The English Folk Dance and Song Society has announced that Eliza Carthy MBE has agreed to become its next president, following in the footsteps of Shirley Collins MBE, who held the role between 2008 and 2020.

Scotland on Tour is a new initiative funded by the Scottish Government that will support the creation of new and additional concerts across Scotland in 2022.

Over the last year, the process of collecting and collating a book of tunes by 100 contemporary female composers in the folk/traditional scene in the UK and Ireland has been underway, and it is hoped the book of compositions will be published in 2022 by Faber.

The Association of Festival Organisers has gathered a group of volunteers to form a new Climate Action Group. This group will engage with Vision 2025, Powerful Thinking, Eco-Librium, LIVE Green, Julie’s Bicycle, and many others to develop a climate action policy that will suit AFO members.  For many years, AFO has encouraged its members to look closely at how they can improve the environmental impact of their festivals and the communities they work and live with.

Ian Green founded Greentrax Recordings in 1986, just one year after he retired as a Police Inspector from Lothian and Borders Police, with his wife June as co-director.  Operating from home at first, the business grew rapidly and moved to its long-term home at Cockenzie Business Centre.  One of the aims of the new label was to give highly talented but unrecorded Scottish musicians and singers an opportunity to reach wider audiences and, 35 years on, close on 500 albums have been released by Greentrax – an astonishing achievement.

I Am Of Ireland: Yeats In Song is a collection of 24 poems by William Butler Yeats, set to new music by Raymond Driver, featuring some of Celtic and folk music's most distinctive voices.  Available as a digital download, the album has been over two years in the making, with 32 artists across three continents working remotely through the pandemic.

Tobar an Dualchais / Kist o Riches (TAD) has launched a new website which aims to enhance user engagement and ensure sustainable access to its content. The original website was launched in 2010 and featured songs, stories, customs, traditions and beliefs in Gaelic, Scots and English. An exclusive first view of the site was given to pupils from Sgoil Dhalabroig (Daliburgh School) in South Uist, a place which provided early collectors with some of their most valuable recordings.

The autobiography Vin Garbutt wrote in his final years has been published, four years after his passing in 2017.  He had begun working on All The Very Best! with the help of journalist Michael McGeary in 2014 and the first draft was completed just days before Vin died.  Now, with the help and support of Vin’s family, the book has been completed.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Tobar an Dualchais / Kist O Riches (TAD) is celebrating ten years since the launch of its oral heritage website. There were 10,000 recordings available on the site when it was officially launched in Edinburgh on 8 December 2010 and this number has now risen to almost 50,000.

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.

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