Welcome to the mythic world of Sons of Town Hall, the international, waterborne duo of George “Ulysses” Brown (UK) and Josiah “Chester” Jones (US). The pair transcends time and space, dressed in threadbare Victorian outfits, they meditate about the ocean, and sing songs that beg you to sing along. Their songs are masterful in their own right, poetic turns of phrases sung with voices so perfectly matched it is impossible to tell them apart, harmonies so sublime they will seem the work of witchcraft, and intricately finger-picked guitar parts worthy of Apollo himself. But it is Sons of Town Hall’s presentation that sets them apart from every other guitar-slinging songwriting team out there.
The show is three-parts concert, one-part theater and unlike anything most have ever experienced. George and Josiah’s between-song repartee is unique and absolutely hilarious, as they share their tales of traveling the world on the water and roaming the frontier looking for work. The affection they feel for each other is contagious, and audiences leave in love with both of them, with each other, and with life in general.
You will laugh. You will cry. You will be transfixed and transformed, drunk on adventure and the tragic beauty of the human condition.
Highly, highly recommended.
“Seamless vocal harmonies…stories of sea voyages, betrayal and desolation… a more coherent concept you’ll be pushed to find” – The Observer
“Amazing…Equal parts care and craftsmanship, joy and sorrow, it is a splendour to behold….They simply exist on a different plane than everyone else, as does their album” – Folk Radio UK
“A study in beautiful storytelling through song” – RNR Magazine
“It’s part balladry, part performance art, and totally cool. … Think Simon & Garfunkel lost at sea, and you get a sense of the mythic world at play here.” – Philadelphia Inquirer
“Sensational!” – John Platt, WFUV
“Nothing short of stunning” – Lisa Schwartz, Director Philadelphia Folk Festival
“Unique and beautiful…unforgettable.” – Phil Collins (Austin, TX)
“Purposely timeless yet anachronistic, a sort of aural steampunk” – Santa Fe New Mexican
Max & Veronica are acclaimed interpreters of early American roots music, blending ragtime, country blues and early jazz and hillbilly music sounds with contemporary energy and infectious humor. Guitarist Max De Bernardi, a fingerpicking master, and singer Veronica Sbergia, an award-winning entertainer, bring a mix of musical skill, warmth and playful banter that turns every concert into a joyful, interactive experience.
Winners of the European Blues Challenge 2013, they’ve toured across Europe and played top festivals such as Notodden Blues Festival, Lugano Blues To Bop Lucerne Blues Festival and Edinburgh Jazz & Blues, Shetland Folk Festival, Gate to Southwell Folk Festival and many more.
Max and Veronica’s natural on-stage chemistry, quick wit, and playful banter draw the audience in and make every show feel personal and unique. They blend powerful musicianship with light-hearted storytelling, creating a joyful atmosphere that mirrors the spirit of early blues and roots music.
Let us take you to Paris” offers an immersive experience of French music, featuring iconic works from artists like Edith Piaf, Charles Trenet, Django Reinhardt, Sydney Bechet and Serge Gainsbourg. The show is guided by Parisian-born Fifi La Mer, who sings and plays accordion, and Oliver Wilby, who performs on clarinet , tenor saxophone and accordion.
Together they bring a unique blend of French musical history, covering a century of Parisian tunes, while sharing captivating tales of romance, mystery, and heartache associated with the City of Lights. Fifi and Oliver have gained recognition through sold-out shows at venues like Ronnie Scott’s and various theatres across the country.
Oliver has also performed with prestigious ensembles such as the Pasadena Roof Orchestra, Ray Gelato and BBC Big Band. Their engaging performance has been featured in the NatWest advertising campaign. Audience testimonials praise the show for its captivating music, entertaining storytelling, and the charming, talented duo’s ability to create an exciting and enjoyable atmosphere. The performance promises a charismatic, authentic taste of Paris through its distinctive musical arrangements and rich historical context.
Lucy Farrell, a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winner, is celebrated for her poetic songwriting, unconventional melodies, and the crystalline clarity of her voice. Known for her work with The Furrow Collective, Eliza Carthy and the Wayward Band, and a host of other acclaimed collaborations, Farrell has carved out a singular place in English folk with her elegant, understated tenor guitar and viola arrangements. Her solo work reveals a deep lyricism and a rare ability to make the strange feel familiar, and the familiar feel extraordinary.
Shane Pendergast, hailing from Prince Edward Island, Canada, carries forward a long lineage of Maritime storytellers and songkeepers. A troubadour of the East Coast, his plainspoken yet profound songwriting has earned him recognition at folk festivals worldwide, as well as Contemporary Roots Album of the Year at the Music PEI Awards for Second Wind (2021). His 2025 release Winter Grace offers a deeply personal reflection on the joys and hardships of life in the Maritimes.
Together, Farrell and Pendergast embody the living, breathing spirit of folk music: rooted in tradition, yet unafraid to tread new ground. With voices that echo across oceans, their collaboration bridges English and Canadian folk, crafting songs that are at once intimate, timeless, and resonant.
“Music of intelligently crafted brilliance”5***** Songlines Magazine “Some of the most beautiful music the genre has to offer” 5***** Maverick Magazine
Peter Knight’s Gigspanner Trio
New Album Preview Tour
“There’s something of the proverbial elder statesman about Peter Knight, in terms of his place in music, which cannot be overstated. It’s not just in the quality of his playing…there’s a focus on the sheer inventiveness of Peter’s playing, in the adventurous arrangements he shares with his collaborators, and in his musical leadership” Northern Sky Magazine
Since his inaugural performance with the fledgling Steeleye Span in 1970, Peter Knight has been a mainstay of the British folk scene.
Never one to rest on his laurels, Peter has carved a reputation as a relentlessly questing musician “as mercurial as quicksilver”, and it is never quite so apparent as in his work with the various Gigspanner line-ups.
The Gigspanner Trio is the beating heart from which all other lineups have evolved, and the one most loved by many for the intimacy and joy manifest in their virtuosic performances. Audiences revel in the opportunity to witness ‘up close and personal’ the almost telepathic communication that exists between Peter, guitarist Roger Flack and hand percussionist, Sacha Trochet.
This concert is an extra special one as the Trio will be showcasing selected pieces from their long waited new album.
Described by Folk Radio UK as one of the “most quietly brilliant sets of musicians in the folk world and beyond”, they take self-penned material along with music rooted in the British Isles and beyond, and with the flick of a bow, a finely chosen chord or slip of a beat, produce richly atmospheric arrangements “with notes seemingly plucked from the stars and rhythms from the equator” (Spiral Earth).
Notes to Self – a solo performance. A Mwidan Production.
Catrin Finch performs Notes to Self, a series of reflective and deeply personal new tracks she has composed for Katy, her 13 year-old-self, and her first album of solo compositions in a decade.
With accompanying letters underscoring the profound stories of her personal journey, Notes To Self weaves together Catrin’s experiences, emotions, and introspections. Through her music, she explores themes of vulnerability, expectation, transformation, and the unpredictability of a life played out under the public eye. Each composition draws from her past; a 40-year career as one of her generation’s most adventurous and pioneering artists. Her enduring honesty and bravery resonate, inviting listeners to connect deeply with her story, as she translates her struggles and triumphs into sound. Notes To Self not only showcases Catrin’s evolution as a musician, but charts a remarkable career shaped by her experiences as a gay woman, a cancer survivor, a sister, daughter and mother.
Notes To Self is a step into a new creative dimension for this extraordinary harpist, whose career takes new turns with each new project.
Pre show supper is available from Cafe Tolmen – book in advance with Barbara on 01326 340630
Sensational Instrumental Music That Knows No Boundaries
This will be Clive’s third appearance at the Tolmen Centre
Award-winning guitarist, Clive Carroll, is widely known for his unmistakable sound, compositions, and versatility. He has toured across five continents, bringing his signature blend of warmth and humour to breathtaking, genre-bending live performances.
Carroll made his musical debut at age two as a banjo-strumming cowboy singing nursery rhymes, and went on to earn a 1st Class Honours Degree in Composition and Guitar from the famed Trinity College of Music in London. Upon graduation, he was taken on the road by the legendary “folk-baroque” pioneer, guitarist-composer John Renbourn, with whom he also collaborated over many years. He has also worked with guitar greats such as John Williams, D’Gary, Tommy Emmanuel, Xuefei Yang, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, and Ralph Towner.
Carroll has released five solo albums to wide acclaim, and has composed music for film and television. He most recently performed ‘Pete Seeger’ banjo parts on the Bob Dylan biopic, “A Complete Unknown”.
Clive Carroll’s 2026 solo concert programme features newly composed music that fuses his Irish musical heritage with contemporary vision; the darkness of a untamed landscape, wild dances of abandon, and the resonance of ‘home’.
2000 – “Probably the best and most original young acoustic guitarist/composer in Britain.” – Acoustic Guitar Magazine USA
2009 – “Clive Carroll looks set to become the latest acoustic guitar hero” – The Guardian, UK
2021 – “…arguably the most accomplished fingerstylist in the world today…” – Total Guitar Magazine
2024 – “one of the finest fingerstyle guitarists and instructors working today. His knowledge, technique, and passion for the art form are unparalleled” – Acoustic Guitar Magazine USA
Traditional and original music from Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
Traditional and original music from Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly: songs and tunes saturated in a sense of place…
Dalla Duo and Rough Island Band Duo come together for a unique performance, celebrating decades spent exploring the idea of hyper-local music. Dalla pioneered the Celtic music of Cornwall, exploring and reinventing powerful traditions along the journey: Rough Island Band embarked nearly twenty years ago on a mission to set the islands to music.
They come together in one of Cornwall’s most beautiful and successful local venues to look back on their respective journeys and to immerse their audience in a sense of place.
Pre show supper is available from Cafe Tolmen – book in advance with Barbara on 01326 340630
BOB FOX For more than fifty years, Bob Fox has been recognised as one of the truly iconic voices of British folk music. Deeply influenced by the working-class culture and industrial heritage of his native County Durham, he is a master storyteller through song.
Emerging from the vibrant folk revival of the 1960s and 70s, Bob has toured extensively throughout the UK, Europe, the United States, Australia and New Zealand – both as a solo performer and alongside artists such as Ralph McTell, Richard Thompson, Jethro Tull, and Fairport Convention. His debut album with Stu Luckley, Nowt So Good’ll Pass(1978), was named Melody Maker Folk Album of the Year, while his solo release Dreams Never Leave You (2000) was chosen as The Daily Telegraph’s Album of the Year.
Renowned for his warm, rich voice and accomplished guitar style, Bob has received numerous nominations for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and remains a much-loved figure on the live circuit. His collaborations include work with Billy Mitchell, The Pitmen Poets, and the BBC New Radio Ballads series. He also portrayed the Songman in the National Theatre’s multi-award-winning production of War Horse in London’s West End and on its acclaimed national and international tours.
More recently, Bob has reunited with Jez Lowe and Julie Matthews for New Radio Ballads Live and joined Home Service as lead vocalist. Expect an evening of songs of love, work, humour and humanity – from War Horse and New Radio Ballads to well-loved favourites from across his long and distinguished career.
“As soon as I heard him sing, I realised that Bob Fox must have one of the best voices in England.” – Ralph McTell “Your voice and playing are undiminished in quality and expertise.” – Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) “Pure and unadulterated folk music at its finest.” – Australian National Folk Festival “Possibly the most complete male artist in English folk.” – The Daily Telegraph
Join our Community Scratch Orchestra for an epic, one day adventure of music, mayhem and magic!
Whether you’ve been playing for 30 years or 3 weeks whether you sing in the shower or on the stage you are invited to join us in creating a show for our friends and family.
Legendary jazz violinist Christian Garrick returns with his four piece cafe orchestra to bring us an evening of dazzling virtuosity in a repertoire of Eastern European and gypsy jazz tunes, leavened with wit and showmanship of the first order. This will be the band’s fifth appearance at the Tolmen, and we expect another full house.
The band known as Moscow Drug Club, self described as ‘Transcendent Troubadours of Gypsy Latin & Swing’ hail from Bristol, not Moscow, and provide exciting musical entertainment from balkan folk to gypsy jazz to blues and cabaret.
Those who have experienced a gig with Moscow Drug Club – and they have played at the Tolmen Centre twice before – will be sure to remember the excitement they generate.
They are a tricky band to describe as they take music from a wide variety of musical genres: you may hear anything from Berlin cabaret from the 1930s: Hot Club Gypsy jazz: Tom Waits ballads; Jacques Brel: and much more.
They deliver a wonderful mix of numbers, built around the theatricality of vocalist Katya Gorrie and driven by the brilliant musicianship of Jonny Bruce (trumpet) Mirek Salmon (accordion) Andy Bowen (guitar) and Andy Crowdy (double bass).
Like all the best bands, together they are sometimes more than the sum of the individual solo parts – as they suddenly take off into irresistible, swinging jazz ensemble playing folded around Katya’s powerful vocals.
Moscow Drug Club (the band is named after the song) is a curious musical place where certain elements of 1930s Berlin Cabaret, Hot Club de France, Nuevo Tango & Gypsy Campfire meet, have a few to drink and stagger arm in arm into the darkness of some eastern European cobbled street on a mission to find the bar where Django Reinhardt & Tom Waits are having an after hours jam with the local Tziganes. Combining their original material with songs by the likes of Jaques Brel, Leornard Cohen, Tom Waits & Eartha Kitt. Moscow Drug Club provide an intoxicating & intimate musical experience. You are cordially invited to share a wry smile with us as you enter the darkly comic world of Moscow Drug Club…..this way please & mind the stairs!
“Spiritual jazz in the truest sense: an exaltation!”
“Chamber music of infinite variety”
“Simply endlessly imaginative jazz”
“A magnificent celebration of freedom and creativity”
Sarost is a trio comprising Mark Sanders Percussion, Paul Rogers Custom 7 String Bass and Larry Stabbins Saxophones, Bass Clarinet and Flutes
Three veteran, virtuoso improvisors who have worked together in various combinations for over 40 years, this trio has an astonishing combined legacy having shaped and been a part of and still shaping the British Free Jazz/Improv scene.
During a 50+ year career across the spectrum of music saxophonist Larry Stabbins has worked with most of the important figures at the cutting edge of European Jazz and Improvisation from Mike Westbrook to Keith Tippett and Tony Oxley and Germany’s Peter Brotzmann, as well as with Robert Wyatt and Jerry Dammers Spatial AKA. Alongside this he played in the seminal pop group Weekend and formed Working Week with guitarist Simon Booth, a project that took a melange of latin, soul and jazz into the world of pop and dance music.
Since then, different projects of his own across the range of his interests have varied from totally improvised small groups and solo performances to “Jazz Rap” ( QRZ?) in the early 1990s, “FreeJazz TechnoFunk” (Game Theory) early 2000s, “Psychedelic Hip Hop” ( Stonephace) and freeish “Spiritual Jazz” (Stonephace Stabbins with Zoe Rahman) around 2010. And currently in a quartet “137”with Adrian Utley and Jim Barr of the cult band “Portishead” and Percussionist Sebastien Rochford
Paul Rogers plays an AAL 7 string bass of his own design. In addition to solo concert performances he has played with countless major musicians on the European and US Jazz and Improvised Music scenes for over 40 years including many combinations with Mark, with whom he recently recorded with Paul Dunmall and was a member of the influential group Mujician with Keith Tippett, Paul Dunmall and Tony Levin. He also played with Larry in many groupings over the years, most notably the Keith Tippett Septet and Tapestry Orchestra and Louis Moholo’s Dedication Orchestra.
Mark Sanders is a drummer/percussionist who has played with countless renowned improvising musicians in concerts and festivals all over the world, including Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Derek Bailey, Roswell Rudd and Evan Parker, with Larry in a quartet with Howard Riley and as a trio with pianist Pat Thomas and played on over 200 vinyl and CD releases and is hugely in demand with visiting American musicians.
They have a new CD out on Jazz in Britain /Jazz Now
Pre show supper is available from Cafe Tolmen – book in advance with Barbara on 01326 340630
Award-winning trio Granny’s Attic are well known on the folk scene, having built a loyal following up and down the country and beyond over the last 15 years. George Sansome (guitar), Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne (melodeon/concertina) and Lewis Wood (fiddle) are all exceptional musicians and composers, and their lively and engaging performance style wins new fans wherever they go.
Acclaimed by the likes of Martin Carthy, the band is gaining recognition from across the folk scene for being one of the best young contemporary folk bands on the circuit today. Their latest album, The Brickfields, showcases their talents as composers, with music that is firmly rooted in tradition yet entirely new. The album has gone down a storm with press and audiences alike, with the band also doing a live session on BBC Radio 3 on Christmas Day.
Pre show supper is available from Cafe Tolmen – book in advance with Barbara on 01326 340630
Dillie Keane is a songwriter, singer, actress and cabaret artiste – perhaps best known as one third of the satirical cabaret trio Fascinating Aïda, of which she is the founding member.
For her new solo cabaret show, Still Curious, Dillie promises “a raft of new songs reflecting on life, art and the price of fish. Well, possibly not the price of fish. Rather like Father William, she is old. Thus her mind and heart are like old sea-going craft turned upside down on the shore encrusted with barnacles and possibly some desiccated fronds of seaweed. Whether this gibberish can be turned into song, of course, is another matter entirely. Newly hip with a brand new hip. Expect hilarity, pathos and high kicks.”
Reviews: “A rare performer who can produce sharp, piercing satire and deliver heartbreaking songs with elan” – Huffington Post, New York “ The wonderful Dillie Keane wears her genius lightly” – Onstage “Life, love and the songwriting process are celebrated in this richly-layered cabaret” – The Stage “Keane prompts gales of laughter with merely the raising of a quizzical eyebrow” – The Times, London
One Night, Two Luminaries: Boo Hewerdine & Reg Meuross
Boo Hewerdine, acclaimed for his work with The Bible and collaborations with artists like Eddi Reader, is celebrated for his poignant lyrics and memorable melodies. Reg Meuross, known for his evocative songs and masterful storytelling, has a rich discography that has gained critical acclaim and a dedicated following. Both artists possess a remarkable talent for connecting with audiences through their music, crafting an intimate and immersive concert experience.
Boo and Reg will each perform their own songs, bringing their distinctive styles to the stage. Additionally, they will collaborate, playing on each other’s songs, creating a unique blend of their talents.
Both known for their charismatic stage presence, Boo and Reg will share the incredible stories behind their songs.
Both artists are renowned for their songwriting prowess. This tour will showcase their finest works, providing audiences with an evening of exceptional music with lyrical depth.
Folk duo (Julu Irvine and Heg Brignall) transport audiences with their exquisite vocal harmonies and their message of hope during hard times. Their harmonies soar above cascading piano and delicate fingerstyle guitar, their beautifully matched voices and their fresh approach making their songwriting stand out.
Pre show supper is available from Cafe Tolmen – book in advance with Barbara on 01326 340630
Martha Tilston is well-known and much loved singer songwriter with a worldwide following. Martha has forged a successful musical career, and in the past few years has ventured into the world of film making, gaining nominations for best arts film for The Clifftop Sessions, and garnering much praise for her first feature film, The Tape. Now based in Constantine, Martha will be performing with Matt Tweed and others and we expect a full house so advance booking is strongly advised.
‘Sharp, original songs that dissect the modern world. She captures both the harshness and the enchantment of life’ – The Guardian.
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
Weaving together a global soundscape that takes inspiration from the deep grooves of Africa, the lyrical sensibility of folk-pop, and the improvisational freedom of jazz, Namvula transports listeners into different worlds with refreshing honesty, crossing boundaries with sonic sensitivity and evocative lyricism. A singer and songwriter whose artistic journey is an exploration of cultural intersections and heartfelt storytelling, her music reflects the nuances and complexities of her mixed Zambian and Scottish heritage, and a restlessness born of her diasporic upbringing.
At the core, Namvula is a storyteller with an over-arching hope in our capacity as humans to touch each other’s hearts and to fill the world with a little more grace, and a little more love.
In this show, she will be playing a rare trio set with the acclaimed guitarist Giuliano Modarelli (Kefaya), and the inimitable Senegalese percussionist Mamadou Sarr (Sona Jobarteh) as part of her All Shades / Chasing Shadows UK tour.
Join us for a beautiful, intimate evening of song, word, soul, heart and human humanness at its most essential.
Rainey’s Revue recreate music from the early years featuring Ma Rainey’s classic songs and a selection of well known, much loved tunes.
“When Ma Rainey come to town, Folks from anyplace, miles aroun’, From Cape Giradeau, Poplar Bluff, Flocks in to hear Ma do her stuff.”
Ma Rainey, the mother of the blues, was a trailblazer in so many ways. She was known for her deep-throated voice and mesmerising stage presence that drew packed audiences and sold hit records in the early 20th Century.
Pre-show meals must be booked in advance via Barbara on 01326 340630.
Venue Opens: 18:00 Event Starts: 19:30
Tickets £16/£13(students, low-unwaged)
Children £8
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
Sound of the Sirens are an acoustic singer-songwriting duo based in Exeter, Devon comprising of Abbe Martin & Hannah Wood. Honing their craft over the past decade, Martin & Wood have cemented themselves as firm favourites not only on the Westcountry scene, but nationally, and internationally too. Their status, and fast-growing fan-base is not only testament to the pair’s prowess as songwriters and musicians, but as people too.
Martin & Wood are two of the hardest working musicians on the scene and wear their hearts very much on their sleeves in terms of their songwriting. The pair glide gracefully through laments of past relationships, and life experiences, as well as highlighting the important topics of the day, namely mental health awareness, and homelessness.Without being pigeonholed into any stereotypical genre, the instrumentation of the band is vast, and varied. Martin (stage right) plays acoustic and high-strung (Nashville tuning) guitar, mandolin, and bass drum, while partner in crime Wood (stage left) plays acoustic and electric guitar, tambourine, snare drum, and the piano
The pairs’ musical and vocal dexterity dovetail beautifully on the co-written songs, which range from beautiful, emotive ballads, to up-beat, foot stomping, hands in the air, sing-along anthems.
The dynamic duo and their musical creations translate very well onto recorded media, but it is in the live arena where the girls truly excel. There is a certain majesty about their live performances that simply cannot be put into words.
It is this “je ne sais quoi” that keeps their loyal fans returning from far and wide to see these two perform. It is not just nearly two hours of high-quality live music you get for the entrance fee, a Sound of the Sirens show is much more than that. The onstage chemistry, camaraderie, and banter is worth the ticket price alone.
2025 sees the release of ‘The Other Me’ their 6th Studio album. They will be touring throughout the UK and playing at Various festivals including Rock Oyster, Purbeck, Found Fest and Greenbelt during the Summer of 2025
Pre-show meals must be booked in advance via Barbara on 01326 340630.
Ed Blunt is a multi-instrumentalist storyteller whose songs will make you laugh and gently break your heart. Blending folk, jazz and roots with Randy Newman-esque humour, his lyrics hold a mirror to 21st-century life—from swiping right for love to dreaming on the 7:38 to Victoria. Ed will play guitar and be accompanied by pianist Rob Brockway.
Pre-show cafe meals must be booked in advance via Barbara on 01326 340630.
Fif la Mer and Oliver Wilby “Let Us Take You to Paris”
“Shut your eyes and you will be transported to Paris where you will hear a selection of French music including works from Edith Piaf, Charles Trennet, Django Reinhardt and Serge Gainsbourg. Along the way you will hear tales of life in Paris throughout the golden era of French music. You will listen to a slice of the French repertoire spanning a century; a performance of their unique arrangements..
Brace yourself for an exiting and charismatic performance”
Fifi and Oliver have been touring the country with their unique show. You may have seen them with their quintet “Oh la la” at their sell-out Ronnie Scott’s show, Theatres and Arts centres across the country. Oliver regularly performs with the Pasadena roof orchestra, Syd Lawrence Orchestra Ray Gelato, and the BBC big band.
They are appearing in the new NatWest advertising campaign.
“Really loved it – very well performed. Also very interesting in the way it illuminated the historical background to the songs.”
“Great musicians and an authentic touch of French music by two accomplished performers. So relaxing and easy to listen to. Wonderful and thank you.”
“A thoroughly enjoyable evening’s entertainment by a very engaging and talented duo.”
“It was excellent, a great atmosphere, a great performance.”
“Entertaining, different, with talented and impressive performers who held the audience’s attention for the duration on the show.”
“Excellent – light hearted entertainment from talented and characterful musicians”
An evening of Cajun music and dancing with caller.
With Eric on vocals, banjo, harmonica and Cajun triangle, Hannah on fiddle and vocals, Elly on melodeon and Frank on guitar, vocals and foot stomp, Lafayette has selected some classic Cajun and Appalachian tunes with catchy melodies and rhythm, sung in English and/or French.
Whatever the venue, the band always brings a feel-good vibe and happy atmosphere which entices you to dance and encourages you to sing. Lafayette’s gigs are invariably lively and joyful occasions.
Detta Kenzie is an English folk singer creating original songs alongside reworking
traditional music. With both Irish and Scottish heritage, Detta is committed to collecting,
restoring and sharing songs passed down in the oral tradition.
In her original work, a deep connection to the natural world is ever present. Inspired by
place names, specific references to locations in Britain, Ireland and Australia bring a
strength to Detta’s creations. Themes of womanhood, grief, rebellion and rage can be
found in her deeply narrative based songs.
Having worked as a Secondary English Teacher before transitioning into music, Detta’s
love of language shines through in her storytelling. Her words capture the diversity of
the landscape and its ability to both mould and reflect human experience.
A spellbinding collaboration between two musical powerhouses.
Dublin native Aoife Ní Bhriain is one of Ireland’s foremost traditional fiddle players and a classical violinist of international stature who commands both the classical world and her Irish traditional heritage. From across the Irish Sea and the west coast of Wales, harpist Catrin Finch has also built an impressive classical career and ventured into uncharted musical territory, most notably through her award-winning international collaborations. Finch and Ní Bhriain create a spellbinding musical dialogue where traditional and contemporary elements converge in a breathtaking celebration of musical synergy, taking listeners on a captivating journey on the wings of the bees across the Irish Sea, inspired by the cultures of their home countries.
Their debut album Double You hit Number 1 in the iTunes Classical Charts and the World Music Charts Europe, and is nominated for Best Album in the 6th RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards.
Pre-show cafe meals must be booked via Barbara on 01326 340630
Limited number (30) of discounted tickets available. Limited (10) tickets available at £10 for under-16s
Touki – the collective created by British-Senegalese musician Amadou Diagne and Franco-American Cory Seznec – is back with the release of their second album Plastic Man, recorded at the renowned Real World Studios, and produced by Oscar Cainer.
Plastic Man focuses on climate change, environmental activism and spiritual matters—weaving together West African fables, personal stories and large social, economic and political questions facing our world.
On the road, Touki performs as a trio with French strings wizard Marius Pibarot. Touki’s sound infuses East and West African styles and traditions with Appalachian banjo, folk motifs, and orchestral arrangements. Diagne’s powerful percussion, Seznec’s muted guitar-picking and rapid-fire banjo-frailing, and Pibarot’s cello-grooves provide a rhythmic foundation, while vocals, kora and violins add beautiful texture and emotional depth.
“A scintillating sequel to Ali Farka Toure & Ry Cooder’s Talking Timbuktu” – ROLLING STONE
“A subtle and fresh fusion that is further boosted by Seznec’s voice, a dextrous, resonant drawl that brings out the colour of his songs” – SONGLINES
During a long and varied musical career saxophonist Larry Stabbins has worked with most of the important figures at the cutting edge of European Jazz and Improvisation from Mike Westbrook to Keith Tippett and Germany’s Peter Brotzmann as well as working with Robert Wyatt and Jerry Dammers Spatial AKA.
Alongside this he played in the seminal pop group Weekend and formed a key writing partnership with its guitarist Simon Booth. This became the basis for Working Week, a project that took a melange of latin, soul and jazz into the world of pop and dance music. Born out of the burgeoning Latin Jazz Dance scene in London clubs such as the Electric Ballroom and the Wag, the new band mixed jazz with modish Latin dance rhythms and vocals by singers such as Juliet Roberts, Julie Tippetts ne Driscoll, Robert Wyatt and Tracy Thorn. They became a dominating force in the 80s British jazz revival, the movement that made jazz fashionable again, introducing it to a new young audience and instigating a great upsurge in new talent onto the British Jazz Scene. The band toured extensively in Europe and Japan, performing at most of Europe’s major Jazz Festivals, recording five albums for Virgin Records.
Since then he has had different projects of his own across the range of his interests from totally improvised small groups and solo performances to “Jazz Rap” ( QRZ?) in the early 1990s, “FreeJazz TechnoFunk” (Game Theory) early 2000s, “Psychedelic Hip Hop” ( Stonephace) ( which stormed the Tolmen Centre in the mid 2000s) and freeish “Spiritual Jazz” (Stonephace Stabbins with Zoe Rahman) around 2010.
He appears at the Tolmen playing saxophones, flute and bass clarinet with a new version of the classic acoustic jazz trio improvising on tunes from across the post war years, with the cream of new young Cornish jazz musicians, Tom Dauncey on Bass and Taylor Daley on Drums.
One of the true greats of British music ……..Gilles Peterson BBC Radio 1
“One of the most innovative saxophonists in Britain”
Anthony Wood — The Wire Magazine
“Larry Stabbins is a consummate saxophonist who has been at the cutting edge of jazz for much of his career”
Ian Carr -Rough Guide to Jazz
Venue Opens: 18:00 Event Starts: 19:30
Tickets £12/10(discount)
We will be holding this event downstairs, providing more of a jazz-club feel. The bar will be open throughout.
Black Umfolosi is an award Winning Acapella singing and traditional dance group that was formed in 1982 by students who wanted to develop themselves and contribute to their communities, in a positive way.
The main reason for this initiative was to preserve and revive the Imbube Culture which was at the time invaded by Break Dance and Western Culture, in which it was now facing elimination from African Dance Culture.
Black Umfolosi is the best traveled Group in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa, hence having toured extensively nationwide and internationally; Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and Asia.
They have represented Zimbabwe at International events such as Universal Expo 1992 in Spain, Universal Expo in Portugal 1998 and the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada among many more.
Contemporary folk music from the Isles of Scilly
Lost Songs of Scilly is a unique collaboration that seeks to capture the stories and essence of the Isles of Scilly in music. Foot-stomping reels blend into timeless songs and ambient immersive instrumentals – this is music infused with an unshakeable sense of place. Expect evocative island soundscapes, with samples of field recordings woven through songs of the sea, celebrating the resilience of a creative, independent island community and transporting audiences to this truly beautiful place.
Piers Lewin has lived on the tiny island of St Agnes, Isles of Scilly for twenty five years. Following the disappointing realisation that his island home (unusually for a Celtic outpost) has no surviving indigenous music, he has made it his personal mission to compose and perform music that reaches the very heart of the place. Early on in this quest, he began collaborating with award-winning composer and producer John Patrick Elliott, a regular visitor to the islands.
Having worked together on numerous Scilly-based musical projects over the years, the duo conceived Lost Songs of Scilly in 2023 to create and share a new and vibrant version of the island sound, drawing on all this experience of setting Scilly to music. The result: a unique album and live experience, touring the UK in summer 2024.
Much of the music is created and recorded outside in the landscape – the ambience of wind and wave reflecting Scilly’s unspoilt soundscape. Many of the dance tunes draw inspiration from the powerful traditional Celtic music of neighbouring Cornwall, while the songs distill the rich stories and complex traditions of a remarkable, resilient maritime community.
Every note of this music is saturated in a profound sense of place – the aim of each performance is to take everyone in the audience, just for a night, to this unique and magical island.
A Celebration of Collaboration, Togetherness and Community.”
The In The Round Mystery Tour, featuring Daisy Chute, Hollie Rogers, and Lady Nade, is set to bring a unique experience to venues across the UK. Daisy Chute, Hollie Rogers, and Lady Nade are dynamic artists leaving a lasting impact on the music scene, uniting to celebrate collaboration in music, paying homage to community strength and creativity.
Performing on stage in turns, each show “ Songs In The Round” includes a mystery local guest for an uplifting, emotional, and unexpected experience at every stop.
More about the artists:
Daisy Chute
Scottish/American artist Daisy Chute, known for her award-winning songwriting and captivating vocals (and the occasional banjo number) is making waves touring her folk/americana music at sold-out shows around the world and at festivals like Glastonbury and Black Deer.
Hollie Rogers
Hailing from Cornwall, singer-songwriter Hollie Rogers, celebrated for powerful vocals, graced stages at festivals like Glastonbury. Her unique blend of humor and sincerity shines through, with critical acclaim for her album, “Criminal Heart.”
Lady Nade
Recently honored at Bristol Beacon, Lady Nade secured a 2022 UK Americana Awards Song of the Year win and a 2023 nomination for AMAUK Artist of the Year. Her genre-defying music resonates globally, with hits like ‘Willing.’
MYSTERY GUEST
Joanna Cooke
Described by Motown legend Martha Reeves as “the baby girl singing the blues,” Joanna Cooke has a soulful essence reminiscent of Joss Stone, breaking free from conventional boundaries of color & creed in her music. Her recent ‘Kaleidoscope’ EP, produced by acclaimed musician Mark Edwards (who tours extensively with Katie Melua), took Joanna’s self-composed songs into the UK Soul Music Charts Top 30.
Linde Nijland has been called ‘best folk singer in the Netherlands'(Heaven magazine). In the UK she’s best known for her sincere renditions of Sandy Denny material. Legendary producer Joe Boyd said “Linde has given Sandy Denny’s music the respect it deserves, and made a lovely record that shows off her beautiful voice as well as her good taste.” She has sung several times with Fairport Convention, including an All Star reunion concert at the Barbican in 2009.
Linde will perform with multi-instrumentalist Bert Ridderbos (“seemingly a one-man orchestra” – fRoots) on guitars, cittern, accordion, banjo and dobro. Especially for the Tolmen Centre they will put an emphasis on Linde’s project of Sandy Denny songs, with some additional pieces from her own singer songwriter albums. Acapella songs are mixed with ballads, instrumental tunes and up-tempo singalongs. Expect a unique atmosphere, not to be missed.
With one foot firmly planted in the land of his birth, Satesboro, Georgia, and the other in the land of his adopted home, Cambridge UK, Brooks Williams is, as Martin Simpson says, “the real thing”. His guitar style is jaw-droppingly effortless, his voice like chocolate, and his vast and varied repertoire of both original and interpreted songs wholly idiomatic and authentic. To top it off, his guitar playing is fearlessly and adventurously driven with thumping bass grooves, stinging lead lines and colourful chord voicings. It’s a wonder to behold.
Hollie Rogers is a singer, songwriter and guitarist with a strong voice. Her live performances consistently receive outstanding reviews, with regular reference to the level of candour in her lyrics. “A magnificent and powerful voice” – Suzanne Vega. “Reminiscent of Carole King and Joni Mitchell. Amazing voice” – Nick Mason, Pink Floyd. Hollie will be accompanied by pianist Ed Blunt.
See hollierogers.com and find her on Facebook at hollierogersmusic
Hannah Bullock
Opening support from Cornwall based singer-songwriter Hannah Bullock. Her last appearance at the Tolmen Centre gained this plaudit from the main act: “A spellbinding set that kept the audience mesmerised” – Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman. Hannah will be performing solo, her delicate guitar work complementing her fine voice and subtle lyrics. Find Hannah on Soundcloud and Facebook at /hannahbullockmusic
Pre-show meals must be booked in advance with Barbara on 01326 340630
Ward Knutur Townes found their sound when the world fell silent. In 2020, these three singer- songwriters, (Lucy Ward, Svavar Knutur and Adyn Townes) were selected to take part in a virtu- al global music sharing experiment called Global Music Match. Teamed up together, they spent several lockdowns turning their stories into soft harmonies and intricate melodies. This year, they cashed in their stagnant travel points and recorded their debut album in Iceland. It will be released in October 2023 and accompanied by an extensive UK tour.
The album is an evocative and seamless blend of these three critically acclaimed artists signa- ture styles; it is heartfelt and powerful, with songs that take in the breadth of the human condi- tion. It is an album that masterfully explores love, mystery, folklore and longing, each track united by having great story telling at its heart.
On stage, the rapport between Ward Knutur Townes is effervescent. Each one of them is skilled in holding an audience alone, so there is an utter magic to watching their joyful, authentic ca- maraderie unfold. Audiences are welcomed as friends and leave a WKT show having laughed and cried; feeling truly uplifted by their epic stage presence and, undoubtedly, moved by their music.
For those who followed the folk revival of the 1960’s and the music of the cult band Pentangle, John Renbourn’s music needs little introduction. Spanning musical genres from blues and jazz through to folk, early music and original compositions he left behind a sumptuous catalogue of recordings which demonstrated not only his extraordinary talent as a guitar player but also his great musical depth. Any boundaries which may have existed previously were blurred by John’s eclectic taste, alongside a level of artistry and delicacy which led the way in the evolution of the steel-strung guitar.
Here is a rare, one-off opportunity to hear some of John’s greatest compositions performed live by one of the World’s finest guitarists who regularly shared the same stage. Clive Carroll was recently described by Total Guitar Magazine as “…arguably the most accomplished fingerstylist in the world today…”and like John, he is equally at home playing Mississippi Blues as he is playing the Elizabethan lute music of John Dowland. On stage, Clive’s entertaining performance transfixes audiences whether they are guitar enthusiasts or not. Coupled with Dariush Kanani’s stunningly good technique inspired by his heroes John Renbourn and Bert Jansch, this one-time show is not to be missed! This tour coincides with the release of Clive’s new album which features the music of John Renbourn
Contemporary folk/acoustic duo Gilmore & Roberts combine award- winning songwriting with astounding musicianship and their trademark harmonies to create a powerful wall of sound.
Nominated three times at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Katriona Gilmore (fiddle, mandolin) and Jamie Roberts (guitar) met while studying at Leeds College of Music and released their debut album in 2008.
Since then, the duo have toured Canada and mainland Europe, played some of the UK’s biggest acoustic festivals, toured with folk rock legends Fairport Convention and won countless accolades for their genre-spanning work. Gilmore & Roberts are set to release their sixth studio album, a long-awaited follow up to 2018’s ‘A Problem Of Our Kind’, in 2023.
Americana to some, folk to others, The Black Feathers have those qualities in expansive quantity.
Sian Chandler’s soaring, dramatic, melodious but powerful voice is a perfect counterpoint to Ray
Hughes’ piquant vocals and his sparkling and occasionally spicy guitar motifs. This is a duo who
love what they play and play what they love with panache, humour, delight and rather a lot of
commentary on the downside of being a human.
Seeing and hearing them will leave you with a smile on your face and a glowing heart of delight.
You might not think that is possible when you’ve just spent some time hearing the themes of the
songs they lay before an audience but it is testament to their sunny dispositions, infectious laughter
and amused self-deprecation that you can only come away from a gig feeling a whole heap better
about yourself and life. “…stunning harmonies that were so good it reminded me of seeing Gillian Welch and David Rawlings”
No Depression “It is so rare an opening act rival the main performance but that is exactly what the seamless harmony singing Black Feathers achieved”
Jumpin’ Hot Club “The pure emotion and subtle timing of their song delivery is as evident as the enjoyment radiating from their onstage chemistry”
Phil Beer is the multi-instrumental half of the west country’s award-winning acoustic duo, Show of Hands. With a professional career of over 36 years, Phil has a great deal of material to draw on for his solo appearances, which are an eclectic mix of traditional tunes, covers of Springsteen or The Hollies, together with his own compositions and songs from his contemporaries.
All are songs and music of memory and significance sung in the subtle and melodic Phil Beer style and interjected with musings and amusings to an almost personal audience. It is a treat of past and current favourites from one of the most popular musicians on the acoustic circuit.
Forgetful Heart – the love songs of Dylan and Cohen
With “Forgetful Heart,” Barb continues her love affair with the work of two of the most important songwriters of the 20th Century. Through the lockdown, she thought about love, and in particular the love songs of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, from their earliest explorations to their most recent recordings.
Working with her longstanding collaborator Jenny Carr, Barb will include Forgetful Heart, What Happens To The Heart, If You Gotta Go, Go Now, I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You, and So Long Marianne, among more treasures.
“Barb Jungr interprets [Dylan and Cohen’s] work with a ferocity and truthfulness that demolishes every cover version you’ve ever heard” – New York Times
One of the most exciting duos to emerge from the UK in recent times, Kit Hawes & Aaron Catlow combine heartfelt musicality, unparalleled virtuosity and vocal harmony. Using the folk music of the British Isles as a catalyst, Kit and Aaron create dynamic and effervescent interpretations of centuries-old material as well as original songs and compositions, all the while celebrating the timeless aural quality of a guitar, fiddle and vocals duet.
Studio albums The Fox (2016) and Pill Pilots (2019) have been met by wide critical acclaim, receiving five star reviews and local and national airplay. The duo tour extensively in the UK and internationally across Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. BBC 2’s Mark Radcliffe is a champion of their work, saying “Kit and Aaron are reminiscent of the late Dave Swarbrick and Martin Carthy… I can give them no higher accolade. They are at the top of their game”.
THE “ Titan of Twang“ and the “ Concertina Crooner” team up in a dynamic new folk/acoustic duo .
GEOFF LAKEMAN, patriarch of a folk dynasty – as dad of Seth, Sean and Sam and father-in-law of Cara Dillon and Kathryn Roberts – teases English and Irish folk, Americana and jazz songs out of his vintage duet concertina.
ROB MURCH brings the wow factor to the banjo, with his unique,punchy fingerstyle playing.
Both live on Dartmoor, so it was inevitable they’d gang-up musically. Expect self-written and West Country songs, rattling folk tunes and foot-stomping ragtime and cakewalk riffs.
Rob’s percussive finger-ballet up and down the fret board of his 100 year-old instrument is mesmerising.He’s revered throughout the UK for his long-time work with the renowned Dartmoor Pixie Band and The Watch trio.
After 50 years as a journalist music-loving Geoff recorded his debut CD, ”After All These Years” at the age of 69, which garnered four and five-star reviews and national radio airplay.He’s acclaimed for his “ masterful” playing of the rare Crane duet concertina and his “ rich, melodic voice.”
The duo’s relaxed yet sparkling stage presence together is bubbling with the “feel -good” factor.
Between them Geoff and Rob have performed at festivals all over the UK and abroad, theatres, arts centres and folk clubs. They are equally at ease in venues large or small.
What do you get when you blend a musical bohemian poet, a choral singer, and an ex punk rocker?
Graymalkin are a female trio, based in and around the Cornish village of Constantine, who have recently burst onto the local folk scene introducing their unusual and captivating take on classic songs and self-penned descriptions of the world around them.
In both songs that are familiar to their audiences and their own compositions, their exquisite three-part harmonies are supported by a beautiful blend of acoustic guitars and violin.
Ranging from upbeat, rhythm-driven tracks that will get those toes tapping, to melancholic, meandering tales of the love and loss, between them this group have a unique blend of musical magic and are well on their way to becoming local favourites.
“She has probably the purest voice I have heard and at times it sent shivers up and down my spine” BBC
With a pure silken voice and lyrics that inspire and captivate, Martha Tilston has developed a successful musical career with a large and loyal following worldwide.
She has played on some of the world’s most prestigious stages and festivals, recorded and released several critically acclaimed albums, gained a nomination for BBC best newcomer, appeared as a guest vocalist for Zero 7, toured internationally and worked with the some of the world’s most inspiring musicians.
The past few years have seen Martha venture in to the world of film making, gaining nominations for best arts film for The Clifftop Sessions and recently releasing her first feature film (with an accompanying Soundtrack Album) – The Tape – which is garnering much praise and excitement.
Martha will be featuring songs from her new album, ‘Luminous’, recorded locally with many friends participating. Martha describes the album as “a collection of songs that soothe, heal and open our hearts”. This is the link: https://marthatilston.bandcamp.com/album/luminous
“Redolent of early Kate Bush, soulful vocals that soar around, an understated masterpiece’” Acoustic Magazine
This popular, multi award-winning husband and wife duo exude timeless class with their exquisite brand of traditional and contemporary music.
Duos come and duos go… and some nurture and fine tune their art and watch it grow into something totally original and captivating. For over a quarter of a century Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman’s partnership has proved personal, permanent and pivotal.
From early days in folk supergroup ‘Equation’ through to their most recent work, acclaimed as ‘Their best yet’, with a nod or two along the way to their extra-curricular musical adventures, the evening promises a whistle-stop tour through their artistic journey to date.
Support will be supplied by Truro-based singer-songwriter Hannah Bullock.
Hannah blends pared back guitar, a rich voice and powerful lyrics, conjuring a warm, authentic sound. Her intimate performances draw the listener in close to the stories she tells – of love and loss, hope and fear, but always with a sense of uplift.
Hannah will be joined by Kyra Norman and Kath Buckler on harmonies and percussion.
This world class duo provides a feast of interplay, improvisation and eclectic repertoire with music ranging from Peter Gabriel to Richard Rogers via Dollar Brand and Alison Goldfrapp.
Guitar thaurmaturge John Etheridge (Soft Machine, Stephane Grappelli, Dizzy Gillespie, John Williams and Nigel Kennedy) and virtuoso violinist Christian Garrick (Van Morrison, Cleo Laine, Wynton Marsalis, Bireli Lagrene and Tim Minchin) have been associated for many years starting with the Grappelli/Reinhardt-based Sweet Chorus project and concurrently in duo format.
This free-wheeling pair make extensive use of looping and other effects, creating exotic tapestries of sound, almost orchestral at times, yet they can switch seamlessly to a pure acoustic sound with rolliking renditions of Hot Club swing evoking the spirit of Reinhardt and Grappelli as they do.Atmospheric, hypnotic, humorous and entertaining.They can roar, seduce and whisper…
“One of the most potent relationships in European Jazz”. (Guardian)
“Superb interplay – gorgeous stuff” (The Times)
“Limitless imagination and mutual respect combined makes them one of the most exciting partnerships on the live circuit.” (Cardiff Post)
Discography:
At The Dimming OF The Day (2006) Men On Wire (2008) When The World Stopped For Snow (2013)
Magical music came from the inspired duo of guitarist John Etheridge and violinist Christian Garrick. Etheridge is celebrating his 40th year as a professional musician and, somehow, he’s managed to be at the forefront of jazz and ‘jazz-connected’ music at all times. Many in the audience would have remembered Etheridge coming to public notice in the 1970s as part of the jazz fusion band Soft Machine. This concert was part of the two week long London Jazz Festival and the duo’s musical mix demonstrated jazz is just as much a hybrid music now as it was in its birth pangs of the 1890s. They began with Mercy Street by Peter Gabriel, an old school pal of Etheridge’s, followed with the Sonny Rollins tune Pent-up House, then moved seamlessly to a piece from William Walton’s film score for Henry V. And so it continued.The two players combatted with their musically adventurous spirit – completely sure of each other, yet still able to sparkle and surprise. There were some musical memories of Etheridge’s years working with French violinist Stephane Grappelli and a resultant moment of homage to Django Reinhardt with a closing abstract playing of his masterwork, Nuages.
On Your Doorstep concerts bring the orchestra closer to live audiences across the South West. Christmas Classics is a special Christmas themed concert by a mixed ensemble of 8-10 BSO musicians. It will include a programme of well-known festive tunes, and wintery Christmas classics for all the family.
Uniquely captivating band Lady Maisery return to the Tolmen with their first studio album in six years. The combined vocal and multi-instrumental talents of Hazel Askew, Hannah James and Rowan Rheingans transmute to from a unified voice, carrying stories of sisterhood, human struggle, the joy of living and the vitality of music. Their new album, ‘Tender’ -due for release in November – comprises original songs, as well as interpretations of work by Bjork, Tracy Chapman and the late Lal Waterson: an arresting record that explores the power in vulnerability and the strength in kindness. Frequent festival headliners, Lady Maisery have for over a decade enraptured audiences throughout the UK and Europe. Their return has been eagerly awaited.
“Exquisite, thrilling” – The Guardian
“Ambitious and beautiful” – Mark Ratcliffe, BBC Radio 2
“Women with ideas, purpose and urgency…powerful, enthralling work” – Songlines
Formed in Beirut, the band returned to the UK in 2016 and set to performing tirelessly up and down the country, leading to BBC Radio 2’s Mark Radcliffe hailing them as “one of the real discoveries on the folk circuit in recent times.” Their debut album, Hide and Hair, gained attention in national publications, received repeated national airplay on BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music, and won Best Album at the 2019 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Following a year of wall-to-wall touring across the UK, Europe, and North America in 2019, the band’s march was halted by the live silence of the global pandemic. Now, they emerge from their chrysalis transformed. As ever, ‘The Trials Continue’ – but this time the multi- talented instrumentalist and singer Polly Bolton joins their ranks.
The Trials of Cato’s hotly anticipated second album is scheduled for release later this year. Entitled Gog Magog, the album is named both after the mythical giant of Arthurian legend and the Cambridgeshire hilltop, where the new album was recorded during lockdown.
Support (from 7.30pm) from Truro-based singer-songwriter Hannah Bullock
Hannah blends pared back guitar, a rich voice and powerful lyrics, conjuring a warm, authentic sound. Her intimate performances draw the listener in close to the stories she tells – of love and loss, hope and fear, but always with a sense of uplift.Inspired by formidable female solo singers such as Joan Armatrading and Joan As Police Woman, and by the poetry and grit of Bruce Springsteen, Hannah’s songs take in everything from folk to grunge rock to Americana.
Nominated ‘Musician of the Year’ – BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2018
“Martin Simpson has transcended borders and oceans to quietly become a superb storyteller and musician of great depth and unquestionable taste.”Stephen Fearing
The remarkable intimate solo performances Martin gives go from strength to strength – every gig is a masterclass. He travels the length and breadth of the UK and beyond, giving rapt audiences passion, sorrow, love, beauty, tragedy and majesty through his playing.
Nominated ‘Musician of the Year’ – BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2018
“Martin Simpson has transcended borders and oceans to quietly become a superb storyteller and musician of great depth and unquestionable taste.”Stephen Fearing
The remarkable intimate solo performances Martin gives go from strength to strength – every gig is a masterclass. He travels the length and breadth of the UK and beyond, giving rapt audiences passion, sorrow, love, beauty, tragedy and majesty through his playing.
“What’s it like being the best guitar player in the world…?” Martin’s modesty and grace prevented him from answering this BBC Radio 4 interviewer’s question recently, but the facts speak for themselves.
40 years after he recorded his first album, Golden Vanity, in 1976, Martin is known as a guitarist of formidable talent. Equally at home playing English traditional folk, American folk and blues and his own compositions, he is consistently named as one of the very finest fingerstyle guitar players in the world.
He is listed in Gibson Guitars’ Top 30 Acoustic Guitarists of all time, and Acoustic Guitar readers voted him number 12 guitarist in the world in 2005.
Universally acclaimed as one of the finest ever acoustic and slide guitar players, and a fine banjo-picker to boot, his solo shows bear witness to an artist at the very top of his game. Whether interpreting material from tradition or singing his own potent self-penned songs, Simpson is a remarkable storyteller: captivating and profoundly moving. His own songwriting produced the poignant ‘Never Any Good’, from Prodigal Son, 2007’s Folk Album of the Year.
Martin continues to collaborate with a dazzling array of people from across the musical spectrum: Jackson Browne, Martin Taylor, June Tabor, Richard Hawley, Bonnie Raitt, Danny Thompson, David Hidalgo, Danú, Richard Thompson and Dom Flemons are among the great musicians he has worked with.
In recent years, he has been a lynchpin in the award-winning Full English, The Elizabethan Sessions and, in 2015, recorded Murmurs, an exciting new album with Andy Cutting and Nancy Kerr. Martin’s most recent album was released in November last year to the usual critical acclaim. ‘Home Recordings’ was recorded at his home by his regular producer, now neighbour, Andy Bell, andfinds Martin singing and playing, literally amongst his beloved guitar and banjo collection and out on his Peak District-facing porch. Martin is planning a new solo album for release next March on Topic Records. Always prolific, and never one to rest long without a guitar in his hands and a song in his head, Martin is genuinely thrilled to be back out on the road now – back where he loves to be – playing live.
He has had the most nominations of any performer in the 18 years of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, an astonishing 32 times, 13 of those as Musician of the Year, winning that particular accolade twice.
A virtuoso player without question, but above all Martin Simpson conveys his diverse treasure trove of material from the heart, performing with rare subtlety, intensity and honesty. A true master of his art.
Coming from Zimbabwe, Black Umfolosi are inspired by the traditional song and dance of Southern Africa, and combine acapella singing with vibrant dancing.Their performances are energy driven and completely engaging, mixing a great gentleness of spirit and song with an exuberance in dance.
“They have an incredible way to sing, to dance, a beautiful presence on the stage.Their simplicity, naturalness and cheerfulness was a beautiful present” – Milan Festival
Toronto-based duo Brenley MacEarchen and Lisa MacIsaac bring their heart-wrenching songwriting and luscious harmonies on tour to Cornwall. With nine albums to their credit and a host of folk music awards to their name, they are a joy to experience. Madison Violet’s songs have featured in influential magazine MOJO’s Top 10 playlist, as well as CBC Radio 2’s Top 20, and received a mass of international acclaim from outlets such as the BBC, Maverick Magazine, NPR and Germany’s WDR, where the duo featured on the station’s list of ‘Best Bands of All Time’. Their 2014 single These Ships was remixed and released on one of the largest US dance labels, Ultra Records, garnering over 1.2 million plays on Spotify, and counting.
“Heartaching harmonies and tunes make Madison Violet a must-see act” – The Independent.
We welcome back the superb musicians from the international seminar at Prussia Cove for a world class concert of classical music This year will showcase international soloists and musicians from across the world, an experience not to be missed.
The Blackheart Orchestra are a two person orchestra playing up to 13 instruments in their unique live show. Their symphonic use of vintage synthesisers, acoustic and electric guitars, mandola, bass, bowed guitar and percussion, piano, organ, omnichord and melodica creates powerful, highly emotional music that has been described as a modern day Pink Floyd, a more accessible Portishead and with many comparisons to the creativity of Kate Bush.
Their highly acclaimed album Mesmeranto entered the Official UK Rock Chart at No.18 hailed as “A mesmerising powerhouse” “An avant-garde musical utopia” and “A life-enhancing listening experience”. Singer Chrissy Mostyn was voted No.8 in a UK female vocalist poll and named “One of the most extraordinary voices singing anywhere today”.
With awards including Best British Duo, a Limelight Progressive Music Award Nomination and being voted in the UK’s Top 4 Best New Bands, plus performances at the London Palladium and Royal Albert Hall, The Blackheart Orchestra are two voices and thirteen instruments that create a unique musical experience that is truly ground-breaking.
Naomi and Paul are a working musical duo, based in the folk and country roots genre, who have made 4 acclaimed albums and been nominated for a Radio 2 Folk Award ( Best Original Song). They have appeared at Cambridge Festival, Glastonbury, Celtic Connections and many others. They were recently featured as the Guardian Album of the Month for ‘Singing It All Back Home’, their Appalachian Ballads album, for which they were also featured in session on the Mark Radcliffe BBC Radio 2 show.
Acclaimed guitarist and composer Clive Carroll has created a sound world all his own, with a signature blend of warmth and humour that belies his dazzling technical skill. Clive’s masterful compositions feature influences mined from the delicate cadences of Elizabethan lute classics, the imaginative eccentricity of Frank Zappa, visionary classical composers such as Bartok and Ligeti, and hints of jazz and Delta blues!
This is a return visit by Clive to the Tolmen Centre. The first was a huge success and we look forward to welcoming Clive again for another varied programme of sublime guitar playing.
The UOOC are appearing for an evening of music and fun in their own inimitable way. As a group they have been performing for over 6 years now in many different venues raising money for various charities along the way. On this occasion they are happy to be playing on their home turf, supporting the Tolmen Window Fund.
Tickets £5 each, here and on the door.Bar and light refreshments available.
Flats and Sharps, a four-piece bluegrass outfit from Penzance, Cornwall make their very welcome return to the Tolmen Centre.Their previous appearances have been hugely successful and we expect a sell-out this time round.
Delivering energetic, enthusiastic and spirited Bluegrass to audiences all around the world, Flats and Sharps have been performing their unique take on this music for over eight years. Their shows include a wide variety of influences, from a fresh and modern outlook on foot-stomping Bluegrass material through to their powerful and well-crafted original songs, with beautiful moments everywhere in between. Their music perfectly blends strong harmonies and stonking solos, their incredible stage presence and energy create an evening that’ll have you dancing, laughing and singing along in no time.
Flats and Sharps will be supported by female acoustic duo True Foxes, well known to Cornish audiences through their many appearances at festivals, on BBC Radio Cornwall and at many venues.
BBC Folk Award winner Ben Walker joins forces with highly acclaimed singer and pianist Kirsty Merryn to create a fresh take on a tradition ripe for rediscovery. The EP Life and the Land is a celebration of England’s harvest tradition, reimagining songs born out of our agricultural past. Focusing on songs from rural England found in local archives and EFDSS collections, Ben and Kirsty are breathing new life into long-lost songs of the land. They are innovative composers and performers bringing eclectic influences from across the musical spectrum – from classical to jazz to electronica – as well as deep roots in traditional music. With Ben’s guitars and mandolin providing a perfect frame for Kirsty’s piano, shruti and silver voice, their contrasting and complementary styles combine to create a timeless sound.
Ben Walker, A BBC Folk Award winner with more than 50 albums under his belt as producer and musician was recently hailed as ‘one of the best acoustic guitarists in the world right now’ by Total Guitar magazine and ‘a great guitarist,composer and producer’ by Mark Radcliffe on the BBC Folk Show.Kirsty Marryn has two solo albums to her name, and the latest, Our Bright Night, was chosen as the Guardian’s Folk Album of the Month.
“With Life and the Land, Ben Walker and Kirsty Merryn have delivered a masterclass in how to successfully place old jewels in new settings. They have indeed set the bar high for anyone else who, in the future, wishes to breathe new life into old masters.My only niggle is that the release is an EP and not a full album.” – David Pratt, Folk Radio
Americana Folk Singer-songwriter Lady Nade has learnt that loss and grief isn’t something one can recover from alone and with her music she creates a communal experience that everyone can enter into on their own terms. With a sound of modern soul mixed with folk, she has one of the most unique and distinctive voices in British music today.
Lady Nade will be supported by Simeon Hammond Dallas, an up and coming young female country/folk singer with a voice to die for.
The ultimate in feel-good dance music from the culture-rich mid-Africa!
The man who single-handedly gave the world the infectious Kwasa Kwasa dance; Kanda Bongo Man is one of the most well known stars of world music, and one of the first pioneers of African Soukous music.
Championed by John Peel and Andy Kershaw in the late 80’s, he developed a huge loyal fanbase, and was a key figure in the introduction of African & World music to the mainstream. His music can still be regularly heard on mainstream radio – especially BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 3.
Kanda Bongo Man’s music has always been driven by optimism and happiness, and his exhilarating performances are fast moving and exciting combinations of dance music and dance moves rooted deep in the Congolese tradition.
As the famous saying goes – “If Kanda Bongo Man doesn’t make you want to dance, call an ambulance. You’re dead.” Still hugely popular today, Kanda Bongo Man tours with the backing of his incredible band.
Kanda and his magnificent band are a highlight to any programme. Not to be missed!
Our locally based four-part choir invites you to join them for an evening of festive music.The programme will consist of a selection of carols and songs from many countries, eras and styles, ‘Classical to Lighter’. It will include pieces by JS Bach, Peter Warlock, Oliver Tarney, and Will Tod, and carols by much-loved Cornish composer Thomas Merritt. There will be an opportunity for the audience to join in the singing of traditional carols. Refreshments will be available.
Tickets £5 in advance from any member of the choir, or on the door.
This event is a joint fund-raiser for the choir and the Tolmen Centre.
Founder of the Schubert ensemble, William Howard is one of Britain’s leading pianists. As a solo pianist, he has performed many times in the Wigmore Hall and the South Bank in London and he has broadcast regularly on BBC Radio 3.
“A thoughtful, poetic player”.. Sunday Times
Programme
Mendelssohn Rondo Capriccioso Op.14
Schubert Impromptu in G flat major Op.90 No.3
Schubert Impromptu in E flat major Op.90 No.2
Dvořák Serenade and Furiant from Poetic Tone Pictures Op.85
Smetana Sousedská and Skočná from Czech Dances
Interval
Four Contemporary Love Songs (by Howard Skempton, Elena Kats-Chernin, Richard Reed Parry, Cheryl Frances-Hoad)
‘Daoirí is one of the most important traditional singers to emerge in the last decade’
Dónal Lunny
Singer and bouzouki player Daoirí (pronounced ‘Derry’) Farrell is described by some of the biggest names in Irish folk music as one of most important singers to come out of Ireland in recent years. Six months after releasing the album ‘True Born Irishman’ Daoirí won two prestigious BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2017 for Best Newcomer and Best Traditional Track, and performed live at the awards ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Since then he has toured the UK, and played at festivals in Australia, Canada, the UK, Belgium, Denmark and more. In February 2018 he toured with the all-star Transatlantic Sessions in major venues across the UK. Daoirí released his new album ‘A Lifetime Of Happiness’, produced by Dónal Lunny, in February 2019. In autumn 2019 he was also nominated for three RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards 2019 for best singer, best traditional track and best album for ‘A Lifetime Of Happiness’.
From March 2020 he attracted up to 85,000 viewers for his run of twenty-five weekly live streamed concerts every Sunday night at 10pm, which concluded at the end of August.
‘His powerfully unadorned vocals might be from any era, variously recalling Paul Brady and Andy Irvine…it’s a powerful statement.’ **** Mojo
Pre-show café meals (from 6pm) bookable via Barbara on 01326 340630
Dynamic Scottish modern folk trio make their welcome return: their last appearance here was a roof-raising triumph: don’t miss them.
One of Scotland’s most popular folk-based groups to emerge in the last decade, chart-toppers Talisk have toured the world stacking up major awards for their explosively energetic yet artfully woven sound, including Folk Band of the Year at the BBC Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award, and the Belhaven Bursary for Innovation.
Mohsen Amini (BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ Musician of the Year 2018), Hayley Keenan and Graeme Armstrong fuse concertina, fiddle and guitar to produce a ground-breaking, multi-layered and instantly enthralling signature sound that has captivated audiences around the globe.
Alex Rex are a 4-piece ghost rock band from Glasgow. Masterminded by Alex Neilson (Trembling Bells/ Bonnie “Prince” Billy/ Shirley Collins), the band are made up by Rory Haye (BMX Bandits), Georgia Seddon (Incredible String Band) and Victor Herrero (Josephine Foster). They will perform songs of love, loss and loathing from their new album Paradise (out now on Neolithic Recordings). ‘It freewheels wantonly and earnestly from noise chug to trad country to towering goth ballad’ Record Collector.
Support from Cornish duo We Are Muffy (Nick Duffy and Angeline Morrison.)
Thomas Gabriel, eldest grandson of Johnny Cash, is looking to the future while also honouring the Cash family history. Undoubtedly influenced by his iconic grandfather, Thomas seamlessly blends Country, Americana and Rock to create his personal sound and thus, is carving his very own path. An evening of stories and songs.
The best folk band you’ve never heard of…” say the Guardian; a collection of multi-instrumentalists who swap styles as often as they swap instruments. A “passionately ramshackle” quintet playing their own brand of “triumphant folk” while journeying around Europe in a vintage Renault 4.
Equally at home on the main stage or the corner of an old barn, the boys treat each gig with the same gusto, bringing you their high octane, theatrical stories and songs in a journey through just about every genre of music.
The Ukelele Orchestra of Constantine are a band of friends who have played and sung together for six years, initially with the sole intention of having fun. They have played in venues around Cornwall, engaging audiences with their eclectic mix of melodies and songs. Expect to smile!
They soon realised that they could use their talent to entertain to raise funds for local charities and have kindly offered to donate the proceeds from the concert to the Tolmen Centre “Window Fund”. A big thank you from the Tolmen team!
The £10 ticket (£5 children) includes a pasty and a drink, there is also a raffle, bar and ice creams available.
For tickets please contact Tracey Clowes on 01326 340279
Martha Tilston has gathered a large and loyal following with her fine voice, inspiring lyrics and captivating stage presence. During lockdown she has kept us entertained with a series of homemade fireside gigs, and now – at last – we have the chance to hear her live again, with her band backing her. With seven albums to her name she has a huge repertoire to choose from, from her arrangements of traditional songs to her own growing catalogue of memorable songs ranging from the intensely personal to the overtly political
“Sharp, original songs that dissect the modern world. She captures both the harshness and the enchantment of life” – Guardian
Kitty Macfarlane is a songwriter and guitarist from Somerset, whose music is rich with visual imagery and written with an eco-eye. Her trademark lies in remarkably mature songwriting, a marked empathy with the environment and a strong sense of place. Carried by a clear voice ‘controlled yet wild’ (Folk Radio), her lyrics touch on intervention and rewilding, climate change and migration, woman’s age-old relationship with textiles and the land, and the changing face of the natural world. From the starling murmurations on the Somerset Levels to the lowly eel’s epic transatlantic migration, the coasts and estuaries of the South West and the small part we ourselves play in a much bigger picture, her songs are bound by the underlying theme of mankind’s relationship with the wild. Cerebral and topical, honest and immediate, these are not throwaway lyrics or everyday melodies but thought-provoking and evocative compositions with wonderfully crafted soundscapes.
Her debut album Namer Of Clouds was one of The Guardian’s Best Folk Albums of 2018, and has seen airplay across BBC Radio 2, 3, 4 and 6 Music. Last year she was invited to guest-present two episodes of BBC Radio 4’s Tweet of the Day and Kitty performed live in session on BBC Radio 2 at the beginning of 2019.
The gig will be held under the current Covid rules: online booking only, socially distanced with a maximum of 64 tickets, no cafe, masks to be worn, doors 7pm.
Appealing to all ages, world class musicians are bringing an accessible programme of classical music to Constantine. This will include Weber’s exuberant Clarinet Quintet alongside works by Dvorak, Schumann and the hugely entertaining work Steamboat Bill Junior written by contemporary Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg in homage to Buster Keaton’s silent film of the same name.
Tickets £9, Child £7, Family £25 Free for 8 to 25 year olds - telephone bookings only - quote 'Cavatina'.
Flats & Sharps
Flats & Sharps, Cornwall celebrated bluegrass band, will be making their welcome second appearance at the Tolmen Centre on Sunday February 16th 2020.
Delivering energetic, enthusiastic and spirited Bluegrass to audiences all around the world, Flats and Sharps have been performing their unique take on this music for over eight years. Their shows include a wide variety of influences, from a fresh and modern outlook on foot-stomping Bluegrass material through to their powerful and well-crafted original songs, with beautiful moments everywhere in between. Their music perfectly blends strong harmonies and stonking solos, their incredible stage presence and energy create an evening that’ll have you dancing, laughing and singing along in no time.
Edd Bateman’s West African Love Affair
‘Diamonds, Gold & Mobile Phones’ is the second, self- produced album by Edd Bateman’s West African Love Affair. The new release is a true romance of cross continental culture and an expression of concern, told in songs of lust for natural resources and longing for a better life by its people. Now with a new lineup back from touring Uganda with Kanda Bongo Man, the story is underpinned by the live dynamite trio of Jeannot Bel’s waterfall style Soukous guitar licks, Felix Ngindu’s hereditary Folklore drum beat and Edd’s omniscient Afro bass.
Expect to dance until you can’t stand.
Tickets £11.
THE RAT AFFAIR
with support from Men Are Singing
Start the New Year with a rambunctious and soulful musical experience brought to you by The Rat Affair; a band of musicians, theatre makers and visual artists.
Shifting between sensationally boisterous Eastern European folk and sparse reflective piano works, join The Rat Affair and their unique sound as it enraptures the listener like a rallying call.
“That’s what being in love sounds like - dramatic and blistering and gorgeous” Sarah Gosling, BBC Introducing
With support from Men Are Singing, a Cornish, all-inclusive, cross-generational male voice choir. Singing songs by Ivor Cuttler, Björk, Talking Heads and some of their own.
It's the perfect night to shake those New Year's blues!
Twelfth Day
Orcadian fiddler Catriona Price and harpist Esther Swift have played together for over 10 years, bringing an adventurous mix of folk, jazz,pop and classical influences to their compositions and arrangements. Their last album, ‘Cracks in the Room’ was described in fRoots as “a boldly brilliant record, suffused with dark humour and wildly inventive musicianship”.
Tickets £11
Andy Irvine
A rare chance to see one of the greatest of all Irish singers and musicians, in an intimate solo show. Andy has been hailed as “a tradition in himself ”, and has spent a 50+ year career playing in a dazzling variety of bands, notably Planxty and Patrick Street, and with such names as Christy Moore, Paul Brady and Dick Gaughan.
Tickets £12.50 Children half price
Budapest Café Orchestra
We are delighted to welcome back the Budapest Café Orchestra, led by leading violinist and composer, Christian Garrick., playing traditional folk & gypsy music with jazz and swinginflections whilst Klezmer, Romanian Doinas andHungarian Czardas are awarded fresh treatments.
”The music is magic in their hands”... Sean Rafferty, BBC Radio 3
Tickets £12
Martin Simpson
We welcome a return visit from the virtuoso folk/blues guitarist and singer, nominated Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio 2Folk Awards 2018, and listed in Gibson Guitars’ Top 30 acoustic guitarists of all time. His last appearance was a sell-out so we recommend booking early.
“One of the virtuoso instrumentalists of the English music scene”
‘Sounds better than ever’ **** 4 Stars The Guardian
Tickets £15
London Philharmonic Skiffle Orchestra
The LPSO are much more than a skiffle band! They are a musical/comedy showband following in the tradition of Spike Jones and his City Slickers but with a modern slant.
To the LPSO skiffle means “anything goes” as long as it is musical, entertaining and fun. Their performances are energetic, colourful, bizarre, tuneful, virtuoso and hilarious.
Tickets £11
Medical Maelstrom
Presented by Helford River Children’s Sailing Trust
We are thrilled to welcome back the hilarious Medical Maelstrom in an evening of musical entertainment in aid of HRCST. Medical Maelstrom are three doctors, who also happen to be rather good at music. Expect an evening of song,reflections on the humancondition and a large dose of humour to lift the spirits.
Tickets £12, Children £5
Kim & Andrew Lowings
Daughter and Father duo Kim and Andrew Lowings have been writing and collaborating together since 2011. The pair have become well established on the British folk circuit and together form half of the band Kim Lowings and The Greenwood. As a duo they are able to showcase their songwriting skills and the intricacies of their acoustic sound with a warm and captivating stage presence. The sound draws together mountain dulcimer, guitar, bouzouki and piano to resonate with Kim’s lyric writing and arrangements of traditional folk song.
Tickets £9 - Under 12s £4.50
Talisk
Sottish firebrands Talisk have stacked up several major awards for their explosively energetic yet artfully woven sound, including 2018’s Belhaven Bursary for Innovation & 2017’s Folk Band of the Year both at the BBC Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, and a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award.
Mohsen Amini – the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ Musician of the Year 2018, Hayley Keenan and Graeme Armstrong seamlessly meld concertina, fiddle and guitar to produce a multi-layered, enthralling signature that has effortlessly captivated audiences from the USA to Australia, and throughout the UK.
Appearances at world-leading festivals – including the Cambridge Folk Festival, Denmark’s Tønder, WOMAD UK and Las Palmas, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Celtic Colours, Milwaukee Irish Festival and five successive outings at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections – have amassed a die-hard following, whilst the world’s folk and world music media have also lauded high credits upon the trio. The release of their hotly anticipated second album, Beyond, in October 2018 was met with a five-star ‘Top of the World’ review in Songlines, praising the band as “incredibly infectious and endearing… fresh, invigorating, accomplished and playfully frisky.”
Tickets £11 - Under 12s £5.50
Pete Oxley and Nick Meier
These are two masterly guitarists, although very different in style. Oxley has been playing on the British jazz scene since 1997, with everyone from Stacey Kent to Gilad Atzmon, while Meier, originally from Switzerland, has toured the world, absorbing musical idioms en route. In the course of a dozen pieces the array of changing sounds, moods and textures they create is gorgeous, fascinating and apparently endless.
Tickets £11
Sam Carter
Named Best Newcomer at the 2010 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Sam Carter has been stirring audiences from Camden to Canada, via an attention grabbing appearance on Later... with Jools Holland and a tremendous performance in a specially assembled band to back Richard Thompson at Shrewsbury Folk Festival. Described as ‘the finest English-style finger-picking guitarist of his generation’ by Jon Boden (Remnant Kings, ex- Bellowhead), Sam has toured the world, equally happy to perform intimate solo shows on acoustic guitar, on electric with a full band, or to collaborate with other artists.
Tickets £11
Sarah Gillespie
Sarah Gillespie is a critically acclaimed singer songwriter renowned for mixing elements of blues, folk and jazz with her distinctive streetwise lyricism.
She is joined by Mercury nominated Kit Downes (piano), Ruth Gollar (bass) & Chris Montague
‘Haunting tunes and striking lyrics...yearningly pretty and bitter sweet’ The Independent
Tickets £11
Flamenco Loco with Jaime Cantera
Jaime Cantera (vocals & percussion) and Cuffy Cuthberson (guitar) are joined by dancers Aneta ‘La Polaca’ & Claudia Caholin for an unforgettable evening of passionate, fiery flamenco music and dance.
Pre-show meals from 6pm must be pre-booked via 01326 341353
Moscow Drug Club
1930's Berlin cabaret, Hot Club of Paris, Nuevo Tango, Gypsy Campfire and a range of originals and covers: the Moscow Drug Club have it all, and promise an intoxicating evening. Their last appearance was a sellout so it is advisable to book early.
Pre-show meals available from 6pm but MUST be pre-booked via 01326 341353.
Ye Vagabonds
Young Irish folk duo, brothers Brian and Diarmuid MacGloinn, play original songs and material from England, Ireland, Scotland and America.
Me And My Friends
Me And My Friends play soulful, poignant and gloriously danceable music, subtly referencing many styles, including vintage Ghanaian highlife, Jamaican roots and Afro-Brazilian folk. The UK-based quintet create a timeless sound with a global outlook, performed with an infectious energy, and the result is instantly recognisable, highly original and truly genre-defying.
We will be holding this event in our downstairs space to encourage you to dance!
£11/£10/£5 (16 and under)
Steve Tilston & Jez Lowe
Two of the UK's acoustic/folk scene's finest songwriters join forces for an evening filled with songs and music, chat and banter and intimate insights into their approach to their craft. Head to head, neck to neck (guitar necks that is!) listen in as they rekindle the spontaneity of their late-night living room song swaps.
Jane Darke & Jim Causley
Acclaimed film-maker Jane Darke’s most recent work celebrates the life of the well-loved Cornish poet Charles Causley who was born 100 years ago. It features interviews with many well-known contemporary poets including Andrew Motion, Simon Armitage and Roger McGough as well as intimate conversations with family and friends. Filmed on location in North Cornwall and Causley’s ancestral Dartmoor village of Trusham, it also features musical settings of Charles’ poems throughout by acclaimed folk singer and relative Jim Causley. There will be a Q&A after the 90 minute film.
Pre-show meals available from 6pm ONLY if pre-booked on 01326 341353.
KEVOS: From this World to the Next
Kevos is dedicated to performing contemporary music by new and established composers to audiences curious about the classical music of today.
From this World to the Next is an intriguing programme of live music and electronics that explores mortality and our sense of other worlds. Featuring works by Jonathan Harvey and newcomers Joanna Baillie, Missy Mazzolli and Jonathan Woolgar, the concert ends with a performance of Steve Reich’s life-affirming Double Sextet.
Promoted with CAST as part of the Groundwork programme
Tickets £10 | £5 (Under 18s, students)
Will Keating and Friends
Following two sell out Cornish Folk Concerts held in recent months, Will Keating, one of The Oggymen, brings his talented musician friends to The Tolmen Centre for the first time. Award winning Banjo player John Dowling will be joining Will, along with veteran musician Claudia Colmer on her 300yr old Double Bass. Will Keating will be performing songs from his highly acclaimed debut solo album, Cornwall My Home, and other Cornish folk favourites. Other guest performers will be announced, for what will be a fun filled evening of Cornish Folk.
Pre-show meals available from our cafe from 6pm but ONLY if pre-booked via 01326 341353.
Wurlitza
Wurlitza are a critically acclaimed five piece band from South East Cornwall who add live soundtracks to silent films in a way that is completely unique.
Their wide ranging repertoire includes original, pop, contemporary, classical, jazz and klezmer music.
Expect the unexpected!
Wurlitza add a modern twist to silent film accompaniment by adding music that will be familiar, but arranged in a way that is novel and fresh.
The soundtrack to A Cottage in Dartmoor includes classical pieces by Mozart,Chopin and Villa Lobos, alongside jazz and pop songs from Serge Gainsbourgh, Blondie, Buddy Holly and Coldplay.
A Cottage on Dartmoor is a thriller of love, jealousy and hairdressing.
Made in 1929 by the young Anthony Asquith, this film explores the latest craze to have been hitting the cinemas; the talkies.
One of the last silent films to be made, this is early British cinema at its best.
Led by jazz violin superstar Christian Garrick, the BCO evokes vivid images of Tzigane fiddle maestros, Budapest café life and gypsy camp fires. As fantastically exciting as they are musically impressive, they journey far and wide across the Balkans and Russia, Klezmer, Romanian Doinas, Hungarian Czardas.With immense skill and profound musicianship, they have won acclaim from fans, fellow musicians and critics alike for their electrifying and entertaining shows.
Tickets £11, £10
Edd Bateman’s West African Love Affair
Edd Bateman joined his first African band at 14, playing bass, and went on to work with Senegalese and Congolese musicians around Europe and in Africa. Now he draws together 15 years of musical experience into this African group of musicians and a set of original music re ecting the joyful heartbeat of West African dance music.
Tickets £11, £10
Martha Tilston
[tube id="rot_5nyanjk" txt="Nomad Blood"]
Martha Tilston, Penryn-based singer-songwriter, has a big local following, as well as an international reputation. With seven albums to her name, Martha will be playing material from her latest, 'Nomad', as well as old favourites. Backed by her superb band, Martha's crystal-clear vocals will inspire and captivate, and her charismatic stage presence will delight her audience.
"Sharp, original songs that dissect the modern world. She captures both the harshness and enchantment of life" - Guardian
Tickets £11, £10 (concessions), £5 (children)
Barb Jungr sings Bob Dylan
Every Grain of Sand
On the release of the Barb Jungr’s Linn Records Vinyl Celebratory collection of Every Grain of Sand, the cult classic CD released in 2002 which launched her career in the USA and later, in Australia, Jungr returns to her fabulous original arrangements live, cementing her status as "one of the best interpreters of Jacques Brel and Bob Dylan anywhere on this angst ridden planet today.” (The Village Voice USA)
In 2013 The Wall Street Journal called the album “the most significant vocal album of the twenty first century thus far."
At its original release the album was in the Top Ten Jazz Albums Of The Year in The Sunday Times, The Telegraph and The Washington Paper (USA).
Barb Jungr has wowed audiences and critics worldwide with her powerful reinterpretations of Bob Dylan’s work. Known for her passionate singing, minimal and subtle arrangements, and great humour, Barb Jungr is the definitive performer of one of the great musical icons of the 20th century, Bob Dylan.
Variously described by critics as magnificent, mesmerizing and magical, Barb Jungr has built a formidable reputation as an international live performer and recording artiste. She has perfected the art of interpretation to such a level that listeners are often astonished to discover that well-known songs that they thought they knew, have been wonderfully transformed and very often elevated when Barb weaves her magic spell. Her repertoire includes songs by Jacques Brel, Nina Simone, Jimmy Webb, Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen (to name a few) and she has attracted particular acclaim for her work on the songs of Bob Dylan, which produced two critically-acclaimed albums and a series of sell-out, award-winning transatlantic shows. For four consecutive years (2008 through to 2011) Barb has ranked at the top of Time Out, New York’s best cabaret awards, for her mesmerizing shows, and in 2008 she also received the Nightlife Award for Outstanding Cabaret Vocalist.
Barb Jungr’s first album of Bob Dylan songs has deservedly become a cult classic and has won her a dedicated fan base from around the world. The album even boasts celebrity fans, with Jeremy Irons naming it as one of the must-have albums on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs.
All tickets £12.50
Rough Island Band
Contemporary folk quartet playing original music inspired by the landscapes, people and stories of the Isles of Scilly.
Incorporating a wide range of instrumental and vocal textures, RIB craft a personal and contemporary sound, firmly rooted in the folk tradition. The individual members bring together a variety of influences and experience: from performing as members of Bellowhead, The Spooky Men’s Chorale and the Maddy Prior Trio; to their own solo projects such as The Little Unsaid and Full of Noises; as well as running folk festivals and events across the Scilly Isles and throughout the UK.
RIB are: John Elliott, Joe Keelan, Piers Lewin, James Sills. Contributing musician: Giles Lewin.
‘This Island of Yours...’ is RIB’s fourth studio album and charts a deeply personal response to the islands. Submissions of poetry, photographs, stories and spoken word have been woven into the fabric of the album by RIB and collated as a physical scrapbook to accompany the recordings. Musically, this is RIB’s most ambitious and idiosyncratic to date, expanding their contemporary folk sound with echoes of electronica, jazz and ambient music. Recorded in their home studio on St Agnes over ten days in April 2017, the album captures a tangible sense of place and sense of space. The album will be released to their Pledge Music supporters on 31st August, with a general release on 13th October.
Praise for 2014’s album ‘On All Sides’:
‘Fresh, energetic and blessed with a light touch’ (Spiral Earth) ‘A real cracker’ (Mike Harding’) ‘A band that is totally happy within its own skin’ (Fatea) ‘Great band!’ (Dustin Hoffman – yes that Dustin Hoffman!) ‘Thank you. You are wonderful’ (Judi Dench – yes that Judi Dench!)
Tickets £11/£10/£5(children)
John Etheridge and Vimala Rowe
We are delighted to welcome back legendary guitarist John Etheridge, this time accompanied by extravagantly talented singer Vimala Rowe. They will be featuring numbers from their much-lauded album, ‘Out of the Sky’, as well as other pieces. A fortuitous meeting in North London brought them together and they have developed a highly personal repertoire from an eclectic mix of music, original and traditional. Both performers have taken from a wide range of influences. Etheridge has over the years worked in classical, jazz and progressive rock, from Soft Machine to joining forces with such names as Stephan Grapelli, Nigel Kennedy, John Williams and Chris Garrick. Rowe’s span seems almost instinctive, effortlessly absorbing and blending the worlds of all the great soul and jazz singers into a personal mix, including Indian classical, African folk, and Syrian Aramaic. She has performed as Billie Holliday in the musical Cafe Society, worked with Paco Pena’s flamenco troupe, and has many original compositions to her name.
One of the defining features of the duo’s work is the commitment and passion of their delivery. Rowe is a fiery performer by any standards, yet the paring down to just two brings intimacy as well as drama, from the big effect to the delicate gesture. The pieces are carefully chosen to surprise, but above all to take the audience on an emotional journey through joy and pain, sombre and swinging, dark and light: a real musical journey.
“John Etheridge has explored many genres, styles and legacies in his career, but his curiosity never dimmed, and in Vimala Rowe he has found a singer of quite astonishing versatility and adaptability” - London Jazz News
‘Out of the Sky’ review: “A recording that simmers with a quiet intensity. The performances are emotive and tightly focussed, often beautiful but infused with a gentle, almost spiritual power.” - The Jazz Man
Tickets £12.50 (no concessions)
Martin Simpson
The Tolmen Centre is thrilled to be presenting world renowned guitarist, singer and songwriter Martin Simpson.The remarkable intimate solo performances Martin gives go from strength to strength - every gig is a masterclass. He travels the length and breadth of the UK and beyond, giving rapt audiences passion, sorrow, love, beauty, tragedy and majesty through his playing. In this show, he will be playing songs from his brand new album, ‘Trails and Tribulations’, to be released on September 1st, as well as older material.
40 years after he recorded his first album, Golden Vanity, in 1976, Martin is known as a guitarist of formidable talent. Equally at home playing English traditional folk, American folk and blues and his own compositions, he is consistently named as one of the very finest fingerstyle guitar players in the world. He is listed in Gibson Guitars’ Top 30 Acoustic Guitarists of all time, and Acoustic Guitar readers voted him number 12 guitarist in the world in 2005.
Universally acclaimed as one of the finest ever acoustic and slide guitar players, and a fine banjo-picker to boot, his solo shows bear witness to an artist at the very top of his game. Whether interpreting material from tradition or singing his own potent self-penned songs, Simpson is a remarkable storyteller: captivating and profoundly moving. His own songwriting produced the poignant ‘Never Any Good’, from Prodigal Son, 2007’s Folk Album of the Year.
Martin continues to collaborate with a dazzling array of people from across the musical spectrum: Jackson Browne, Martin Taylor, June Tabor, Richard Hawley, Bonnie Raitt, Danny Thompson, David Hidalgo, Danú, Richard Thompson and Dom Flemons are among the great musicians he has worked with.
He has had the most nominations of any performer in the 15 years of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, an astonishing 31 times, 12 of those as Musician of the Year, winning that particular accolade twice.
A virtuoso player without question, but above all Martin Simpson conveys his diverse treasure trove of material from the heart, performing with rare subtlety, intensity and honesty. A true master of his art.
“Martin is in a class of his own. He is such an expressive player; he is ingenious in his use of the guitar. You can listen to one of his songs and three or four minutes in, he has only used the top four strings and not even played a bass note yet, and when he does, it feels like an orchestra coming in. His clarity of playing is just amazing.” Jackson Browne
“One of the virtuoso instrumentalists of the English music scene” ‘Sounds better than ever’ **** 4 Stars The Guardian
“Simpson has become a fine interpreter of traditional and other songs, as well as a notable writer of his own.” The Times
‘Simpson’s latest is a potent blend of the highest calibre…Simpson has never sung or played better’ Acoustic Magazine
Carmina
A superb mix of jazz, folk and celtic crossover music - taking the audience on a bewitching journey full of melodic grace and inventiveness The line-up features award-winning songwriters Pippa Marland and Rob King and London jazz piano legend Geoff Castle, inspirational Irish guitarist and vocalist Paul Bradley and virtuoso fiddle player Gina Griffin.
‘Glorious... gorgeously haunting’ - Time Out (London ‘Celtic jazz which mesmerises and bewitches’ - Irish Times
Tickets £11, £10
[website url="carmina.co.uk"]
Hunter Muskett
Hunter Muskett is an acoustic/electric 4-piece playing distinctive original songs in a folky, bluesy sometimes Americana vein. Great multi-part harmonies and strong songs with a rustic vibe and twist of West Coast rock.
Tickets £11, £10
Rackhouse Pilfer
Rackhouse Pilfer are a fiery and exciting 6-piece band, and have been getting rave reviews with their roots blend of Irish Americana. They have been selling out shows and wowing festival crowds all over the UK, Ireland, the EU, and Nashville USA - where they recorded their album ‘Love and Havoc’. Don’t miss out on this incredible live act!
“Love and Havoc is an excellent, almost flawless album with a set of fantastic songs, great singing and outstanding musicianship” - Maverick
Tickets £11 £10 (concessions)
Clive Carroll
1000 Years of Music
An inspirational evening of medieval lute music, Spanish guitar classics, Delta blues & hints of Chet Atkins and Django Reinhardt through to the Beatles, all played by the world-class guitarist.
"Stunning!" - MOJO
"...total mastery of just about every guitar technique imaginable" - Guitar Techniques
"...probably the best and most original young guitar player and composer in Great Britain." - Acoustic Guitar Magazine (USA)
Tickets £11/£10/£5(children)
Guitar phenomenon Clive Carroll’s masterful compositions, coupled with his versatility and unparalleled technical virtuosity, have rendered him one of today’s most admired and respected guitarists.
Essex born guitarist Clive Carroll made his musical debut at age two as a banjo-strumming cowboy singing nursery rhymes. Clive went on to earn a 1st Class Honours Degree in Composition and Guitar from the famed Trinity College of Music in London, all the while balancing his classical work with forays into the world of the steel string guitar. A chance meeting with the late John Renbourn changed the course of Clive’s musical career and the two toured the U.K. and North America together, with Renbourn encouraging Clive to release his first solo album in 2000.
Since then Clive has gone from strength to strength, touring solo around the world and alongside lauded guitarist Tommy Emmanuel. Clive has also composed music for major films and has been awarded an array of awards and accolades, such as inclusion in Total Guitar Magazine’s “Top 10 Acoustic Guitarists of All Time”. Clive newest CD, “The Furthest Tree”, was released in May 2016 and is already being hailed as some of his finest work to date. See www.clivecarroll.com
“Clive Carroll has a vast musical palette and a sweeping creative vision...Equally at home playing fingerstyle or wielding a flatpick, Carroll creates music that defies categorization...It’s not easy to artfully mix altered tunings, renaissance and classical harmony, Delta blues, odd-meter riffage, body percussion and even jazz manouche, but Carroll makes it sound natural and effortless” - Guitar Player
Ralph McTell & Wizz Jones
In 1966 Wizz Jones brought his friend Ralph McTell down to Cornwall busk and to play at the Folk Cottage. Nearly half a century later, now both legends in the folk/blues world, they finally got together to record their first album, appropriately called ‘About Time’, and gathering 5-star reviews in the press. This is a rare and truly unmissable chance to hear these two master performers together, back in Cornwall, singing and playing a wide range of tunes and songs. Book now!
Tickets £17.50 (no concessions)
Graffiti Classics
16 strings, 8 dancing feet and 4 voices with one aim: to make classical music wickedly funny and fantastically exhilarating for everyone, young and old. Graffiti Classics burst the elitist boundaries of the traditional string quartet with their hilarious all-singing, all-dancing musical comedy show. It's a classical concert, a gypsy-folk romp, an opera, a stand-up comedy set and a brilliant dance show all rolled into one! From Beethoven to Bluegrass, Baroque to Pop, Mozart or Offenbach to Elvis, Strauss to Saturday Night Fever, there really is something for everyone and Graffiti Classics never fail to get audiences laughing, clapping and singing along. Kids and adults alike love the uplifting and virtuosic variety of musical styles, all tied together with cheeky audience interaction.
Tickets £11/£10 (concessions) £5(children 16 and under)
Tanya Brittain and Sam Kelly created The Changing Room just over two years ago, and have never looked back since. The band won all three categories of the 2015 International Pan Celtic Song Contest: Best Original Song (for Tanya’s shanty-style composition Row Boys Row), Best Traditional Song in a Celtic Language (for their rendition of Delyow Sevi which is on their new album), and Overall Winner.
Sam and Tanya are the two constant members of The Changing Room, and the door is left open for the line-up of other musicians to change and evolve. The band’s five-piece touring line-up includes Jamie Francis on banjo, Evan Carson on percussion and Morrigan Palmer Brown on harp. They are now touring with their second album, Picking up the Pieces.
The world’s leading expert on Woody Guthrie...as good an interpreter of Woody’s music as you’ll find. Woody Guthrie: Hard Times and Hard Travelin’ sets Guthrie’s songs in the context of the American 1930s - the Dust Bowl, the Depression, the New Deal and the state of popular music itself.
Such hard-hitting songs as "Vigilante Man", "Pretty Boy Floyd" and "I Ain't Got No Home" are brought into conversation with other relevant songs - from Joe Hill's "The Preacher and the Slave" to "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?". Altogether the show highlights the blending of music and radical politics that marks Guthrie's most powerful work.
Evoking vivid images of Tzigane fiddle maestros Budapest café life and gypsy campfires - with a few surprises along the way, the Budapest Café Orchestra play traditional folk and gypsy flavoured music from across the Balkans and Russia.
Hailed on two continents as" infectious" and "the best of contemporary/traditional Celtic music" Ten Strings And A Goat Skin is a bilingual trad/folk/fusion trio, playing Irish, Acadian, French and original creations infused with modern and world rhythms. The band creates a fiery, contagious and unique sound which leaves audiences wanting more.
Flats & Sharps blur the lines between Bluegrass, Folk and Country, and have gained recognition for performing their own highly original songs as well as their renditions of Bluegrass classics.
“...effortlessly entertaining ...sublime five part harmonies ...the pace of their performance is breathtaking - I recommend seeing Flats and Sharps at the earliest opportunity.” Mark Ellen Radio 2 magazine.
We are thrilled to welcome back Chris Wood, touring his new album. Chris gave a superb performance at his last appearance with us, and we expect the same combination of original songs - both biting and tender - superb guitar work, and his uniquely engaging, and at times challenging, stage presence.
"Welcome to the world of prog folk... Moulettes are among the current leading practitioners of the sub-genre. They are like a cross between Pentangle and the Kronos Quartet by way of Kate Bush and early Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett" - Reuters.
Sounds intriguing? Book early to avoid disappointment as this band is wildly popular on the festival circuit and we expect high demand for tickets.
The band play their own brand of Western Swing, Blues, Gypsy Jazz and Country, or “North Eastern Swing” as they've coined it. Influenced by early 20th century American music, with the addition of “razor-sharp” solos, great arrangements and original songs; their music harks back to a golden age whilst staying perfectly modern.
The songs are penned by Rob Heron, a crazy fool for country music and a full time dandy-cowboy. His songs are full of character, satire, and good old fashion hollerin’! With thousands of touring miles under their belts, they have earned themselves a strong fan base in the UK, Europe and beyond.
Their debut album, ‘Money Isn't Everything’, caused a sensation when it was released in 2012, winning a host of rave reviews – many of them 5-star. Their follow up album, "Talk About The Weather" in 2014 also received great radio play and reviews.Throughout 2015 the band have continued to show their passion for touring and playing live with multiple SELL OUT shows across the UK and beyond. Most recently the band played a spectacular performance at the legendary Glastonbury Festival. With plenty more incredible shows lined up for the rest of the year, Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra are best experienced live!
Tickets £11/£10
Directed by Sam Campbell and produced by Nick Hayes. This video was filmed on one of the oldest railways in the world, Tanfield Railway, built in 1725.
[website url="teapadorchestra.co.uk"]
Gabby Young Duo
A pared-down version of her 8-piece band Gabby Young and Other Animals, the duo consists of Gabby Young and guitarist Stephen Ellis, who present their unique blend of jazz, burlesque, gypsy folk and swing. Gabby says “we call it circus jazz, but you have to come and see us to know what that means”. Gabby’s quirky and colourful couture is as daring and different as her music.
The Duo has toured the Middle East. Europe, Japan, Australia and the USA. They have recently supported top international French stars Bridget and Zaz, and the girl band Katzenjammer from Norway. Now working together on their third album, they are engaged to be married in Spring 2016.
“Elements of music hall, opera, big band jazz and foot-stomping folk are all poured in to the mix with Gabby’s incredible vocal gymnastics holding it all together” (The Sun)
“Words cannot describe the plethora of varying sensations Gabby bestowed upon her salivating audience. Gabby Young must be seen live and in full technicolour.” (Kentishtowner)
The Guardian * * * * The Daily Mirror * * * * Financial Times * * * * The Sun * * * *
Tickets £11/£10
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Resonate Strings
Five gifted musicians, each representing one of the five string sections of the BSO. This engaging concert reflects a wonderful diversity from Vivaldi to Brahms, Mozart to Puccini and Handel to Scott Joplin.
This will be the third visit of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra to the Tolmen Centre. The previous two produced performances of wonderful quality, first their Brass Section and last year the Wind Ensemble. To have the String Serenade (BSO Resonate Strings) is a perfect way to celebrate a 'hat-trick' of visits, and promises an unmissable prospect of top class musicianship
It is worth noting that the BSO themselves wished to return to the Tolmen Centre as a venue of choice - they love our performance space, our enthusiastic audience, and are appreciative of the way we welcome performers.
The planned programme is set out below, but there may be additions or changes - the BSO love to surprise their audiences!
In association with Carn to Cove
Tickets £10, £8 Accompanied children are free, to give an opportunity for the youngsters to see this fine group of musicians 'live and in the flesh' with a readily accessible mixed programme.
Lynched
Lynched are a four-piece folk group from Dublin who combine four-part vocal harmonies, concertina, Russian accordion, fiddle and guitar.
Their repertoire spans humorous Dublin music-hall ditties and street-songs, classic ballads from the Traveller tradition, dance tunes, and their own original material.
Tickets £11, £10
Gren Bartley Band
Immensely talented singer, songwriter and guitarist, Gren Bartley with three accompanying musicians on strings and percussion. His new album ‘Magnificent Creatures’ was released in May 2015 and received rave reviews. He blends both British and American folk influences and his beautiful finger-picking guitar technique has been much praised, while his songwriting “is continually outstanding in the best poetic lyrical tradition.”
Celebrated Senegalers composer and praise singer Modou N’Diaye with the Golden Kora Band plays his own personal blend of Afro Mandingue music.
In association with Carn to Cove
Tickets £8, £6 Family £22
The Busquitos
A quartet of madcap musical Dutchmen, the Busquitos’ music is rooted in trad jazz but may include rock’n’roll, pop and classical tunes. They describe themselves as a “jazzy jivin’ funky funny fiddle super saxy mental mobile great guitar singin’ swingin’ buskin’band”. This event will be downstairs and as the band always aims for some audience participation it promises to be a lively night.
Twin sisters Laura and Charlotte Carrivick are widely known throughout the UK folk scene. Their years of experience performing all over the UK and abroad have gained them a strong reputation for engaging live performances, multi-instrumental dexterity (fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar and dobro), tight sibling harmonies and finely crafted original songs. They have a unique sound incorporating their musical background of American bluegrass and old-time but also being influenced by English folk lore, having grown up in South Devon.
“Comparisons to Alison Krauss & Union Station would not be out of place, for they are that good, swapping lead vocals and playing Dobro, mandolin and the rest like hardened veterans, but it’s the English folk influences they bring to their music that give them a unique sound.” R2 Magazine (Rock ‘N’ Reel) 4 **** review
“Formidable multi-instrumental skills and songwriting, maturing at such a steep curve they’ll soon be orbiting far beyond anyone else” Q Magazine 4 **** review
Bournemouth Symphony Wind Ensemble will perform Dvorak's Serenade for Wind instruments conducted by Maxime Tortelier. They will also be joined by young wind players from Cornwall, who will perform alongside the BSO
Two wind ensembles from the county - Sax is our Business and Flautistas will also be performing in the concert.
Tickets £10/£8, Children Free
Bella Hardy
With The Dawn Tour 2015 - supported by Routes South West, Bristol Music Centre and Arts Council England.
Bella Hardy, BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Singer of the Year 2014, tours her eagerly anticipated new album 'With The Dawn'; a heartfelt collection of self-composed songs which tell a story of travel, of choices, of lessons unlearned, and also of hope. One of the most creative, prolific and original singers in the UK, her captivating voice inhabits her music and spins her narratives with an equal balance of strength and sensitivity.
The 'With The Dawn' Band complement Bella's breath-taking vocals and narrative fiddle with a powerful and evocative mix of banjo, piano, electronics and drums. With roots firmly within the folk tradition, songs written straight from the heart, and bold steps into a new world of sound and expression, this is a performance not to be missed.
“...unveiled, committed, uncontrived, persuasive, passionate, empowering, and utterly wonderful" – Colin Irwin, fRoots
£11/£10
Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker
‘Extremely Compelling’ - The Independent
‘Gorgeous’ - The Daily Telegraph
‘Becoming one of the hottest tickets in folk’ - Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2 folk show
‘Seeps almost imperceptibly into your psyche’ - fRoots
‘The green shoots growing from the very top of the English folk family tree’ - PRS Magazine
Double BBC Folk Award nominees Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker infuse ageless stories of love and loss with their exquisite command of many instruments. Whether interpreting words centuries old or singing her own authentic lyrics, Josienne's jewel-like voice finds the nuance in the simplest phrase and sends it, effortlessly, straight to your heart. Ben's musical tact and flair for arrangement provide the perfect setting, allowing the song centre-stage.
Josienne was born in Sussex and Ben, in Evesham. It was after studying in London, and utterly by chance, that they met in July 2009. Together they have resolutely forged their own path through traditional music.
Critical recognition soon followed, along with the Isambard Folk Award, and the FATEA Awards for Best Album and Female Vocalist of the Year, and the Spiral Award for Best Duo, as well as coveted BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominations for Best Newcomers and Best Duo. The live performance is a thing of delight - enchanted reviewers have spoken of shimmering cathedrals of sound - and its purity will stay with you long after the last note fades.
Their first major album together ‐ Fire and Fortune ‐ confirmed their place among the very best musicians of their generation and reached No. 1 on the UK Amazon folk chart.
Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker's next album Nothing Can Bring Back the Hour is one of the most anticipated releases of the year and is due for release autumn 2015.
Tickets £11
Stefan Grossman
Known to many an aspiring guitarist for his tutorial books, CDs and DVDs, Stefan Grossman began his own studies aged 15 at the feet of bluesman Rev.Gary Davis. Since then he has played with many of the biggest names in business, and has never stopped learning, teaching, recording and performing all over the world. This is a rare chance to catch one of the world’s greatest acoustic blues, fingerpicking and ragtime guitarists. Don’t miss it!
Tickets £11
LEVERET
ANDY CUTTING • SAM SWEENEY • ROB HARBRON
Leveret features three of England's finest musicians in an exciting new collaboration. Andy Cutting, Sam Sweeney and Rob Harbron are each regarded as masters of their instrument and are involved in numerous collaborations with a huge range of artists. Together their performances combine consummate musicianship, compelling delivery and captivating spontaneity.
Andy Cutting is a unique player of the melodeon, known for his work with Martin Simpson, Blowzabella, Chris Wood, June Tabor, Kate Rusby, and many more. Sam Sweeney, the fiddle player in Bellowhead, is also in demand as a multi-instrumentalist, working with Jon Boden and the Remnant Kings, The Full English, Fay Hield and the Hurricane Party, and his own project Made in the Great War. Rob Harbron has reinvented the English concertina and is known for his work with The Full English, Jon Boden and the Remnant Kings, Fay Hield, Emma Reid and the English Acoustic Collective.
Leveret's music is firmly rooted in the English tradition but is fresh and new, with original settings of ancient tunes sitting alongside new compositions by some of today's finest tunesmiths. Sophisticated and honest, considered and spontaneous, there is nothing else that sounds quite like this trio.
'Sublime, exquisite music – don't miss them'
Martin Simpson
Tickets £11
Steve Knightley
The songwriting force behind the phenomenally successful acoustic duo (now trio) Show of Hands, Steve continues his solo ‘Grow your own’ tour of village venues with this appearance at the Tolmen Centre. He is renowned for his strong, trademark narrative songs which reflect the escapades, hopes and fears not only of people in his native West Country but of those beyond, and he pulls no punches when writing highly literate songs about bigger, global issues. Worth the ticket price just to hear the Cornish anthem ‘Cousin Jack’ performed by the Devonian who composed it, but expect an intense and engaging evening with a great musician.
Tickets £16
Jim Causley and Lucas Drinkwater
'The Poetry of Charles Causley'
Five times BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominee Jim Causley is singer/accordionist who is passionate about traditional song and particularly that of his native Devon. Previous incarnations include The Devil's Interval and Mawkin:Causley and he has recorded with the likes of Waterson:Carthy, Show of Hands, John McCusker and David Rotheray of Beautiful South fame. In recent years, projects have included touring with Steve Knightley and Kate Rusby.
Jim has recorded an album of the poems of his distant relative to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of this celebrated Cornish poet. Jim has set to music a diverse selection of Causley’s poems to give the audience a taster of the poet’s great body of work. The album ‘Cyprus Well’ was recorded live in Causley’s house in Launceston, Cornwall and many of the tracks feature Causley’s own piano. Jim aims to bring wider attention to Causley’s poems and raise awareness of the Charles Causley Trust and their mission to preserve Causley’s house as a writers’ retreat. Jim will be joined on stage by talented guitarist Lukas Drinkwater.
He is renowned for his warm and jovial stage presence and his rich singing voice has been likened to the fruitiest of ciders!
Male Singer of The Year – Spiral Earth Awards 2014
Top 10 Folk Albums of 2013 – The Telegraph
Jim Causley and his fellow folk musicians bring it to life with real zest, his deep baritone voice soaring as he sings. **** 4 stars The Telegraph
Forged from the voices of Hannah James, Hazel Askew and Rowan Rheingans, Lady Maisery explores vocal harmony to breathtaking effect, through their fresh interpretations of songs and ballads.
The trio burst onto the scene with the release of the debut album, Weave and Spin in summer 2011, which received much critical acclaim and was declared an ‘Album of the Week’ by The Independent. Their live performances during the festival season created a real buzz and they were nominated for the Horizon Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2012 and for Best Debut at the 2012 Spiral Awards.
Lady Maisery breaks new ground as one of the first UK groups to explore the tradition of diddling or tune singing, which has nearly died out in England, but is still prevalent in Scandinavia and other parts of Europe. Whether singing unaccompanied, or with backing from their combined instrumental talents on accordion, harp, banjo and fiddle, be prepared to be enchanted by rich harmonies and sumptuous clashes.
“…they get the biggest ovation of the festival and loud requests for encores from a crowd that won’t take no for an answer.” eFestivals (reviews of Shrewsbury Folk Fesitval 2013)
“Lady Maisery are women with ideas, purpose and urgency. They’ve packed these into Mayday and created a powerful, enthralling work.” Songlines
“Mayday sees the triumvirate of talent negotiate uncharted waters with ease – singing remains the main ingredient but Hazel’s harp, Hannah’s accordion and Rowan’s fiddle and banjo are taken to new heights of skill and applied with passion to this strikingly beautiful collection” Spiral Earth
“The multi-skilled Lady Maisery; just three of them but they sound like an orchestra.” Sean Rafferty, BBC Radio 3
NOT ONLY WILL LADY MAISERY BE PERFORMING ON THE SATURDAY NIGHT BUT ON SUNDAY MORNING FROM 11.00-12.30 THEY WILL BE RUNNING A SINGING WORKSHOP DOWNSTAIRS AT THE TOLMEN CENTRE. This will be suitable for singers of all ages and abilities, and will offer the chance to sing in harmony and to learn about the mysterious art of ‘diddling’.
Tickets £11, £10 (£5 for children): advanced booking is advised.
Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman
Twin daughters and a folk-rock whirlwind forced Kathryn Roberts (Vocals / Piano / Woodwind), and Sean Lakeman (Guitar), to sideline their popular duo performances in the mid noughties. Now the Dartmoor based couple have enjoyed a noteworthy return to the fray with their highly acclaimed album, ‘Hidden People’, bringing their own mix of traditional, self-penned songs and covers to the stage.
Two of the British folk scene’s most accomplished performers, Kathryn and Sean have graced stages the world over in a number of guises, however, the intimacy and strength of passion shown as a duo, combined with an eclectic repertoire ensures a rare treat.
With a story that includes music making with the likes of Seth Lakeman, Cara Dillon, Levellers, Kate Rusby and Show of Hands, Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman have established themselves as pillars of modern British folk.
On latest album “Hidden People” Kathryn says; “These are stories, first and foremost,” but she warns: “My home-life is so ‘roses round the cottage door’, that I tend to prefer music with an edginess, so some of the tracks on the album are quite dark and brooding, to say the least.” The messages and meanings behind these songs belong to the “hidden people”.
Moscow Drug Club....is a curious musical place where certain elements of 1930’s Berlin Cabaret, Hot Club de France, Nuevo Tango & Gypsy Campfire meet, have a few to drink and stagger arm in arm into the darkness of some eastern European cobbled street on a mission to find the bar where Django Reinhardt & Tom Waits are having an afterhours jam with the local Tziganes.
Combining their original material with songs by the likes of Jacques Brel, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits & Bertolt Brecht, Moscow Drug Club provide an intoxicating & intimate musical experience.
You are cordially invited to share a wry smile with us as you enter the darkly comic world of Moscow Drug Club…..this way please & mind the stairs!
“The best entertainment we have ever had!” “The music, songs and your voice were amazingly evocative, beautiful and inspiring, such originality just like the band’s name.“ Rural touring audiences
FROM THEIR WEBSITE
In the darkness of late winter, In a shady watering hole South of the river, in Bristol… North American chanteuse & purveyor of lyrical adventures, Katya Gorrie And International guitar virtuoso Denny Ilett were having a quiet drink. A good excuse to come in from the cold. Through the door walked an old friend who also happens to be a fantastic jazz trumpeter. The three of them found themselves chatting about the swing music of the 1930’s & 40’s, German Cabaret Songs, and the Parisian songwriters of the 50’s. An idea had started… Not long after this fateful meeting, the three friends met a young classically trained accordionist from Poland, whose passion for French musette and Argentinian tango was infectious and inspiring. The four musicians started to create a small set of music derived from these ideas. Finally, long time comrade and exceptional double bassist Andy Crowdy was called in to complete the quintet, and Moscow Drug Club was formed.
Early gigs in the bars and clubs of Bristol provided evidence that Moscow Drug Club made a noise that made people happy….
“Moscow Drug Club….brilliantly rendered, crowd pleasing cabaret tuneage raised to the level of magnificence by virtuosic playing!”
“Moscow Drug Club played a beautiful set consisting of musical talent beyond technology, fx pedals and amp make, reminding us all of where music came from and what it is about.”
“Moscow Drug Club’s amazing talent left me and all of those around me baying for more…”
£8 (concessions £6 Children £5)
Chris Wood
'None The Wiser'
Nominated Best Original Song ‘None the Wiser’ BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2014
Folk Singer of the Year & Best Original Song ‘Hollow Point’ BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2011
Criticised by an art school lecturer as having “a remarkable eye for trivia” Chris Wood’s love of small things has made him one of England’s most vivid and arresting song writers. With gentle intelligence he weaves the tradition with his own contemporary parables. Hollow Point is his chilling ballad of the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezez and Wood's feel for the sheer "one thing after another-ness" of life allows us, for the first time, to see the event through the eyes of the victim.
Joan Armatrading presented Chris with the 2011 BBC Radio Two Folk Singer Of The Year award before inviting him as special guest onto her Autumn 2012 tour. They played 51 cities and Wood found himself eavesdropping on conversations from pound shops to tea rooms, army recruiting centres to hotel saunas collecting the poetry of recession. His response is, None The Wiser, a fourth solo album released in Summer 2013. With humble hymns and sweeping statements from Alzheimers to William Blake, Wood lovingly takes the pulse of his homeland in what could be his best album yet.
Wood has worked and collaborated with a long list of artists, most recently Dizraeli, Billy Bragg, Eliza and Martin Carthy in Simon Emerson's Imagined Village. His duet with Eliza added to the "Villager's" winning another Folk Award for "Best Traditional Song".
The Irish Times dubbed him ‘the renaissance man of English folk’ because his work extends beyond song writing into commissions for Radio 3 Between The Ears,Late Junction and The Essay. He has written for The Times and lectured at Newcastle and Limerick Universities. His setting of Blake's Jerusalem features in Paul Gilroy's lecture on poetry and music at Kings College London and Wood's lyric Walk This World With Music is included in Michael Morpurgo's latest collection.
Praise for 'None The Wiser':
INDEPENDENT ✰✰✰✰✰ "The title track alone is a masterpiece"
EXPRESS✰✰✰✰✰ "Wood has honed his songwriting to perfection here… heartbreaking purity."
THE GUARDIAN ✰✰✰✰ "Remarkable for the settings as much as the lyrics."
THE IRISH TIMES ✰✰✰✰✰ "Nobody comes even close to equaling his bird’s-eye-view"
MOJO ✰✰✰✰ "a rarefied talent, both as writer and interpreter."
SONGLINES "a quietly powerful, astute and vivid set of songs…A folk–soul album"
Anglo-American singer songwriter Sarah Gillespie has received critical acclaim for her 3 albums that mix elements of jazz, folk and blues with her trademark poetic lyricism. The Guardian’s jazz critique John Fordham describes Gillespie as "(joining) Bob Dylan’s lyrical bite and languid delivery to the forthrightness of Joni Mitchell, with a little rap-like percussiveness thrown in, she is an original."
Playing tonight with renewed jazz composer Tom Cawley on piano and Ben Bastin on double bass, Gillespie will be performing a mix of songs from her new album 'Glory Days' as well as revisiting her back catalogue.
'Humorous impressionistic lyrics oscillate between the intimate and the infinite’ The Independent ★★★★ 'Vividly powerfully lyrics and glorious melodies. Rock n' Real Magazine ★★★★★ ‘Glory Days.. her best mix yet of hooky tunes and smart lyrics'. Mojo ★★★★ 'Joni Mitchell/Melanie-esque voice, foot-tapping music, and captivating lyrics.' BUZZ Magazine ★★★★★ 'The interplay between her acoustic guitar and Gilad Atzmon’s clarinet sparkles, and the words tumble out unstoppable and direct.' The Financial Times ★★★★ ‘Glory Days reveals Gillespie’s song writing to be as sharp and astute as ever and her poetic muse undimmed. It also charts her rise to prominence as an instrumentalist'. The Jazz Mann ★★★★ Is she the new Joni Mitchell? PJ Harvey? Bob Dylan even? Mixing jazz-folk artistry and punk attitude, third album Glory Days (Pastiche) recalls all three in places but Gillespie’s spiky lyrical gift is utterly distinctive. London METRO
Jim Moray
Jim Moray is one of the most consistently inventive musicians working in English traditional music today. Winner of five BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, after five ground-breaking albums he is at the forefront of a new folk revival in the UK, and hailed as a pivotal influence by a new generation of folk musicians. In 2013 he celebrated both 10 years since his landmark debut album ‘Sweet England’ and the success of his 2012 career best ‘Skulk’. Now he brings material from his forthcoming album of traditional ballads out on the road for an evening of storytelling music at its best.
Recording his first album ‘Sweet England’ while still studying classical composition at Birmingham Conservatoire in the day and playing drums in power-pop bands by night, Jim Moray emerged onto the UK folk scene seemingly fully formed in 2003. His provocative reimagining of English traditional music blended with orchestral flourishes, guitars and electronics soon found him awarded the unprecedented combination of ‘Best Newcomer’ and ‘Best Album’ at the 2004 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. After notching up a live reputation with performances at Glastonbury, Cambridge Folk Festival and WOMAD, and alongside Richard Thompson and Oysterband, Jim followed this with ‘Jim Moray’ in 2006, ‘Low Culture’ in 2008 (fRoots critics poll best album award and Mojo folk album of the year), ‘Modern History in 2010, and ‘Skulk’ in 2012.
Jim has also branched out as producer of his sister Jackie Oates’ award-winning ‘Hyperboreans’ album and been awarded Honorary Life Membership of Birmingham Conservatoire for outstanding achievement in music.
Tickets £11/£10
Spiers and Boden
The Founders of Bellowhead
Twice winners of the BBC Folk Award for Best Duo
Spiers and Boden gave a storming performance at the Tolmen Centre in Spring 2013, and we are delighted to welcome them back a year later, when we expect another sell-out show. Their spring tour will be their last for the forseeable future, so this is one not to miss.
Described by The Guardian as “the finest instrumental duo on the traditional scene” and twice winners of the BBC Radio 2 folk award for Best Duo, Spiers and Boden have made the genre of spontaneous, punky English folk very much their own stomping ground. Loud, proud, and with just a few acoustic instruments, they create a multitude of textures upon which they present traditional stories and dance music which have taken them on to the main stages of major festivals.
“Technically they stand head to head with the best of their generation...Jon Boden plays fiddle with an earthy vigour that's utterly compelling and sings in a frantic breathless manner as if the hounds of hell are taking lumps out of his backside, while John Spiers harmonises and plays urgent driving melodeon to a very high standard indeed...halfway to reinventing the style without even realising it…" fRoots Magazine
"Dynamics, drive and passion" BBC Radio 2 folk website
Winners of the Best Duo category at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in both 2004 and 2006, and a Critic’s choice nomination at the BBC World Music Awards, and nominees for the same award in 2009, John & Jon are also founding members of the wildly ambitious eleven piece big-band folk phenomenon, Bellowhead (BBC Folk Awards for Best Live Act in 2005, 2007, 2008, Observer Top 20 albums of 2007).
Jon Boden (singer, fiddle, guitar, stomp-box) follows in the footsteps of many of the great folk-singers with his theatrical style. Born in 1977 in Chicago, he grew up in Winchester and graduated in Medieval Studies from Durham and Composition for Theatre from the London College of Music. As well as forming half of Spiers & Boden and singing lead vocals in Bellowhead, Jon has also found time to release his own, self-penned album of contemporary indie rock songs, ‘Painted Lady’.
John Spiers (melodeon, concertina) was born in Birmingham and grew up in Abingdon (home to one of the few truly traditional morris sides) with a morris dancing father. He has a Masters degree in Natural Sciences from King's College Cambridge and has carved his own space in the folk scene with his unique blending of traditional squeezebox styles with his knowledge of contemporary dance music to create an infectious acoustic groove which provides the infectious rhythm of Spiers & Boden.
“Anyone who needs convincing that the current folk revival is becoming as intriguing, varied and experimental as it was back in the 1960s should check out the remarkable career of John Spiers and Jon Boden. In just a few years, they have established themselves as the finest instrumental duo on the traditional scene, and the contemporary equivalent of Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick….” The Guardian
Spiers & Boden’s retrospective album ‘The Works’ was released July 2011 to mark their 10 year anniversary. Spring 2014 marks their final tour together for the foreseeable future.
www.spiersandboden.com
£13 (no concessions)
John Etheridge
Guitar legend, John Etheridge’s career spans four decades, and a range of styles from Soft Machine to hot club jazz with Stephane Grapelli and more recently playing with the eminent classical guitarist John Williams. He plays with awesome dexterity and his solo gigs are famed for their intimacy and warmth.
Their aim is simply to provide wall-to-wall music for dancing. Put on your dancing shoes.
In Aid of the Heritage Centre Tickets £10, £6 Children (includes a pasty)
Lutes and Voices
A concert of ancient music with Friends in Harmony, United Cornish Lutenists and Jeni Melia.
Pre-show supper available. Pre -booking essential.
Tickets £9, £7 concessions
Steve and Martha Tilston
We open our autumn season with an unusual treat from the world of contemporary folk music, with the father-and-daughter line-up of Steve and Martha Tilston. Both of them are well-known and popular performers, but it is rare that they appear on the same stage so this is a chance not to be missed. They will perform separate sets but will also perform a few numbers together.
Steve Tilston has been described as “a complete guitarist,” “a singer songwriter of rare talent” and “absurdly accomplished.” He’s the writer of the classic The Slipjigs and Reels, The Naked Highwayman and Here’s to Tom Paine and his songs have been covered by a who’s who of the folk scene. His career was marked by the release in 2010 of Reaching Back, a 5-CD boxed-set retrospective, and he’s also published a powerful historical novel. Celebrating 40 years in the business, he’s on as great form as ever. His last album The Reckoning garnered him the “Best Original Song” accolade at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards last year, plus invitations to appear on Later with Jools Holland and BBC4’s Songwriters’ Circle. Perhaps best known for his song-writing prowess, Steve is also a blinding, dazzling guitarist with a style echoing the elaborate rhythmic “folk baroque” of Bert Jansch and Davy Graham, but also drawing from classical, roots and the tradition to create a sound that has been called quintessentially Tilston.
A great narrator on top form. The Observer ****
…dominated by Tilston’s exquisite guitar work ... The Guardian ****
…songs of great heart, delivered with authority and instrumental panache. The Scotsman
Another superb set from the good Mr Tilston, who just can’t seem to put a finger wrong. FROOTS
STOP PRESS: Steve’s latest album Happenstance is due for release on September 3rd and should be available for you to buy at the venue.
Martha Tilston displays a comparable originality with lyrics and an equally compelling stage presence as her father, but her musical style is totally different. She originally trained as an actor, but the tug of her musical lineage set in, and by her late teens, she had taken up the acoustic guitar and taught herself the fine art of fingerpicking, finding her voice — a shivering, autumnal bird-song evocative of a young Joni Mitchell — along the way.
She released her lo-fi debut, Rolling, in 2003, while touring Ireland as support for troubadour Damian Rice. Tilston's earthy compositions and delicate melodies earned her a growing audience, but she declined the lucrative offers from established record labels, choosing instead to set up her own label, Squiggly Records. She funded the pressing of her next record, 2005's Bimbling, through the sale of the album's canvas-painted artwork. By 2007, she was opening the Acoustic Stage at Glastonbury with songs from her album Milkmaids and Architects, garnering a nomination for Best New Act at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Her songwriting eschews the hoary 'moors and maids' folk imagery of old for gentle, probing meditations on modern concerns such as consumerism, urbanization and unheard voices, but she also finds space for haunting love songs, and one-off originals such as Old Tomcat, her sensual personal paean to Leonard Cohen. She's performed at demos and marches, and played a set at Climate Camp in 2009, but Tilston considers herself too nomadic to hitch her star to any wagon. "I feel strongly about not getting stuck in any one scene; I try to weave my music through the world without becoming ingratiated to any one group." And as her latest album, Machines of Love and Grace confims, it's a creative independence that pays off.
From reviews of Machines of Love and Grace:
“eloquently explores the relationship between technology and the human condition” BBC
“her voice is as lovely as ever...a fine and evocative album” Folk Radio UK
“Tilston’s tough personal approach makes for an engaging, unusual album” Guardia
We can safely expect an engaging, unusual evening from the two Tilstons.
Tickets £10/£9 concessions
Pre-concert meals available at our cafe, pre-booking essential.
Further information: tolmen@constantinecornwall.com 01326 341353
Andy Sheppard
Andy Sheppard, solo tenor and soprano saxophonist.
Don’t miss this! A real treat and not just for jazz lovers, this is a chance to get up close and personal with one of the UK’s leading jazz musicians and composers. For those who think they aren’t into jazz, come and be entranced by Andy’s lyrical, weaving tunes and soulful playing, enhanced by his subtle use of live backing loops. Andy will play a single 75 minute set, to be followed by an informal question and answer session chaired by a local jazz enthusiast.
The man who has emerged as one of Britain’s foremost tenor and soprano saxophonists was introduced to the music of John Coltrane at the age of nineteen and immediately went out and bought his own saxophone. A successful recording artist, bandleader and composer (for film, TV and theatre), Andy Sheppard is one of a very few British jazz artists to have made a significant international impact. He has worked with an astonishing range of musical partners and is remarkably, one of a very few soloists to have played in the big bands of all three of the greatest post-war jazz composers, Carla Bley, George Russell and Gil Evans. Other collaborators have included Northumbrian piper and fiddler Kathryn Tickell, and eclectic pianist Joanna MacGregor. Andy has a string of albums to his name, including Learning to Wave (1998), Nocturnal Tourist(2001), Movements in Colour (2009) and his latest collaboration with Michel Benita and Sebastian Rochford, Trio Libero (2012).
Sheppard is always a compelling voice...’, Time Out
‘Romanticism, carefully managed anarchy and accessibility subtle, elegant jazz…’ The Guardian
Tickets £10/£9 concessions.
Gigspanner
A welcome return of Steeleye Span violinist Peter Knight and his band with their unique brand of high energy folk.
Tickets £10
Spiers and Boden
Founder members of modern folk icons Bellowhead, Spiers and Boden are described by the Guardian as “the finest instrumental duo on the traditional scene.”
Together they have made the genre of spontaneous, punky English folk very much their own stomping ground. “Joyousness reigns.” ...The Observer Tickets £12, £10
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Brass Section
In association with Carn to Cove
A very special opportunity to enjoy a variety of classical music from the brass section of the renowned Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Tickets £10, £8 and Family £25
Jackie Oates with Tristan Seume
“Oates has emerged as a frontrunner among the new generation of Brit folkies, marked out by the purity of her voice”...The Observer
Tickets £10, £8, Children £4
Jackie Oates is a singer and fiddle player hailing from Staffordshire. Her unique treatment of English ballads and songs, and pure, haunting singing style has established her at the forefront of the new English folk revival.
Since appearing as a finalist in the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards 2003, she has performed extensively at festivals and venues across the country and beyond, in a solo capacity and with her band. She was a founder member of Northumbrian group and Mercury nominated Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, Jackie is now a permanent member of the folk super-group The Imagined Village as well as touring in her own right.
The end of 2009 saw her album Hyperboreans receive a nomination for the Roots Critics’ Poll Album of the Year, and nominations for the 2010 Folk Awards for Folk Singer of The Year, Album of the Year and Best Traditional Track for ‘Isle Of France’.
In September 2011 Jackie Oates released her fourth studio album titled ‘Saturnine’, featuring contributions from Jim Moray, Karen Tweed and The Claque. Now a major name in the English folk scene, Jackie followed the release with a major round of touring in the UK and abroad and a packed season of festival appearances, with sales of Saturnine eclipsing those of her previous albums.
In 2012 she began an extensive period of research into an area of song that is particularly close to her heart: lullabies. The album ‘Lullabies’ will be released on 18th March 2013 by ECC Records and followed by two Lullabies tours in April and October 2013.
‘Standing out from English folk’s remarkable new wave, Oates has the finest voice of them all…Saturnine shows Oates at the top of her game’ Independent On Saturday (album of the week).
Tristan Seume is one of the UK’s leading acoustic guitarists as a soloist, accompanist and session musician. As well as currently touring with Jackie, he performs at arts centres and festivals all over Europe. He is also a respected tutor, lecturing at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, and is a regular columnist for international publications, Guitarist and Guitar Techniques.
Delighting audiences up and down the UK with his blend of folk, country, Celtic and neo-classical styles, and with his cheerful stage presence, he has been likened to players such as John Renbourn and Gordon Giltrap “A spectacular player” – Neville Marten, Guitarist Magazine
Harpers Bizarre
Sarah Deene Jones can't be with us, but her Harp Ensemble will be joined by Friends in Harmony to present an evening of English traditional and celtic music, jazz and original pieces.
Tickets £7 or £10 (includes ploughman’s supper of soup and cheese at 6pm. Booking essential.) In aid of the Heritage Centre.
Aperol Quartet
We welcome back Edward Shaw with a newly formed classical quartet. The program will include Mendelssohn’s String Quartet Op 80 in F.
Tickets £7.50
The Rua Macmillan Trio
Awarded the prestigious title of BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year in 2009, Rua Macmillan is one of the rising stars in the highly competitive world of Scottish traditional music.
Tickets £9, £8 Children £4 Café Tolmen will be open for pre show suppers for this event - booking essential.
Jake Walton and Tinkers Cuss
An evening of modern English folk music in aid of GNHCT, supporting orphan children in Africa.
Tickets £7.50, Children £4
Based in Cornwall Jake Walton is a unique singer songwriter who has toured extensively. Famed as a Celtic music pioneer he plays the guitar and hurdy gurdy. His music reflects both Cornish and Breton influences of Celtic myth and legend. Together with Tinker’s Cuss there will be a wide range of instruments and voices, both traditional and contempory. This will range from the slow and gentle to the more upbeat bluegrass.
This performance is in aid of GHNCT, a charity founded by Annette Montague-Thomas, a Cornish herbalist and qualified pharmacist.
The charity which is run from Truro, runs a clinic on a settlement in South Africa where the inhabitants live in abject poverty. This was started in 2000 after Annette saw a programme about the suffering caused by the Aids/HIV pandemic in sub Saharan Africa. She was so moved that she felt that she must do something about it and flew out and met officials from the Department of Health.
Following this she set up a clinic and an orphan’s reception centre to try to alleviate some of the suffering in one of the most impoverished areas in the world.
This is a free clinic in an area of 2,000,000 plus people. There are now 15,000 patients and 13,000 babies and children being looked after in a foster care system.
By supporting this event not only will you be entertained but you will be supporting a worthwhile charity.
Peter Knight of Steeleye Span presents Gigspanner
Peter Knight’s Gigspanner has been hailed by Songlines magazine as “another milestone in folk’s rebirth of cool moment”, but those in the know will tell you that there is far more to Gigspanner than meets the eye.
Fine British traditional music is to be expected from Steeleye Span’s legendary fiddle player, but Gigspanner’s musical reach probes into Eastern European, French, African and even Aboriginal influences. It is no surprise that author Terry Pratchett wrote that “Peter Knight can spin the world on his bow”. It is music played with a potency and love that leaves audiences spellbound.
Peter is joined by Roger Flack on Guitar, and Vincent Salzfaas on Congas and Djembe, both intelligent and powerful musicians in their own right. Together they promise “a blistering pace of a flamboyant musical world tour” (Lancashire Evening Post).
Gigspanner’s Debut Album ‘Lipreading the Poet’ was named as one of the best 15 Global Albums of 2009. But leave any pre-conceived ideas at the door, and ditch the pigeonholes. If you have a taste for “music of intelligently crafted brilliance” (Songlines magazine) there is something here to nurture your soul.
‘Endless Journey’ brings together four musicians from two of Niger’s leading internationally known music groups, Mamane Barka and Etran Finatawa. Their swirling strings, driving rhythms and haunting vocals evoke the vast open spaces of the desert and the very soul of nomadic life.
Tickets £10, £8, Children £4
Dalla
An evening of Cornish based folk music from the inimitable Dalla, famous for their compelling dance rhythms and new and traditional singing.
Tickets £8, £7, £4
Third International Tolmen Guitar Festival 2011
The Third International Tolmen Guitar Festival will run for three full days October 14th 15th and 16th 2011. There will be 5 major recitals/concerts covering Classical, Jazz, World Music, Flamenco, Early Music and many more other events, workshops, masterclasses and even film. The Festival will cut across genres – headline acts vary from Martin Carthy – one of folk music’s greatest innovators – to Vladislav Blaha the Czech classical maestro – to the amazing 6 piece TG Collective who play mixed jazz, gypsy and flamenco – to a Polish Guitar ensemble who will bring a string quartet to play with them!
Steven Sogo and Hope Street
We are delighted to welcome back the amazing band Hope Street from Burundi led by Steven Sogo. No-one who attended last year’s concert by this band – their first ever outside their home country – will forget the scenes as a full house of all ages simply stood up and danced – in the aisles, on the seats, and on stage – to the intensely natural but pulsating music delivered by Steven and Hope Street. The tour went on to Womad and beyond, but we doubt if the atmosphere of that night could have been equalled!
They are back in UK for another visit to Womad and an extended tour – and their return visit to the Tolmen Centre promises another night to remember. Tickets are still only £9 and £8 with children - and it was the kids who set it all going last year - welcome at £4.
Peggy Seeger
American Folk legend Peggy Seeger has written hundreds of songs, many now folk standards. Her partner Ewan Macoll’s song “The first time ever I saw your face” was inspired by her. She is a multi instrumentalist and a mesmeric performer. We are proud to present her at the Tolmen Centre.
Tickets £9, £8 Children £4
Kit Downes Trio
Mercury Award nominated jazz pianist Kit Downes with bassist Calum Gourlay and James Maddren on drums.
A breathtaking improviser, and weaver of magical piano soundscapes, Kit Downes is world class’ ....Helen Mayhew, Jazz FM
Tickets £9, £8 Children £4
TG Collective
A glorious combination of gypsy hotclub, flamenco, jazz and contemporary classical influences underpin this superb ensemble.
The group is centred around the two acoustic guitars of Jamie and Sam,and includes double bass, cajon and trumpet and violin players. “All the strumming and picking and rhythms of gypsy, contemporary, flamenco jazz with a beautiful Bach arrangement thrown in for good measure.”.....Birmingham Post
In association with Carn to Cove
Tickets £9, £8 Children £4
Medieval Banquet
A medieval menu of music from world renowned Ben Salfield, with Friends in Harmony, jugglers, jesters and a delicious three course meal. Pre-booking essential, medieval dress and dancing optional but fun.
In aid of the Heritage Centre
Tickets £15
Magenta
Following sell out concerts at Blakehay Theatre, Magenta hit Cornwall for one night only. Using acoustic instruments, five voices and a generous sprinkling of humour, they play a range of traditional, contemporary and original songs.
In aid of the Heritage Centre
Tickets £9
Bob Brozman in Concert
A rare visit to the Uk by the legendary Bob Brozman, probably the finest performer in the world on the steel guitar.
A master of slide, finger-style, and percus- sive guitar, Bob’s exhilarating show spans the global and musical spectrum. His playing resonates with elements of blues, jazz, Gypsy swing, calypso, and even the most modern hip-hop and ska beats.
Tickets £9, £8 Children £4
Loveny Male Voice Choir
The well-known Loveny Male Voice Choir is coming to the Tolmen Centre. Melanie Uren will be their guest soloist.
In aid of the Twinning Association Tickets £7.50. Phone 01326 250769.
Steve Sogo and Hope Street
Coming to us straight from WOMAD, Steve Sogo and Hope Street. He is a young and very dynamic musician from Burundi who took to the guitar in the middle of the civil war to express his wish to live and to live a normal life.This music is pure, original blues. His songs are a cry for life; full of pain and hope.
Steve Sogo makes acoustic, hand made music that can be perfectly combined with African traditional sounds in a perfect reflection of his cultural identity and heritage.
Tickets £9, £8 Children £4
STRINGENDO in Concert
On August 14th (yes it’s the middle of the holidays but that’s when they could all get here!) at 7.30 we welcome back Edward Shaw and his “string quartet plus clarinet” STRINGENDO for a gala classical concert. This is to raise funds for the land purchase, and the Shaw family, to whom we extend grateful thanks – are arranging for this to be an evening to remember – classical music, chilled wine, light refreshments – and if we’re lucky a chance to view the newly acquired garden to the rear of the Tolmen Centre.
Helston School Jazz Band
Helston School Jazz Band – famous for its quality performances – will be playing at the Tolmen Centre. Tickets are only £5 and the funds raised will be split between The Heritage Centre and the Tolmen Centre Land Purchase Fund.
Box Office 01326 341353 to reserve tickets.
Johnny Cowling
In aid of Save the Children
Johnny Cowling has been an entertainer for over ten years with a unique blend of humour, music and a rare ability to bond with his audience.
One of our great undiscovered comedy talents....brilliant - a true entertainer, who could make anybody laugh.” Fern Britto
Tickets £8, Conc. £7
Guitar Spectacular
Following the success of last year’s Guitar Symposium a return visit by Ben Salfield, Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the wonderful Cristofaro/ Ramelli Duo.
Tickets £9, £8 Children £4
Portico Quartet
A great welcome back to Portico Quartet, who wowed everyone with their sell out show last year. With their second album just released,we look forward to another sensational evening
“A phenomenon in the making”....The Independent
Tickets £9, £8 Children £4
James Sherwood – At The Piano
UK Comedy Tour 2010
Best Medicine Management (formerly known as Good Sense Of Humour) are delighted to announce the first national tour for Radio 4, Five Live and Sky TV regular: JAMES SHERWOOD.
“gloriously pedantic and quite brilliant” The Scotsman
With TV and radio credits ranging from Radio 4’s flagship comedy shows ‘The News Quiz’ and ‘The Now Show’, through to 6Music’s ‘Jon Richardson Show’ and BBC2’s ‘Mock The Week’, James Sherwood is one of the country’s foremost young comedy writers and performers. He is also the creator and head writer on Radio 4’s brand new topical panel show ‘I Guess That’s Why They Call It The News’, and makes regular appearances on the ‘Richard Bacon Show’ (Five Live) and Sky TV’s ‘Evening Press Review’.
“elegant, intelligent stand-up” The Guardian
Having recently completed his fourth sell-out Edinburgh run, James has firmly established himself across the country and has a dedicated fan base that return year on year to see his latest show. Always accompanied by his trusty keyboard, he eschews the well-worn path of song parodies and changed lyrics, in favour of original compositions and delightful, self-contained ditties.
“savage satire” Sunday Times “fantastic” TimeOut
“piercing” Evening Standard “sharp, precise and ingenious” Chortle
He’s been compared with Bill Bailey, Marcus Brigstocke, Richard Digance, Tim Minchin and Richard Stilgoe, whilst creating a name and a niche of his own.
Tickets £8, £7 Children £4
Umdumo Wesizwe
Soaring harmonies and tip toe dance by eight young men from Bulawayo. Unique vocals laced with Afro pop, RnB and Reggae tell of love, hope, worship and social commentary. “Only eight men, but with enough charisma and energy to light up a continent.”
The Herald Scotland
Tickets £8, £7 Children £4 In association with Carn to Cove
Hank Wangford and Reg Meuross
Hank Wangford is an authentic country singer/songwriter with a wide emotional range. Hank is renowned on both sides of the Atlantic for his originality and long years on the country music scene.
Reg Meuross is a modern day troubadour with some of the most beautifully disarming songs and lyrics ever written.
Together Hank and Reg have embarked on the 'No Hall Too Small' tour playing in two hundred and twenty village halls throughout England and Scotland.
TG Collective
An intriguing mix of gypsy jazz, flamenco, jazz and contemporary classical influences, TG Collective was born in Autumn 2006, built around the core of guitarists Jamie Fekete and Sam Slater, alongside the unusual combination of flutes, violin, double bass, trumpet, clarinet, cajón and percussion.
Creating ‘an exciting, sensuous sound’, TGC perform original music and arrangements, touching on influences as varied as Paco de Lucia, Django Reinhardt and JS Bach, and have built up a strong following with their intense live performances. The band is completed with the double bass and trumpet of Percy Pursglove; flautist Holly Jones; Louis Robinson on violin, Luis Mather’s clarinet, and cajón/percussionist Joelle Barker, with interchanging shapes of ensemble within a performance.
Larry Stabbins – Stonephace
Larry Stabbins is a British jazz saxophonist, flutist and composer. Larry Stabbins learned clarinet at school from the age of eight, when his musical idol was Acker Bilk. He started playing saxophone at the age of eleven. He was soon playing in local dance bands, doing his first paid gig aged twelve, and later also playing in soul bands such as Bristol group The Strange Fruits, particularly the music of Junior Walker and James Brown.
He started working with pianist Keith Tippett when he was sixteen and later contributed to various Tippett projects such as Centipede, Ark, Tapestry and the Keith Tippett Septet.
Stonephace is a new jazz combo featuring Larry Stabbins and Adrian Utley from Portishead.
"One of the true greats of British music" - Gilles Peterson, BBC Radio1
"A consummate saxophonist who has been at the cutting edge of jazz for much of his career" - Ian Carr, Rough Guide to Jazz
"One of the most innovative saxophonists in Britain" - Anthony Wood, The Wire
Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days of the folk revival.
He was born in Hatfield on May 21, 1941 and grew up in Hampstead, London. After training as an actor he sang in coffee bars. He became a resident at the Troubador folk club in Earls Court in the late 1950s. He joined Redd Sullivan's Thameside Four in 1961. He is a renowned solo performer of traditional songs in a very distinctive style, accompanying himself on his trusty old Martin Guitar; his style is marked by the use of alternate tunings, and a strongly percussive picking style that emphasizes the melody. His debut album, Martin Carthy, was released in 1965, and also featured Dave Swarbrick playing fiddle on some tracks, although he was not mentioned in the album's sleeve notes.
He has also been involved with many musical collaborations. He has sung with The Watersons since 1972, was an early member of the UK folk rock group Steeleye Span, and was part of the innovative Brass Monkey ensemble, which mixed a range of brass instruments with Carthy's guitar and mandolin and John Kirkpatrick's accordion, melodeon and concertina.
Bob Brozman
Bob Brozman is a guitarist like no other: an established and prolific recording artist, performer, producer, and author, Bob is a non-stop world traveler and tireless researcher in ethnomusicology. His work with musicians from around the world in the past several years has marked him as not only a virtuoso musician and slide guitarist, but also as a pioneer in finding a common thread among global musical cultures.
Mick Abrahams
Michael Timothy 'Mick' Abrahams is a guitarist and band leader, best known as being the original guitarist for Jethro Tull. Abrahams was born in Luton, Bedfordshire. He played on the album This Was recorded by Jethro Tull in 1968, but left the band after he'd clashed with Ian Anderson over their musical direction.
Abrahams went on to found Blodwyn Pig and recorded two albums, Ahead Rings Out (1969) and Getting to This (1970) before leaving in 1970 to form the Mick Abrahams Band. Abrahams has continued to release albums by himself and with reunited versions of Blodwyn Pig. His Tolmen Centre concert will be a solo acoustic set.
Portico Quartet
Nominated for this year’s Mercury Music Prize the Portico Quartet play melodic, rhythmic music that mixes the inspiration of Philip Glass and Steve Reich with a very contemporary kind of improvisation - engagingly chiming themes delivered by steel pan-like Hang drums, saxophone and bass.
“A singular talented outfit, pivoting on a beautifully lithe rhythm section and foregrounding Jack Wyllie’s fluent saxophone to a meditative and mesmerising effect ” Time Out
Tickets £8, £7 Children £4
THE TREVERVA MALE VOICE CHOIR in Concert
£4 on the door. Proceeds in aid of the Constantine Cricket Club.
The old chapel building revisits its roots!
Second Tolmen International Guitar Symposium
A four day extravaganza of workshops, masterclasses and inspired performances ranging through jazz, flamenco, rock and blues to Renaissance music.
Thursday’s headline act is Mick Abrahams. The legendary Jethro Tull guitarist will be giving masterclasses in the afternoon as well as his solo accoustic set in the evening.
Friday night is a double bill; psychedelic blues rock band The Moon Music Orchestra and Stonephace, the new jazz combo featuring Larry Stabbins (Working Week) and Adrian Utley (Portishead). Saturday’s classical day is headlined by the outstanding Silesian Guitar Octet and Sunday is early music day as the renowned Daughters of Elvin round off the whole symposium with their own multi-instrumental renaissance style. A host of other superb performers are scheduled throughout the four days.
A delicious Valentine’s Day recital of romantic music sung by Melanie Uren. Complete the evening’s delights with a candlelit supper. In aid of the Museum. Recital only: £5, with Supper £10.
Welcome to the mythic world of Sons of Town Hall, the international, waterborne duo of George “Ulysses” Brown (UK) and Josiah “Chester” Jones (US). The pair transcends time and space, dressed in threadbare Victorian outfits, they meditate about the ocean, and sing songs that beg you to sing along. Their songs are masterful in their own right, poetic turns of phrases sung with voices so perfectly matched it is impossible to tell them apart, harmonies so sublime they will seem the work of witchcraft, and intricately finger-picked guitar parts worthy of Apollo himself. But it is Sons of Town Hall’s presentation that sets them apart from every other guitar-slinging songwriting team out there.
Sarost is a trio comprising Mark Sanders Percussion, Paul Rogers Custom 7 String Bass and Larry Stabbins Saxophones, Bass Clarinet and Flutes
Ward Knutur Townes found their sound when the world fell silent. In 2020, these three singer- songwriters, (Lucy Ward, Svavar Knutur and Adyn Townes) were selected to take part in a virtu- al global music sharing experiment called Global Music Match. Teamed up together, they spent several lockdowns turning their stories into soft harmonies and intricate melodies. This year, they cashed in their stagnant travel points and recorded their debut album in Iceland. It will be released in October 2023 and accompanied by an extensive UK tour.
