The ever-popular Phil Beer will be appearing at Wickham on Sunday 3rd August as well as joining with Reg Meuross, Marion Fleetwood & Geraint Watkins to perform ‘Fire and Dust: A Woody Guthrie Story’.
World-class award-winning multi-instrumentalist, singer, arranger and composer Phil Beer is a founder member of the internationally acclaimed folk pioneers Show of Hands along with his long time collaborator, Steve Knightley. His own Phil Beer Band is much in demand as are Beer’s solo performances. A sought-after musical collaborator, session player, recording engineer and producer, Beer is also the boss of his own record label, Chudleigh Roots.
With Knightley and Show of Hands’ then manager Gerard O’Farrell, Beer created a business model that turned the usual business of music on it’s head and they formed the label ‘Hands on Music’ in 1996. Bypassing the middlemen and building an enduring, close relationship with their audience, Beer with Knightley and Sykes, has built up a phenomenal grass roots following.
Beer is an extraordinarily intuitive musician who really listens to his fellow performers. His playing lifts and inspires those around him. Beer is known for having no ego about playing and will not ‘hog the solos’. Famously easy-going, “except about performing standards”, he’s also highly regarded for happily trying anything out.
Beer dedicates himself to an exemplary professional approach in all his work, and to gigging with the highest production values wherever, whatever the venue. Remaining adamant that you’re only as good as your last performance, he believes that the audience should always come away feeling they’ve witnessed a quality show “on the level of say, Clapton at the Albert Hall.”
Bringing the same attention to detail to his recording and production work, Beer put together the Show of Hands recording studio at Riverside Studio which he ran until 2011 as well as his own studio at The Green Room in Devon where he continues to work on his own projects. These include editing and compiling a retrospective from his massive back catalogue for subsequent ‘box set’ releases, and on commissions for compositions for film and TV. He set up his own Chudleigh Roots label in 2007.
Dedicated to paying it forward, Beer mentors young musicians amongst them Jackie Oates, producing her acclaimed second album The Violet Hour (Chudleigh Roots, 2008). His production/recording work also includes Tom Palmer’s eponymous 2007 album (Chudleigh Roots), and with Knightley, Jez Lowe’s Jack Commons Anthem (Tantobie 2007).
After several BBC Radio 2 folk award nominations, including Musician of the Year’ Beer won Best Duo in 2010 with Knightley for Show of Hands, also picking up Best Original Song for Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed. That same year Beer responded to what he describes as ‘minor heart surgery’ with typical humour, saying: “News of my demise has been greatly exaggerated.”
He received an Honorary Doctorate for services to music from Plymouth University in 2015, along with Knightley and Sykes. In 2017 he won the title ’Best Musician’ in the 2017 Folking Awards, voted for by the public and Best Duo for Show of Hands. Again with Knightley, Beer was voted Greatest Ever Devonian in 2006, beating amongst others, Agatha Christie, Sir Francis Drake, Captain Scott and Chris Martin to the title.
Phil will be joined by Miranda Sykes & Sian Monaghan to perform as the “Phil Beer Trio” at Wickham.
