeland Landscape Partnership.
As the songs will be all about the Sheffield lakelands and the people who live there, Soundpost would love to invite local people to come and hear the new songs that have been written about the area and find out more about them. A limited number of free tickets are therefore available for the concert and a few workshops connected to it. Places need to be booked online - find more details below and on the website.
Festivals
Tredegar House Folk Festival, 6-8 May - Artists including Show of Hands, Calan, The Trials of Cato, Billy Mitchell & Bob Fox, Fara, Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman and more.
Holmfirth Festival of Folk, 6-8 May - Artists including Jaywalkers, Mishra, Janice Burns & Jon Doran* and more.
Nantwich Roots, 11-15 May - Artists including Fairport Convention, Ralph McTell, Seth Lakeman, Nancy Kerr & James Fagan and more.
Shepley Spring Festival, 20-22 May - Artists including Sam Sweeney, Sheelanagig, The Wilson Family, Tim Edey and Ross Ainslie, Bryony Griffith and Alice Jones, Pedler // Russell*, Maddie Morris and more.
Orkney Folk Festival, 26-29 May - Artists including Blazin’ Fiddles, Fara, Gnoss, Skerryvore, Talisk, Karine Polwart Trio and more.
Chester Folk Festival, 27-29 May - Artists including False Lights, Melrose Quartet, The Trials of Cato, Granny’s Attic*, Greg Russell and more.
Chippenham Folk Festival, 27-29 May - Artists including Will Pound and Jenn Butterworth, Janice Burns & Jon Doran*, Banter, Moirai and more.
Also out on tour this month…
Andy Irvine, Cara Dillon, Chris Cleverley, Daphne’s Flight, Duncan Chisholm, Flook, Gigspanner Big Band, Grace Petrie, Granny’s Attic, Jacob & Drinkwater, Jenny Sturgeon, Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan, Katie Spencer, Kris Drever & Rachel Baiman, Martin Simpson and Andy Cutting, Oysterband, Sam Sweeney, Show of Hands, The Often Herd, The Unthanks, Ye Vagabonds.
This is just a pick of what I’ve come across, but do keep an eye on your local venues and favourite artists!
NEW RELEASES
1 May - Angeline Morrison - The Brown Girl and Other Folk Songs
3 May - Bryony Griffith and Alice Jones - A Year Too Late and a Month Too Soon
4 May - Kinnaris Quintet - This Too
6 May - Kate Rusby - 30: Happy Returns
6 May - Katie Spencer - The Edge of the Land
7 May - The Shackleton Trio - Mousehold
13 May - Ye Vagabonds - Nine Waves
13 May - Simmerdim: Curlew Sounds - This is a special double collaborative album produced in collaboration with the RSPB, to raise awareness and funds to protect the curlew from extinction. It was the idea of Merlyn Driver, and artists who took part include The Unthanks, Emily Barker and Cosmo Sheldrake, among others!
20 May - Heidi Talbot - Sing It for a Lifetime
27 May - Maz O’Connor - What I Wanted
RECORD OF THE MONTH
Record of the Month is A Year Too Late and a Month Too Soon by Bryony Griffith and Alice Jones. I first saw them performing together at Manchester Folk Festival last October, and it was one of my favourite performances of the festival. For this first album together, they’ve chosen to explore the folk songs of Yorkshire, drawing out a wealth of fascinating stories from their native county. The opening track, Wanton Lasses Pity Her, is a standout for me, with beautiful melodies laid over driving rhythms and gorgeously bittersweet accompaniment on fiddle and harmonium. My Johnny Was a Shoemaker is also a new firm favourite of mine, with some amazing body percussion from Alice which is right up my street.
Springing proudly from its roots, this much-anticipated new release is honest, bold and full of heart - a fitting embodiment of Yorkshire itself.
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The Folk Forecast is created for artists, for audiences and for the UK folk scene. All information is correct to the best of our knowledge. If you have queries about the events listed, please contact the artists or promoters. If you have any suggestions for inclusion in future newsletters, please email TheFolkForecast@gmail.com. We may not be able to include absolutely everything, but we’re interested in UK folk events with a broad appeal, and would particularly welcome suggestions from Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The Folk Forecast is compiled by one person, so please bear with me if I can’t get back to you right away.
* Alongside The Folk Forecast, I work with other organisations including Live to Your Living Room, Soundpost, Folk on Foot, Fancourt Music (Granny’s Attic and Janice Burns & Jon Doran), and individual artists including Jo Freya. Events where I have some involvement with the promoter, agency or artist are marked with a star for transparency. Although I have various affiliations, I strive to be fair and inclusive and tell you about anything I think you’ll enjoy!