This year’s Bromyard Folk Festival will be running with a full programme of events this September. Guests include... 

Big Whistle Music is a specialist whistle shop based in the Ribble Valley, England, run by Phil and Jill Brown.  Phil is a veteran of the tin whistle and has been playing the instrument since he was a teenager. Affectionately known as “the whistle man”, Phil is an arts graduate and accomplished multi-instrumentalist. He was in great demand nationally as a workshop leader and enjoyed success as a recording artist.

Sad news from the Knockengorroch team.  A statement on their website says:

We are very sad to have to inform you that once again we are going to have to postpone the September festival.

We desperately wanted to have a festival in the field again and were doing all we could to make it happen. However the obstacles are simply too great for us to be sure that we can hold a safe and relaxed event for everyone – our festival-goers, staff, crew, traders, performers and everyone else who makes Knockengorroch.

Organisers of the 14th Gate to Southwell are thrilled that the Midlands premier roots and acoustic festival will go ahead at a great new rural location outside the Nottinghamshire town from 2nd to 5th September. 

Artists are reminded that they only have until August 2nd to enter this years L2F Art Competition.  This year's subject for submitted artwork is: EARLY ONE MORNING.  All shortlisted entries will be exhibited in an exhibition 23/26th October inclusive, at the Samuel Johnson Museum, Breadmarket Street, Lichfield.

This year, Broadstairs will be different in some ways and exactly the same in others. It will still take place in a beautiful town with sandy beaches, a timeless Edwardian atmosphere and lots of cute shops, buzzy restaurants and vibrant cafes.

Andy Bell, founder of Yorkshire-based Hudson Records has launched a new music club to benefit both artists and audience.  Launched in April, The Hudson Club is a unique monthly subscription scheme offering access to exclusive music, videos, podcasts, streaming, online shows, interviews, special discounts and more – with an aim to build a strong sense of community and a new-look co-operative of mutual benefit.

Wickham Festival is a 4-day music & arts festival held every August in a stunningly beautiful rural location near the historic village of Wickham in Hampshire. With live music on four stages plus a host of other entertainment, Wickham is rated by many as one of the safest, most relaxed and family-friendly festivals in the UK.

Tenterden Folk Festival is one of the many that have been adversely financially affected by the coronavirus pandemic.  After having to cancel last year’s live event, replacing it with a virtual festival, plans are now firmly underway for four days of folk song, music, dance, crafts and traditions from 30 September – 3 October 2021 in Tenterden.  But the organisers need your help, and a Spacehive crowdfunder is underway to raise funds that will enable the festival to meet costs and move for

Sadly, the following statement was released by festival organisers on 17th June...

Doc Rowe is assisting Tony Foxworthy's family in a fundraiser for a memorial seat and a memorial plaque in Whitby, celebrating not only Tony's initiating and further input into Whitby Folk Week, but generally to the folk dance and song world from the 1960s.

With funding from D&G Council already guaranteed to be at least 43% down on the previous year, following removal of the Major Events Strategic Fund, it came as a huge blow to the Newton Stewart & Minnigaff Traditional Music and Dance Festival to discover that any funding the event does receive this year, which isn't guaranteed, won't arrive in time for July's event.

The Traditional Music Forum (TMF) and TRACS (Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland) have launched a new website with a comprehensive and ever-expanding list of traditional musicians who are working and recording in Scotland.

Applications to The Mick Peat Drystone Bursary, created in tribute to one of Drystone’s founders to encourage and facilitate creativity in all its forms and bring people together, are now being welcomed.

The COVID-19 crisis has decimated our creative industries and Drystone was formed in response to that; to build and rebuild our arts. Now, more than one year on from the first lockdown, this bursary is open to anyone who wants to help make that happen.

Very sad to hear the news that The Ram Club in Surrey has reluctantly decided to close.  On its website it says: “Maggie and Bob Wood have been working almost continuously over the past year to prepare for a reopening, negotiating with artists and creating a programme. But closer examination of the issues affecting the club in a post-pandemic era, and the changing circumstances of the organising group, make the decision inevitable.

After a lifetime of successful programming for Warwick Folk Festival, Festival Director Dick Dixon is standing down.  And such is the size of the gap his departure leaves that the festival needs not one but two people to take up the reins.

The Irish Traditional Music Archive have publicly released previously unheard recordings of the legendary Sligo fiddle player, Michael Coleman (1891-1945).  The acetate disc recordings were privately made in 1942, in the New York home of his fellow Sligo fiddle player, James ‘Lad’ O’Beirne (1911-1980).  Gifted to Galway accordionist Joe Burke by Lad O’Beirne in the 1960s, the two discs have been personally safeguarded by him since that time.

The 14th Gate To Southwell Festival is now set to take place in September 2021 at a beautiful new location in the nearby village of Kirklington (just outside Southwell).  Having had to cancel the 2020 festival because of the COVID pandemic, the GTSF organisers are confident that four days of folk, roots and acoustic music from the UK and all over the world will go ahead from Thursday 2nd September to Sunday 5th September.

Liam Weldon was undoubtedly one of the finest Irish singers of any generation. He was also an outstanding songwriter and a champion of the oppressed, and of the Traveller community in particular, whose influence on his singing stretched back to his Dublin childhood. Unaccountably, his singing never really received the accolades it deserved, and he remains largely forgotten since his death, 25 years ago.

Musical Traditions Records was founded more than 20 years ago, with the aim of bringing traditional music field recordings which might never achieve a commercial publication to the small audience which values it.  As reported in LT136, Rod Stradling retired from physical records in 2020, leaving the catalogue to date available as downloads only, and with no new releases planned, the label looked set for permanent closure.

Canadian based folk and roots music magazine, Penguin Eggs, has printed for the last time after nearly two decades of publication.  The 88th and last ever issue came out in December, meaning that sadly, we have one less magazine committed to promoting folk music on the scene.  We wish Roddy Campbell well in this next period of his life.

The Wilderness Yet (Rosie Hodgson, Rowan Piggott and Philippe Barnes) has released a special festive digital album entitled Turn The Year Round. Available on Bandcamp it is a collection of secular folk carols, wassails, and yule songs both old & new!

Get your hands on it at thewildernessyet.bandcamp.com

Talking Elephant has released A Midwinter Miscellany, a collection of spoken word, poems, stories and songs that celebrate the many aspects of the festive season featuring Ashely Hutchings with Becky Mills and Blair Dunlop.  Ashley has taken excerpts from a variety of literary sources to inspire new songs.  Other writings and poems are given a new treatment with music composed by Blair and Becky.  And Becky also contributes several new songs.  The annual Albion Christmas Band tour is not able to happen this year, but this recording gives something

The Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) has begun a new monthly series that connects artists with archival material to inspire new art.  Louise Mulcahy, Martin Hayes, Edwina Guckian, Mary Bergin, Tony Linnane and Brían Mac Gloinn are just some of the leading instrumentalists, singers and dancers who have been commissioned to spend time engaging with collections of their choice in ITMA and to then produce something new that can be shared with the public.

When Roy Williamson died in 1990, most of his instruments were sold at auction, with a few donated to the Falconer Museum in Forres. A notable exception, the famed combolins – priceless instruments he designed and partly built himself, the folk world’s Stradivarius, perhaps – were left in the capable hands of his friend Dave Sinton.

Ewan MacColl (1915-1989) was a giant of folk music: inspirational singer, actor, activist and writer of hundreds of songs including beloved classics Dirty Old Town, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Shoals Of Herring, The Manchester Rambler and more.

The ICC Seisiúns is a collection of 14 acoustic Irish sessions filmed at The Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith which are now being screened on ICC Digital, the new online platform of The Irish Cultural Centre.  The performances are being shown every consecutive Friday over 14 weeks, and started mid-September.

Much loved English duo, Spiers & Boden, have announced that they are back together and working on new material for a launch at summer festivals in 2021 and a comeback tour in October 2021.  John Spiers and Jon Boden rocketed onto the folk scene in 2001, and after many successful years, during which they founded and fronted the band Bellowhead, they disbanded as a duo in 2014.  News of their comeback, and of a new album, will please their many fans.

from Pete Heywood on Vimeo

Rothbury Music Festival ‘frontload’ artists’ payments

Like so many events, the Rothbury Traditional Music Festival, which was due to take place in July with performances from the likes of Martin Carthy, Cathal Hayden, Northern Company, 422 and the Newcastle Kingsmen, has been cancelled. However, unlike a lot of other events, the acts and artists who were booked to play will all be offered their fee, paid in advance of the rescheduled festival, which will take place in July 2021.

New album of Doc Watson live recordings

Over the years Doc Watson has inspired countless people to pick up the guitar and learn to flatpick the old melodies of the Appalachians.  A continuing influence on music in America and beyond, a new release of some old recordings of Doc alongside his fiddling father-in-law, Gaither Carlton, has been scheduled for the end of May by Smithsonian Folkways.