Category: Press Releases

Hot off the press album release news as soon as it hits the folking desk

Michael Chapman – autumn tour dates

Michael Chapman

Legendary guitarist and songwriter Michael Chapman first turned professional more than 50 years ago and he concludes another busy year of recording and playing concerts with a short UK tour.

Michael Chapman first became known on the London and Cornish folk circuits in mid-1966. Playing a blend of atmospheric and autobiographical material he established a reputation for intensity and innovation. While living in Hull, East Yorkshire, in late 1969, he signed to EMI’s Harvest label & recorded a quartet of classic albums. LPs like Fully Qualified Survivor, Rainmaker, Window and Wrecked Again defined the melancholic observer role Michael was to make his own, mixing intricate guitar instrumentals with a full band sound.

Michael Chapman is one of the UK’s best known finger picking style guitar players. As part of a continuing musical lineage that includes the likes of Ralph McTell, John Martyn, Davey Graham & Bert Jansch, Chapman is still active touring and recording and his playing is on top form. Michael continues to release new recordings at a phenomenal rate and is thought to have recorded nearly 60 albums throughout his career. 50 – 2017, Paradise Of Bachelors (Format: Vinyl LP, CD & Download) Homages 2016 –VDSQ –guitar instrumentals (Format Vinyl & Download only) Fish –2015, Tomkins Square (Vinyl LP, CD & Download ) Live At Folk Cottage -2013, Treehouse – (Vinyl LP & CD) archive recordings from 1967 Classics from the Harvest / EMI era include Fully Qualified Survivor, Rainmaker, Window, Wrecked Again and Playing The Guitar The Easy Way and they have all been reissued by USA label Light in The Attic as a complete series of his early work .

If you would like to order a copy of an album (CD or Vinyl format), download a copy or just listen to snippets of selected tracks then click below to be taken to our associated partner Amazon’s website (use the left and right arrows below to scroll along or back to see the full selection).

Buying through Amazon on folking.com helps us to recover a small part of our running costs, so please order anything you need as every little purchase helps us.

Artist’s website: http://www.michaelchapman.co.uk

‘Sometimes You Just Drive’ – live on Later:

Tour Dates

SEPTEMBER

Sunday 23rd September- Old Cinema Launderette, Durham 7.30 pm £16

Friday 28th September- Ukranian Centre, Doncaster 7.30 pm  £10 + £1 booking fee

Saturday 29th September- St Mary’s Creative Space, Chester 7.30 pm £14

Sunday 30th September- The Keep, Guildford 7.30 pm £14

OCTOBER

Monday 1st October- The Running Horse, Nottingham 7.30 Ticket price tba

Friday 5th October- Seven arts, Leeds 7pm £12.49 inc booking fee

Saturday 6th October- Cafe Oto, London 7.30 pm £10 members, £12 advance, £14 door

Thursday 11th October- The Trades club, Hebden Bridge 8pm £12 / £14 plus 10% booking fee.

Neil Brophy Band announce new single and album

Neil Brophy Band

Neil Brophy Band, based in Copenhagen but coming from England, Scotland & Denmark, are a Celtic folk rock band championed by Steve Lamacq, whom will be releasing their new single ‘The Viking Rover’ October 12th,which is taken from their new studio album True Stories, that is to be released 7th December.

Neil Brophy Band will be following up on their recent UK tours sharing stages with Mad Dog Mcrea,  Blackbeards Tea Party and Morrisey & Marshall.  The bandkick off their UK tour on September 29th with 10 shows across England and Scotland through to 13th October.

Neil Brophy explains about the new album ; “True Stories is a bag full of self-penned songs that paint pictures of world travel, revelry, small-town England, record collecting, refugees, propaganda, Vikings, lucky people, fishing & homecoming.’’

Neil’s craft of storytelling never fails to paint a vivid picture. The new single ‘The Viking Rover’ tells the tale of the sea with a traditional twist (The Pogues meets The Clash), telling a story, true or false it doesn’t matter, of a voyage of the Viking ship ‘The Viking Rover’ homeward bound to build an Irish pub on Danish soil, it didn’t go as planned but they made it in the end.

The album takes you on Brophy’s journey. ‘Road To meo’ is his personal favourite standing alone as his iconic blueprint of life.  With Neil’s band of merry men they draw from influences such as Bragg/Dylan singer songwriter styles, McGowen, Celtic rock, “a slice of Wellerness” and even flirt with the big pipe sound of William McLaughlin, picking up where Runrig left off.

Originally from Moulton, Northamptonshire, Brophy busked his way through the world hitting countries such as Australia, NZa nd the USA which giving him a whole catalogue of experiences to write about which has inspired him to hone his craft.

The band has toured extensively in Northern Europe and Scandinavia becoming firm favourites on the festival circuit including multiple festival appearances in Germany, Holland and Belgium. UK festivals include Beautiful Days with The Levellers, Big Session and Middlewich Festival.

Artists’ website: www.neilbrophy.co.uk 

‘The Viking Rover’ live on TV:

Take Flight with Afro Celt Sound System

Brand new album, Flight – with major UK tour – November 2018

Afro Celt Sound System

With album sales now topping one and a half million and two Grammy nominations to date, Afro Celt Sound System celebrated their 20th Anniversary in 2016 with an acclaimed album, The Source.

ECC Records are now delighted to announce the release of Flight, the eighth studio album by this ground-breaking collective. Flight, released on 23rd November, will be supported by a major ten day UK wide tour (November 2018, including London’s Barbican Centre on 21st) and will explore themes of migration – both human and avian – with a dazzling cast of stellar musicians from around the globe.

Afro Celt Sound System have invited three other large collectives to join them on this album and by doing so, shine a spotlight on migration, with a particular focus on refugees. These include the Amani Choir from the Democratic Republic of Congo with music director Emmanuela Yogolelo,  who has a refugee background. The album also features Stone Flowers, the band supported by Music Action International, a charity who helps transform lives affected by war, torture & armed conflict through music and song, alongside the Johannesburg based African Gospel Singers.

The album also references the environment and is in part inspired by ECC Records owner’s Simon Emmerson and Mark Constantine’s shared passion for bird-watching. Flight is perhaps Afro Celt Sound System’s most overtly political album and draws from Armagh-born vocalist and flautist Ríoghnach Connolly and Emmanuela’s work within the refugee community of Manchester and across the north west of England.

Formed by Grammy-nominated musician and record producer Simon Emmerson, Afro Celt Sound System are a European and African based collective who have forged a reputation for their energetic, uplifting shows.  Winners of the Songlines 2017 Best Group award, they combine folk traditions of different cultures in a unique and innovative way.

Thirteen self-penned tracks on Flight introduce moving devotional songs alongside Afro Celt Sound System’s trademark driving afro house, with drum and bass beats, bold west African brass and exuberant electronic rhythms and bass lines. Central to the album is a 4-part ‘migration’ medley’ drawing parallels between bird and human migration and ending with Ríoghnach’s embracing lament.  Recorded for the 1st time in the band’s career as a live studio performance, it’s the closest they’ve got to capturing the dynamic of the gigging band in a studio; gone are the loops and samples that used to provide the backdrop to the band’s sound, now replaced by the passionate performances which make the bands live shows so exhilarating and distinctive.

Simon Emmerson is joined by long-term members’ vocalist, kora and balafon player N’faly Kouyaté and Dhol Foundation drummer Johnny Kalsi but both album and tour will feature contributions from more than seventeen musicians and at selected gigs will also include the Amani Choir. This host of outstanding musicians include Ríoghnach Connolly; off-grid Highland Crofter, Griogair (vocals and highland pipes); Amani Choir MD Emmanuela Yogoelo; bodhrán player and percussionist Robbie Harris and Malian master drummer and percussionist Kalifa Knoé. Bass is provided by Mass, Simon ‘Palmy’ Richmond, Richard Evans and Simon Emmerson. The pipe, fiddle and flute tunes are all original and performed and written by Scottish Fiddler, Ewen Henderson, County Mayo Piper, Emer Mayock and flautist, Ríoghnach Connolly.  As well as the Amani choir, the band are also joined on Flight by very special guests, Stone Flowers, The Kick Horns and the African Gospel Singers

Flight was recorded in more than thirteen studios in Africa and Europe and is written, arranged, engineered and mixed by Afro Celt Sound System collective. The executive producer is Mark Constantine and the album is released on his and Emmerson’s label, ECC Records. Label artwork has been produced by Jamie Reid, legendary punk artist, cultural activist and ACSS founding member.

Artists’ website: http://www.afroceltsoundsystem.org.uk/

Afro Celt Sound System live:

Tour Dates

Wed 14 November      TORQUAY Princess Theatre, Torbay Road, Torquay TQ2 5EZ
Box Office 0844 871 7615 / Tickets £26.00 / https://bit.ly/2MYk1s3

Thu 15 November        FROME Cheese & Grain, Market Yard, Justice Ln, Frome BA11 1BE
Box Office 01373 455420 / Tickets £27.50 / cheeseandgrain.com

Fri 16 November          POOLE Lighthouse
Poole’s Centre For The Arts, 21 Kingland Rd, Poole BH15 1UG
Box Office 01202 280000 / Tickets £25.00 / lighthousepoole.co.uk

Sat 17 November         NEWCASTLE Tyne Theatre, 117 Westgate Rd, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4AG
Box Office 0844 2491 000 / Tickets £25.50 / tynetheatreandoperahouse.uk

Sun 18 November        LEEDS Town Hall, The Headrow, Leeds LS1 3AD
Box Office 0113 376 0318 / Tickets £26.50 / leedstownhall.co.uk

Tue 20 November        BRIGHTON The Dome, Church St, Brighton BN1 1UE
Box Office 01273 709709 / Tickets £27.00 /  brightondome.org

Wed 21 November      LONDON Barbican, Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS
Box Office 020 7638 8891 / Tickets £27.50 – 29.50 / barbican.org.uk

Thu 22 November        CAMBRIDGE Corn Exchange, 2 Wheeler St, Cambridge CB2 3QB
Box Office 01223 357851 /Tickets £25.00 / cambridgelivetrust.co.uk/cornex

Fri 23 November          MANCHESTER RNCM (Concert Hall), 124 Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9RD
Box Office 0161 907 5555 / Tickets £25.00 / rncm.ac.uk

Sat 24 November         WARWICK Arts Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL
Box Office 024 7652 4524 / Tickets £27.00 / warwickartscentre.co.uk

 

Annie Dressner announces second album

Annie Dressner

Annie Dressner was born and raised in New York City where she cut her teeth on the busy acoustic music scene, appearing regularly at such iconic venues as The Bitter End and Rockwood Music Hall. Since relocating to the UK seven years ago she has received airplay on BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music and has appeared at Green Man and Cambridge Folk Festival.

Her second album, Broken Into Pieces is due for late October release and features eleven all new Dressner originals.

It is produced by Nigel Stonier whose many collaborations include Thea Gilmore, Fairport Convention, Martha Wainwright, The Waterboys and current BBC6 Music breakthrough artist Abbie Ozard.

Contributing musicians include fellow New Yorker Matthew Caws of Nada Surf on electric guitars, alongside UK musicians including Stonier himself, drummer Che Beresford (Capercaille, Black Grape) and Dressner’s husband Paul Goodwin – himself a respected songwriter – on keyboards. Backing vocal duties are handled by singer/songwriters Polly Palusama and Dan Wilde along with Jade Rhiannon Ward of The Willows

Annie’s lyrics throughout are shot through with honesty and a rare candour… they hone in on the everyday minutiae of relationships and life, catching the moments where hearts and worlds turn on their respective axes.

These are set to direct, memorable folk/pop melodies and delivered almost conversationally in Annie’s affecting, clear toned Manhattan alto.

From the stark intimacy of ‘Bruise Beneath My Bones’ to the light East Coast rock of ‘Get Out’ via the almost campfire folk groove of ‘Heartbreaker’, Dressner draws on a wide musical palette. And from the heartbreak of ‘Kentucky’ to the understated euphoria of ‘Morning’ the album runs the full emotional gamut.

Broken Into Pieces is released October 26 and is surely destined to break new ground for Annie Dressner in her new, adopted homeland.

Artist’s website: http://www.anniedressner.com/

‘Kentucky’ – live:

Larkin Poe announce new album and European tour dates

Larkin Poe

Larkin Poe have announced details of their new album Venom & Faith, to be released November 9. The Nashville-based sister duo have also announced a headline European tour in support of the new album, starting in London at Islington Assembly Hall on November 21 and taking in dates in Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain. The European dates will follow Larkin Poe’s featured guest performer spot on Keith Urban’s Graffiti U Tour across North America this autumn.

The follow-up to their critically acclaimed second album Peach, which was nominated for a Blues Music Award for Best Emerging Artist Album, Venom & Faith was produced by the band and their long-time engineer Roger Alan Nichols.

In a genre as storied as American roots and soul, Larkin Poe – aka Atlanta, Georgia-born sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell – make a mark all their own with Venom & Faith. Rather than concede to the history of the canon they hold dear or rest on their laurels, Larkin Poe persist and emerge rattling, stomping, and sliding into a modern-day depiction of what roots rock should sound like… another chapter in an everlasting story.

“It’s a celebration of American roots music as translated by two sisters who are playing the blues in a modern age,” says Rebecca about their new album.

Descendants of celebrated US writer Edgar Allen Poe, since forming Larkin Poe in 2010, Rebecca and Megan have proven a formidable duo both in and out of the studio. In 2014, producer T-Bone Burnett enlisted them for Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes, a project that also saw contributions from Marcus Mumford (Mumford & Sons) Elvis Costello, Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), and Rhiannon Giddens. The sisters have performed at Glastonbury Festival twice, and were named ‘Best Discovery Of Glastonbury’ in 2014 by The Observer.

They have opened for and been in the backing band of Elvis Costello and Conor Oberst; and supported the likes of Gary Clark Jr. Rebecca and Megan were also members of the all-star backing band for the 2017 MusiCares Person Of The Year tribute honouring Tom Petty (also organized by Burnett) alongside Jakob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Elle King, Lucinda Williams, Gary Clark Jr., Don Henley, and Randy Newman.

Recorded in Nashville earlier this year in between headline shows, festival dates such as Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, Larkin Poe approached Venom & Faith with fierce independence. From Rebecca’s powerful vocals on “Ain’t Gonna Cry” to Megan’s sultry lap steel on ‘Good And Gone’, the sisters weave their talents into the fabric of their experience and a picture of the American South. ‘Blue Ridge Mountains’ harkens to the sisters’ hometown, “drinking sweet tea every day” with stomping percussion and churning riffs.

Still, the sisters maintain an outlaw mindset in a traditional genre. Unbound by tawdry embellishments, Larkin Poe infuse pop sensibilities into their sound, blending old-school elements of rock and soul with drum samples, hip-hop production values, and resonant lyrics like “California king-sized dreams in a twin bed.” Venom & Faith redefines what it means to make emotionally resonant music while also maintaining boundary-pushing musicality.

Save for two covers (‘Sometimes’ by blues legend Bessie Jones and Skip James’ ‘Hard Time Killing Floor Blues’), the rest of the record’s tracks are Larkin Poe originals. Paired with unique production touches like organic percussion sounds — the thumping of dresser drawers, the slamming of back doors, and stomping on hardwood floors — Venom & Faith bleeds Lovell. The sisters once again perform all instruments on the album except on ‘Mississippi’ which enlists the slide stylings of friend and seasoned guitar legend Tyler Bryant.

The album’s title, Venom & Faith, is taken from a lyric on ‘Honey Honey’ and, according to the sisters, is intended to conjure a southern gothic image.

“The title of our last album, Peach, was an homage to our Georgia roots. With this album, we wanted a title that would allude to the duality of our art: gritty guitars offset by gentle vocals; musical moments of both tragedy and joy; the sacred and the profane.”

If you would like to order a copy of an album (CD or Vinyl format), download a copy or just listen to snippets of selected tracks then click below to be taken to our associated partner Amazon’s website (use the left and right arrows below to scroll along or back to see the full selection).

Buying through Amazon on folking.com helps us to recover a small part of our running costs, so please order anything you need as every little purchase helps us.

Artists’ website: www.larkinpoe.com

‘Bleach Blonde Bottle Blues’ – official audio:

European Tour Dates

Wed 21 November           London, Islington Assembly Hall tickets
Fri 23 November              Berlin, Musik & Frieden tickets
Sun 25 November            Cologne, Luxor tickets
Mon 26 November           Munich, Strom tickets
Tue 27 November            Vienna, Flex tickets
Wed 28 November           Bergamo, Druso tickets
Sat 01 December              Madrid, Cool Stage tickets
Sun 02 December            Barcelona, Razzmatazz 2 tickets