“Your music moved me to tears.”

This is the refrain contemporary folk artist Hannah Scott regularly hears as she leaves the stage.
The best stories elicit profound personal reactions and in the 15 years she has been writing and performing, Hannah has become a consummate storyteller. Her music is shaped by human stories, with family, in all its chaos and glory, sitting at the heart of herwork. Her lyrics are powerful and poignant, and her voice feels strangely familiar, though you can’t quite put your finger on why. Her writing may be deeply personal but her music has a universal appeal that extends beyond the melodies you catch yourself humming days after listening to her songs.

The connection she forges with her audiences often finds its most profound expression in the stories shared by audience members after her performances: the woman whose elderly mother lost a sibling in childhood and is moved to tears by Boy In The Frame; the young father who, upon hearing My Dad & I, realises he wants to spend more time with his small children; the adoptive parents who, like Hannah as a step-parent, may not have been the first person to hold their child, but Love You Like I Did. A deep-rooted desire for this connection has always been the driving force behind her songwriting and live performances.

Born in Suffolk and raised by an artist mother and an eccentric entertainer father, with music going back three generations to her songwriting great-grandmother, creativity was always destined to be an integral part of Hannah’s life. At the age of four, her father bought a second-hand piano for £70 from a friend in the pub and she didn’t look back, falling in love with both playing and listening to classical music. Picking up a guitar in her early teens as the influence of her peers and more contemporary music took hold, Hannah taught herself some simple chords that would lay the foundation for her earliest attempts at songwriting.

Hannah’s career highlights include having her song No Gravity featured on the hit international TV series Grey’s Anatomy, recording a live session on BBC Radio 2 with Dermot O’Leary and opening for Madeleine Peyroux, performing to an audience of two thousand. She has also shared the stage with folk luminaries such as Seth Lakeman,

Pre show supper is available from Cafe Tolmen – book in advance with Barbara on 01326 340630

The award winning Bookshop Band write and perform songs inspired by books. Formed in September 2010 they released their first album two months later and have since released 13 albums collaborating with over 100 authors, including Philip Pullman, Louis de Bernieres and Margaret Atwood.

They have toured extensively around the UK, Europe, Canada and America, and are equally at home in a bookshop, at an arts centre, in a folk club or on a festival main-stage. They have been commissioned by the BBC, The V&A, and most recently by Aardman Animations to compose the music and songs for thier Oscar and BAFTA Nominated musical Robin Robin, with the band picking up an Ivor Novello Award nomination for their score. The band have been working with producer and musician Pete Townshend (The Who) on thier 14 studio album, due for release in late 2023.

Between them Beth Porter and Ben Please bring the books to the stage along with a multitude of instruments, including cello, harmonium, glockenspiel, guitars and ukuleles which, along with their distinct voices, create a cinematic sound that draws the audience right in to a highly intimate performance, at once touching and mesmerizing, heart wrenching and funny. No previous knowledge of the books is required as the band guide the audience through the stories behind each song’s inspiration.

Beth has performed and recorded with Peter Gabriel, The Proclaimers and is part of The Lost Words Spell Songs alongside musicians including Karine Polwart, Kris Drever and Julie Fowlis. The band are based in Wigtown, Scotland’s Book Town.

Pre show supper is available from Cafe Tolmen – book in advance with Barbara on 01326 340630