Wickham Festival News

The New Cranes

In the heady days of the early Nineties, it was hard to find a band with a better live reputation than The Newcranes. Energetic and inspiring, their intoxicating mix of Slavonic-tinged thrash-folk-punk thrilled audiences across Europe and fans still speak of incendiary shows and no-compromise recordings. Tasting chart success as label mates with The Levellers, supporting Bob Dylan, tours with Saw Doctors, Stiff Little Fingers and The Mission. Headlining Camden Palace with Skunk Anansie supporting them and then… silence. For years, the legend has grown, the stories have spread, and the clamour for a comeback has grown. Finally, after 25 years, a new chapter has begun.

Winter Wilson

Winter Wilson are back on the road, following a hugely successful UK tour with folk-rock legends Fairport Convention, and now featuring songs from their latest CD Far Off on the Horizon. As with previous offerings, this new album has met with great critical acclaim:

“Dave Wilson’s songs pull no punches when relating to the sights and sounds of everyday local life, and are complimented by Kip’s powerful and emotional voice.”
Daily Telegraph, January 2018

“A sublime collection of tracks to kick off the new year in style. Well-balanced, strong songs delivered with care, and by people that are passionate about their craft. Lovely.”
Grem Devlin, Living Tradition Magazine

“Winter Wilson have landed another, right on the bridge of the nose; this is not an album that’s easy to ignore.”
Neil King, Fatea Magazine

But it is in live performance that these two really excel, interspersing great songs, stunning harmonies and fine musicianship with often hilarious tales of life on the road. That’s why so many venues and festivals book them time and again.

Ryan Young & Jenn Butterworth

Ryan Young is an emerging young fiddle player from Scotland – one of a ‘new wave’ of young players bringing fresh and inventive ideas to traditional Scottish music. Ryan’s fiddle playing is brimming with fresh melodic ideas, an uplifting rhythmic drive and a great depth of dynamics and precision. Ryan Young Traditional Scottish Fiddle Player ScotlandRyan Young’s violin sound is very distinctive and he always manages to take the listener on an adventurous and emotional journey in any performance. Ryan studied and graduated with a first class honours degree in Scottish Music from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and has now also completed his Master’s in Music. Ryan is a two time BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award nominee, a Celtic Connections Danny Kyle Award winner and was as a finalist in BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2015 and 2016. Ryan played at the famous Willie Clancy Week, in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, Ireland in July 2016.

Jenn Butterworth is one of the foremost folk guitarists in the UK acoustic music scene. An excellent collaborator, she has been a key member of a range of high profile folk music projects, including Ross Ainslie and Ali Hutton’s SYMBIOSIS Big Band, three Celtic Connections New Voices, four years on the BBC Hogmanay Live show as a member of the All Star House Band and recently a member of folk supergroup ‘Songs of Separation’ involving an array of prominent folk artists including Eliza Carthy, Lady Maisery and Karine Polwart. The Songs of Separation album, conceived, arranged and recorded in just 7 days, won the title of ‘Best Album’ at the Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2017.

 

Jamie Smith’s Mabon

Mabon was formed from two families in 1999, playing homespun arrangements of Welsh folk dance tunes in the pubs and ‘twmpath’ dances of their native South Wales.

Cut to Lorient, in Brittany, France – home of the gargantuan and internationally renowned ‘Festival Interceltique’. Every summer for a decade, in the early stages of their gestation, the band performed prolifically in the fringe here, and their growing prowess and skills became a legend in the ‘off-festival’ bars and cafes over the years.

It was a thrilling and brutal training ground in equal measure, where non-stop hard work, abundant hasty set-ups, fierce competition and, of course, relentless performing helped hone their individual ability, and define the band’s musical identity.

All the while, Jamie was soaking up musical styles from the Celtic diasporas and, combining all these elements, grew into a serial tunesmith and eminent instrumentalist.

Their repertoire moved more and more towards Jamie’s original tunes, and from the launchpad of Lorient, they went far and wide during the next ten years – collecting as they went a growing and fiercely loyal fanbase (as well as a fantastic collection of stories, from shows in surreal circumstances and unusual situations!).

Mabon’s reputation grew from outside the UK at first – with performances across three continents and in front of huge festival crowds – until 2009 when the band’s first major tour across the UK, and their 2010 ‘Live at the Grand Pavilion’ album, shot them into a different orbit of recognition. As fROOTS wrote: “Being a bit slow on the uptake, I have only just managed to see them play live. Now I get it. This seems to be a default position for most”.

The last ten years has seen the band climb a steady path to global recognition; some opportune and mighty live shows and festivals enabled the band to showcase their pedigree – and audiences were stunned and confused as to where a band with so much ‘chutzpah’ could have appeared from, without ever being heralded in the way that the media like to announce the future of up and coming bands.

A change of name; some personnel changes; a string of tours; more festivals and more albums; these things all continued to sharpen the band’s abilities and evolve their playful style. Awards appeared, ever more distant shores were reached – and 20 years on, the band is burning brighter and more vibrantly than ever before. No flagrant media hyping, no fast-track to success, just a band of talented companions who make friends with audiences at every show they play, and seemingly never let them go.

The proverbial steady ‘slowburn’ success – an overnight sensation twenty years in the making!

Ross Ainslie & Ali Hutton’s Symbiosis

Ross and Ali met at the Vale of Atholl pipe band when they were 12 years old. The boys were guided by one of the most influential pipers in the last 30 years Gordon Duncan. Gordon instilled a great passion in the guys for playing pipes with other instruments and they have gone on to play in many leading Scottish bands including Treacherous Orchestra, Old Blind Dogs, Salsa Celtica, Dougie Maclean, Shooglenifty, Capercaillie. After all the years playing in different bands and line ups the guys decided to concentrate on music together.

Lil’ Jimmy Reed

Still playing and touring the World, Li’l Jimmy Reed is the last of the original Louisiana bluesmen.

The blues was born in the deep South, a wild outcry against segregation, poverty and hard, back-breaking work. Sadly most of the great musicians who created this vibrant, influential music have passed on, leaving only their recordings to testify to their genius. However, one man, whose career stretches back to the time when rhythm ‘n’ blues was just bursting onto the popular music scene, is still with us and playing better than ever.

Leon Atkins, better known as Lil’ Jimmy Reed, is the real deal, as will be attested to by anyone who has been privileged to hear his stinging guitar work, gritty vocals and haunting harmonica. A tall charismatic figure, Lil’ Jimmy epitomises the classic Louisiana down-home blues tradition. Born in the late nineteen-thirties in a shot-gun shack in Hardwood, LA, a small cotton and sawmill town on the Mississippi River, Leon grew up near a club where every night he absorbed the wail of the blues from across the street. At six he had his own guitar, made from a cigar box, and by the time he was a teenager he was proficient on both guitar and harmonica, playing local clubs around Baton Rouge. Filling-in one night for blues star Jimmy Reed earned him the sobriquet Lil’ Jimmy Reed and started him on the long path to success.

After years of playing small clubs and taverns, Lil’ Jimmy took time out to serve his country in the military. Since his return to civilian life his career has blossomed. He has shared the stage with B. B. King and Bobby “ Blue” Bland and head-lined festivals in the USA, UK, Canada, Ireland, Belgium, France, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland. His many fans recognise that Lil’ Jimmy’s performances are almost the last chance to hear the raw, unadulterated sound of authentic Louisiana blues.

In the sixties, the blues came to Britain and inspired a generation of teenagers who in turn took the music to international success. Prominent amongst these young men was the critically-acclaimed pianist Bob Hall, whose distinctive blues and boogie style on hundreds of recordings has influenced a host of others. Bob and his wife, the dynamic singer and rock-steady bassist Hilary Blythe, have joined forces with Lil’ Jimmy to form The Lil’ Jimmy Reed Band. Over the past five years this tight little outfit has given a series of show-stopping performances all over Europe.

Lil Jimmy Reed continues to play all over the US and Europe and as he happily says “life just get better with time”.

Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening

Kathryn first took up the smallpipes at the age of 9. She learnt tunes from hill-shepherd friends and family, recording them on her trusty cassette player. Since then she has taken the musical spirit of ancient Northumbria to stages all over the world.

As well as her own acclaimed concerts and recordings, she has recorded and played with Sting, The Chieftains, Penguin Café, Eveyln Glennie, Jacob Collier, Royal Northern Sinfonia and many more. She was awarded the OBE for services to folk music. Kathryn also presents ‘Music Planet’ for BBC Radio 3.

“…the best living advertisement for English folk music.”
The Daily Telegraph.

Will Pound & Eddy Jay

Will has been awarded Spiral Earth Magazine Musician Of The Year 2015, FATEA Instrumentalist of the Year 2013 & 2014, and been nominated three-times for BBC Radio 2 Folk Musician Of The Year. He has performed with musicians as diverse as Martin Simpson, Concerto Caledonia, Michelle Burke and Guy Chambers. His own projects include Haddo, Walsh and Pound and The Will Pound Band.

Eddy Jay performed in the stage musical version of Noel Coward’s Brief Encounter’ (Kneehigh theatre) which toured US theatres including Studio 56 on Broadway (NY). He has performed with Cathal Coughlan and Tina May, and also devised his own shows of Prokofiev’s ‘Peter and the Wolf’ and a musical biography of Edith Piaf.

Gnoss

Gnoss are a dynamic four-piece of fiddle, flute, guitar and percussion, that tackle energetic tune sets and driving folk song with a ‘maturity of ability many of a greater age will envy’ (Living Tradition).

Current and former students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Graham Rorie (Fiddle & Mandolin), Aidan Moodie (Guitar & Vocals), Connor Sinclair (Flute, Whistles & Backing Vocals) and Craig Baxter (Bodhran & Stomp) have been tipped as ‘ones to watch’ by Songlines magazine for their lively, engaging and honest performances.

Robb Johnson

Robb Johnson is now widely recognised as one of the finest songwriters working in the UK today. His songs feature in the repertoires of a wide variety of musicians, from folk legend Roy Bailey to acclaimed cabaret diva Barb Jungr, & he enjoys a similarly diverse spectrum of critical acclaim – “a modern-day Dostoyevsky” said the US’s Dirty Linen, Mojo made the double CD Gentle Men Folk Album Of The Month, while The Daily Telegraph made it their Folk Album Of 1998, & Tony Benn says Johnson’s “Winter Turns To Spring” is his favourite song.

He has played pubs, clubs, pavements, pickets & benefits, arts centres & festivals, local radio, BBC Radio 3 & 4, Belgian Radio 1, Nicaraguan TV & Channel 4, the Albert Hole in Bristol &, as part of Roy Bailey’s 1998 concert, the Albert Hall in London. In February 2006 Robb appeared at the Barbican as part of the prestigious BBC “Folk Britannia” series, where “for the encore, Robb Johnson leads all the artists (and the audience) in the World War I song (‘Hanging On The Old Barbed Wire’)” (BBC Folk Britannia website) in a concert that was screened later that month on BBC4. Earlier this year Robb was the featured guest on Andy Kershaw’s Radio 3 programme. Robb also plays extensively in Belgium, Holland & Germany, & he has toured Britain supporting Chumbawamba, & the US with David Rovics.

Robb has worked with a variety of bands, with friend & fellow songwriter Leon Rosselson, as well as solo. In 1997 Robb wrote the song suite Gentle Men, an ambitious family history of the first world war for the Passendael Peace Concert, where the musicians were a jazz combo led by Belgian jazz legend Koen De Cauter, & he subsequently toured it successfully in Britain too. Robb’s album Metro (released in September 2005) featured piano accompaniment by the late Russell Churney, who had previously worked with Julian Clary, Barb Jungr & Fascinating Aida). Again, the album received widespread praise in both music & national press: “unquestionably classy… excellent songs (that) show again what a fine, if provocative writer Johnson is” (The Daily Telegraph).

His label Irregular Records has also facilitated releases by a variety of song-orientated artists, including an album celebrating the work of Jacques Brel that has done much to focus a renewed interest in the chanson genre. He has translated several of Brel’s songs & performed concerts celebrating Brel’s life & work. Robb has also co-written Woman, a biography of Yoko Ono, published by Chrome Dreams.

Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys

Sam Kelly is a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winning Bristol-based singer, song-writer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. As a young child Sam spent many a night enraptured, listening to his Irish grandfather tell folk tales, sing folk songs, and play folk tunes on his melodeon. Having caught the bug, Sam has dedicated his life to rediscovering and renewing the sounds of his gaelic heritage, and creating exciting new music that transcends the boundaries of traditional and popular music.

In 2017 Sam signed a publishing deal with Wipe Out Music, an agency deal with Strada Music and a record deal with legendary folk label Navigator Records, and in a very exciting year saw his music appear on a wide variety of mediums from Channel 4 Soap Hollyoaks to Sky Sports darts coverage, Sky Arts to Cafe Nero. After a full summer of headline festival slots with his band, he released his second album, and The Lost Boys first album – Pretty Peggy in November 2017. This album proved a huge leap forward for Sam and the band, as they were nominated for Best Group at the 2018 Radio 2 Folk Awards, and Sam was invited to perform songs by Jez Lowe and Ray Hearne alongside an all-star cast of folk musicians including Kris Drever and John McCusker for a special commission called Ballads of the Great War, which was broadcast on Radio 2 on Remembrance Day 2018.

Coming from a family largely made up of Norfolk dairy farmers has left Sam with an unmatched experience of singing in front of hurtfully disinterested Friesians, and his meandering musical journey has ranged from reaching the final of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent as a teenager, to becoming one of the most prevalent folk singers of his generation. Whether playing to 13 million people on prime-time television, or to 10 people in a tiny pub, Sam’s child-like fascination with music shines through, and his passion for discovering and rekindling the sounds of his musical heritage has gained him the respect of peers and audiences worldwide.

Rachel Newton

Singer and harpist Rachel Newton specialises in interpreting traditional folk songs in both English and Gaelic as well as writing and arranging her own music. Rachel performs solo, with her trio featuring Lauren MacColl on fiddle and Mattie Foulds on percussion and with a full band when the trio is joined by Michael Owers on trombone and Sarah Hayes on keys.

Rachel plays fiddle and viola in addition to harp and works across a range of performance platforms including theatre and storytelling. She was awarded a Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) for Best Music and Sound in 2009 for her work with the Rowantree Theatre Company. A skilled collaborator, Rachel is a founder member of The Shee, BBC Radio 2 Folk Award 2017 Best Group The Furrow Collective and also plays with the Scottish/Norwegian group Boreas. Rachel’s third solo album Here’s My Heart Come Take It was released in 2016. Her previous releases are The Shadow Side (2012) and Changeling (2014).

In 2016 Rachel received a Hands Up for Trad Ignition Award for Innovation, was awarded Instrumentalist of the Year 2016 at the Scots Trad Music Awards and is Musician of the Year in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2017. Her album Here’s My Heart Come Take It was shortlisted as one of Scotland’s top 10 outstanding albums in the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award 2017.

Siobhan Miller

One of the foremost traditional singers in Scotland, Siobhan Miller is an exceptional talent. Her soulful and stirring renewal of traditional song has won her the 2018 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Traditional Track, and Scots Singer of the Year an unprecedented three times at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards (2011, 2013, 2017), whilst her two albums have also received widespread critical acclaim.

Both Flight of Time (2015) and her most recent release, Strata (2017), were nominated for Album of the Year at the ‘Trads, highlighting her extensive range through traditional, contemporary and self-penned material, as well as her “delicate, nourishing vocals and lyrically rich compositions” (The List). Following her well-received debut – produced by James Grant – her hotly-anticipated follow-up, Strata features eleven carefully chosen songs that Miller grew up listening to and performing in her youth – showcasing the many influences on her formative musical years. Songs passed down by Scotland’s source and revival singers – such as The Unquiet Grave and False, False – sit alongside titles from contemporary writers including Bob Dylan’s One Too Many Mornings and Pound a Week Rise, penned by Ed Pickford.

Siobhan’s unique vocal style has been honed through collaborations and studies with many of Scotland’s top musicians and traditional bearers, leading to extensive tours fronting her own band, as well as guest appearances with the National Theatre of Scotland, a season on Broadway in New York, and on US/UK TV drama Outlander. Nationwide television appearances, performances for royalty and heads of state, and outings at many of the UK’s major folk festivals – including Cambridge, Cropredy, Towersey, Underneath the Stars, Orkney, Shetland, and The Great British Folk Festival – illustrate just why she has been lauded as “the finest young interpreter of Scots traditional song” (Scotland on Sunday).

Old Man Luedecke

Old Man Luedecke is the recording and performing name of multiple award-winning, Canadian roots singer-songwriter Christopher Luedecke. Born in Toronto, but now based in Nova Scotia, from the start of his career his songs have brought joy and illumination to independent minded people fighting the good fight of their lives. A much loved live performer, his storytelling art, song craft and comic timing, engage and thrill an audience with his weirdly wordy ways. Stints of woodshedding in the Yukon, bicycle touring, transnational hitchhiking trips, and his incessant reading and listening, has ensured Luedecke has amassed a degree of unusual and usual experience for his authentic body of work. At his best solo on banjo and guitar, Old Man Luedecke has appeared at most major folk festivals in Canada the US, UK and Australia and keeps up a steady touring life. He is also a long-time collaborator with Grammy winning American roots music legend Tim O’Brien. Luedecke is 4-time nominated and twice-winning JUNO award holder and East Coast Music Award winner for Album of the Year, has been long listed for the Polaris Prize is a multiple Music Nova Scotia award recipient. Cover versions of his songs have been performed by everyone from street punks in Nashville to Celtic bands in the Orkney Islands. His new album Easy Money is out this summer.

Baka Beyond

After more than 20 years of mixing African and Celtic music in equal measures Baka Beyond has become one of the finest danceable bands around, creating the sound of the global village.Not just a touring band, Baka Beyond have a unique relationship with their inspiration – the Baka Pygmies of Cameroon – sending royalties to help their development projects, and even touring with Baka musicians.

Baka Beyond was conceived in 1992 by British musicians Martin Cradick and Su Hart after a 6 week visit to the Baka Forest People deep in the heart of the Cameroon rainforest. They were struck by the Baka’s generosity of spirit and joy of life in hard circumstances which is reflected in their music. Martin and Su wanted to bring the spirit of this music back home so they recorded the album “Spirit of the Forest” released under the name “Baka Beyond” which pushed them into worldwide recognition.

Since these early beginnings when the term “world music” barely existed, Baka Beyond has evolved into a multicultural, dynamic live stage show with worldwide album sales. Band members have hailed from Brittany, Cameroon, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Congo, Uganda and Ghana as well as Britain. Each musician brings their own influence and talent to the music creating a unique spectacle and honouring a lesson learned from the Baka people, “everyone is to be listened to”.

The current touring unit are bringing the Spirit of the Forest to festivals in UK and USA. Martin Cradick (guitar), Su Hart (vocals) and Clyde Kramer (drums) have all spent time living and playing music with the Baka Pygmies in their rainforest home. Ayodele Scott (percussion) brings the rhythms and colour of his native Sierra Leone into the mix, while all these elements are grounded by the solid Congolese grooves of Kibisingo (bass). The lineup is completed by Ellie Jamison (vocals) who is returning to Baka Beyond after a bit of a break to bring 3 children safely into the world (You can hear her on the Baka Beyond albums “Sogo” and “East to West”).

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    Were very sorry to hear that Steve Harley has died.  He appeared many times at Wickham, usually with his own band but also with Spike Edneys SAS Band.  He always gave a great show and was always a pleasure to work with.  Were so sad to hear of his passing and extend our deepest sympathies to his family.

    We're very sorry to hear that Steve Harley has died. He appeared many times at Wickham, usually with his own band but also with Spike Edney's SAS Band. He always gave a great show and was always a pleasure to work with. We're so sad to hear of his passing and extend our deepest sympathies to his family. ... See MoreSee Less

    2 days ago

    57 CommentsComment on Facebook

    Here's a backstage interview which Steve gave to our Festival Press Officer Graham Hiley in 2018. It's a great interview. Do give it a listen. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJh3FjE2Vro

    Very sad to hear this. Loved seeing him at Wickham.

    Noooo! He was so lovely. RIP you came up and made me smile.

    We saw him at Wickham he was brilliant despite having to sit for the performance as he had leg or hip problems! Didn't affect the energy of his set! Sad loss!

    Heartbreaking news; Steve’s music has been ( and will remain) very much a part of our lives. Our thoughts are with his family. RIP Steve, you will be missed ♥️

    Always great to see - will be missed

    Very sad news. I’m glad we saw him a couple of times in recent years at Wickham. A great performer. Sadly missed

    Very sad - we loved seeing him at Wickham Music Festival :(

    So sad to hear this news. I saw him at Wickham in 2015, a great artist and performer. Deepest sympathies to his loved ones 💛

    We were there at his last Wickham gig and also a more recent intimate theatre gig nearer to home, just last year. Very different but loved both. A brilliant performer and a very nice guy. Will be sadly missed. 😢

    Heartbreaking news.

    So sorry 😔 He stirred such emotion when I saw him at Wickham, a true and great artist ❤️

    Devastated! One of my all time favourites. RIP Steve.😪

    So sad, he was brilliant there a few years ago, one of the very best highlights of the festival 💔

    Still hear “make me smile” almost daily on the radio. Such a brilliant uplifting song and his voice was amazing. Sad sad loss to the music industry. RIP Steve

    Gutted xx

    Very sad loss Peter ..Great music

    It's truly heartbreaking. He was wonderful and will be greatly missed

    Oh how sad. My younger years sounds which I loved . 🙏💕

    Thanks for sharing.Very sad news.Yes very sad. Back in the 1990s he headlined several of our Heineken (freebie) Big Top festivals.Always great to work with backstage and a real crowd- pleaser.

    Sad news. Great forever songs to remember him by. Condolences to his family and friends.x

    Saw Steve and the band at Wickham a few years ago and seen him a good few times since. A superb musician and a lovely man, so sad that we'll never see him perform again. Condolences to his family 💙

    Very sad 😢 loved seeing his shows - a joy! Cx

    Legend I hope he’s being a rebel in spirit and makes the spirits smile ❤️🥺

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    The Saw Doctors would like to say a Big Thanks to everybody who has bought or streamed ‘All We Love’ today —the new single is Number 3 in Ireland and No. 23 in the UK. Here’s the link to buy or stream ‘All We Love’   
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    Our new line-up inc. Curtis Stigers with a few more artists inc. Jerry Douglas to add. We hope to unveil last confirmed artists inc. one more headliner soon. Day & Tier 4 Weekend tickets selling fast. Save £50 on every 4-day weekend ticket. Book now. http://www.wickhamfestival.co.uk

    We're delighted to announce that 16-times GRAMMY Award winner Jerry Douglas, one of the world's finest dobro & lap steel guitar players, will be at this year's Wickham Music Festival on Sat. 3rd Aug. Day & Weekend tickets selling fast!

    After announcing the great American singer Curtis Stigers for the Wickham Music Festival yesterday we'll be announcing another great American musician this evening (Tuesday). A clue. He's a 14-times Grammy Award winner. Any guesses?

    We're delighted to announce that the great American singer & jazz musician Curtis Stigers will be at this year's Wickham Music Festival on Sunday 4th August.

    Day & weekend tickets now onsale http://www.wickhamfestival.co.uk