The Folk Forecast: September 2022
The Folk Forecast: September 2022
Featuring Chris Wood, Jackie Oates, Methera, the Shetland Songwriting Festival and heaps more gigs and new releases this month.
Hello, and welcome back! After a busy couple of weeks and a few pesky tech gremlins, I’m here at last with your folky updates. This month sees the start of the new online gig season for Live to Your Living Room, as well as heaps of artists heading out on tour and releasing new music, so there’s plenty to keep you busy. Here goes…
This month’s playlist
This month’s playlist sees me breaking out of my usual listening bubble a bit, with some great new music that’s being released this month. I’ve discovered a few new favourite tracks, and I hope you do too! Remember to support artists too if you can, to help them do more great things in the future.
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!
TOP PICKS: ONLINE
Will Pound and Jenn Butterworth* — Friday 9 September, 8pm BST
Live to Your Living Room
Over at Live to Your Living Room, we’re kicking off our new season on Friday with music from Will Pound and Jenn Butterworth. Will and Jenn are both incredible instrumentalists. They’ve worked together on various projects before, but this is their first duo tour together, and they’ve also recorded a new album which is really exciting, so it will be great to see what they’ve been working on.
Tickets £10 / £16.50 / £25 - one ticket per household; choose the price that suits you best.
Ninebarrow Presents: Magellan Circumnavigation — Saturday 10 September, 7pm BST
Ninebarrow
This is the first ‘Ninebarrow Presents’ event, featuring Jon's Dad, Bob Whitley, and cellist Leonardo MacKenzie. Bob wrote this folk musical to mark the 500th year anniversary of Magellan's voyage. As the anniversary of this adventure comes to an end this September, this is your last chance to catch the show.
Tickets £12.50 for a single ticket or £25 for a household.
Shetland Songwriting Festival* — 16-18 September
Shetland Songwriting Festival & Live to Your Living Room
The Shetland Songwriting Festival moved online during lockdown, and it’s continuing to run digitally, which is great news for budding songwriters everywhere. The festival will include heaps of workshops, a concert and the opportunity for one-to-one tuition. If you’d rather just listen to the songs rather than creating them, you can also attend the Friday night concert via Live to Your Living Room!
Tickets are £160 to attend the whole weekend of events. Concert tickets are available at a range of prices (£10 / £16.50 / £25) depending on what’s affordable for you. You only need one ticket per household for the concert.
Chris Wood* — Sunday 18 September, 8pm BST
Live to Your Living Room & Folk Weekend: Oxford
Chris Wood took part in a few online projects during lockdown, but this is his very first livestreamed event. It’s a hybrid concert in partnership with Folk Weekend: Oxford, so you can go along in person to the Holywell Music Room in Oxford or watch online from wherever you are in the world. For anyone who’s a big fan of Chris’s music, but can’t get to any of his tour dates, this one is for you!
Tickets £10 / £16.50 / £25 - one ticket per household; choose the price that suits you best.
Methera* — Wednesday 21 September, 8pm BST
Live to Your Living Room
I only came across Methera quite recently, but when I heard that fiddler Sam Sweeney had joined their ranks, I was sold. This string quartet crosses the boundaries between folk and chamber music, drawing out the beauty of traditional material in groundbreaking new ways. Sam Sweeney joined 3 years ago, but they only managed to do a couple of gigs before the pandemic hit, so it’s fantastic to see them back out on tour again.
Tickets £10 / £16.50 / £25 - one ticket per household; choose the price that suits you best.
Greg Russell* — Saturday 24th September, 8pm BST
Live to Your Living Room & Live At Sam’s
Greg Russell decided to stop touring full time in 2019, so chances to see him play live are extra special now! This hybrid gig is being held at Live At Sam’s in Sheffield (which is sold out!), but it’s also being livestreamed for everyone to enjoy.
Tickets £10 / £16.50 / £25 - one ticket per household; choose the price that suits you best.
The Jackie Oates Trio* — Sunday 25th September, 8pm BST
Live to Your Living Room
Jackie Oates recently released Gracious Wings, her 8th solo studio album, featuring traditional English folk songs, self-penned material and the odd unexpected cover version! This gig is part of the album launch tour, and Jackie will be joined by Mike Cosgrave (piano, accordion, guitar) and John Parker (double bass) as they perform the new material live online.
Tickets £10 / £16.50 / £25 - one ticket per household; choose the price that suits you best.
EFDSS: The Young Folk Club — Monday 26th September, 5.30pm BST
English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS)
The Young Folk Club kicks off the autumn season with a collaborative online tunes session, open to 14-21 year olds. This relaxed and informal session is an opportunity to practice and experiment before going to a live session. Bring along your instrument and join in as much or as little as you like.
Free to attend, but you need to pre-book your place.
EFDSS: Monday Folk Singers with Jim Causley — 7pm BST
English Folk Dance and Song Society
Monday Folk Singers is a great opportunity to learn repertoire and arrangements from well-known folk artists. This term, the course is being led by Jim Causley. Classes will be held online on Monday nights, starting on Monday 26th September.
Tickets £100 (£80 concessions) for a 10-week course.
Also online
The Official Folk Albums Chart Show* was broadcast this week, featuring the latest chart additions, interviews, music and a run-down of what’s on this month. You can catch up on YouTube or listen to the podcast.
The next episode of Folk on Foot* is out on Friday 16th September. It’s all about a mass trespass which took place recently to protest the right to roam, and features Sam Lee. Keep an eye on the Folk on Foot social channels for details, and join the Folk on Foot Patreon if you want to get access to exclusive content!
Rosslyn Court are continuing to livestream their concerts on YouTube, with upcoming gigs including Maclaine Colston & Saul Rose, Blair Dunlop, John Beetham and Aiden Shepherd, Ajay Srivastav and Vinod Kerai, Winter Wilson and Lizzy Hardingham. Find out more about everything that’s in store here.
Rachael McShane is doing some online fiddle workshops, kicking off on 12th September for intermediates and 14th September for beginners.
There have been some fab episodes of Tuesday Folk People recently, featuring Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne, Bush Gothic and more. The next episode is with Lunatraktors on 13th September, and it’s sure to be a good one, as they’re such lovely people and their music is so refreshingly different! Explore the full range of Tuesday Folk People episodes here.
Katherine Priddy recently played for ‘The Dream Prom’ at the Royal Albert Hall, and what a dream it was! Catch-up on BBC Sounds (you can hear Katherine’s bit from 01:32:20)
TOP PICKS: IN PERSON
Sea Song Sessions
Looe, Charlestown and Falmouth
‘Sea Song Sessions’ is a new collection of British maritime folk songs and sea shanties, performed by artists including Jon Boden, Seth Lakeman, Ben Nicholls, Emily Portman & Jack Rutter. The album is out on 30th September and to coincide with the release, they’re doing a short tour across Cornwall, calling at Looe, Charlestown and Falmouth. They’re also going to be sailing from gig to gig, and as I’ve done some tall ship sailing myself, this is very up my street!
Beyond the Moor Festival*
Newcastle upon Tyne
Beyond The Moor is a new festival up in my neck of the woods in Newcastle. The line-up is pretty incredible, with lots of my favourite artists, and there are also workshops in the morning which sound like a lot of fun. The early bird ticket prices have now passed, but £35 for a whole day of concerts (and £10 for the workshop) is still a bit of a bargain for a whole afternoon and evening of music.
*Disclaimer: I’ve been offered free tickets to go along, but would honestly mention it anyway as it’s a lovely line-up in my favourite city!
More festivals
Bromyard Folk Festival - 8-11 Sep - Mànran, Michael McGoldrick, John Kirkpatrick, John Tams, Granny’s Attic*, Sam Carter and more.
Swanage Folk Festival - 9-11 Sep - Oysterband, Seth Lakeman, Faustus, Sheelanagig, Honey & The Bear and more.
Brighton and Hove Folk Festival - 10 Sep - Martin & Eliza Carthy, Gwenifer Raymond, Germa Adan and more. Festival patron, the renowned illustrator and political cartoonist Chris Riddell, will be live-drawing to the music!
Ceòl Cholasa - 15-18 Sep - Ruth Notman, Project Smok, Kinnaris Quintet and more.
Tenterden Folk Festival - 29 Sep - 2 Oct - The Wilson Family, Jack Rutter, Paul Walker & Karen Pfeiffer and more.
Hartlepool Folk Festival - 30 Sep - 2 Oct - Edward II, Flook, Daoiri Farrell, Melrose Quartet, Rioghnach Connolly, Jackie Oates Trio, Bryony Griffith & Alice Jones, Hannah James & Toby Kuhn and more.
Manchester Folk Festival 13-15 Oct - Lady Nade, The Magpie Arc, Lady Maisery, Jackie Oates, Jim Ghedi, Daoiri Farrell Trio, The Longest Johns, The Wilderness Yet* and more.
This is just a selection of festivals taking place over the next few weeks. To see details of even more folk festivals coming up in the UK, this website is really handy!
Also on tour soon!
Jackie Oates, Chris Wood, Martin Simpson, Belinda O’Hooley, Peggy Seeger, Heal and Harrow, The Trials of Cato, The Rheingans Sisters and Gigspanner Big Band & Raynor Winn, among many others!
OTHER NEWS
Access Folk: Ask A Friend
Fay Hield’s research group, Access Folk, are currently running a project called Ask A Friend, where they’re asking folk fans to record a chat to a friend who isn’t involved in folk singing. The idea is to find out more about what might be putting people off from engaging with folk music, so we can ultimately find ways to make the scene more accessible in the future. For more details on getting involved, check out their website.
Ben Moss set to morris dance the London Marathon
Folk musician Ben Moss will be morris dancing the London Marathon on 2nd October. He’s running for Rainbow Migration, an amazing charity who support LGBTQIA+ people through the asylum and immigration system. He’s been morris dancing the marathon every 5 years so he’s hoping to beat his previous record of 5 hours 6 minutes!
NEW RELEASES
2 September - Jackie Oates - Gracious Wings
As mentioned above, Jackie Oates has just released her new album, Gracious Wings, and she’s taking it on tour this month!
2 September - Brìghde Chaimbeul, Ross Ainslie and Steven Byrnes - LAS
This self-penned instrumental number is apparently the first album of double C smallpipes to be released in the world!
2 September - FARA - Energy Islands
This is inspired by the renewable energy innovation taking place in the band’s homeland of Orkney. Having been born and raised among its breathtaking natural beauty, they wanted to highlight Orkney's role in raising awareness of, and curbing, the climate crisis.
9 September - Elephant Sessions - For the Night
This album was written during lockdown when we were all longing for festivals and togetherness, and it’s perfect for getting us back up and dancing again!
16 September - Siobhan Miller - Bloom
After two years without the fun, energy and community of folk festivals and sessions, Miller wanted to capture that feeling again and revisit some of the songs she grew up listening to, but had never sung or recorded. She’s joined by an all-star band featuring Kris Drever (Lau), Eddi Reader, Louis Abbott (Admiral Fallow), and Ian Carr (Kate Rusby) among others.
23 September - Beth Nielsen Chapman - Crazytown
This is Beth Nielsen Chapman’s first full length album since 2018's Hearts of Glass. Twice Grammy nominated, Beth has written for and with the likes of Elton John and Faith Hill. She’s doing a UK tour this Autumn.
30 September - Ellie Gowers - Dwelling by the Weir*
This is Ellie’s debut album. She’s from Warwickshire, and the album was very much inspired by the areas surrounding where she grew up. As well as exploring stories rooted in these areas, the album also touches on themes of love, loss and belonging that we can all identify with wherever we’re from.
30 September - Sea Song Sessions
A rousing exploration of British maritime folk songs and sea shanties, featuring leading lights of the folk world including Jon Boden, Seth Lakeman, Ben Nicholls, Emily Portman & Jack Rutter.
RECORD OF THE MONTH
Record of the Month is The New Faith by Jake Blount, which is out on 23rd September. I hadn’t come across Jake before this, but the album (and the story behind it) really caught my attention. Concept-wise, it considers a future where black refugees are finding their way in a world devastated by climate change. Within this context, it explores the place of traditional songs to bind communities and get people through hard times. Despite the bleak backdrop, it’s an affirmation of the joy and comfort that music can bring to generation after generation, no matter how much the world may change around us.
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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!