Monthly Archives: March 2018

A New Orleans, Cajun, folk-soul-jazz gumbo! ‘I love his voice, I love the whole band’ Paul Heaton, The Beautiful South

Venue: The Green Note, Camden NW1 7AN Ph 020 7485 9899

Doors open 7.00 pm, nearest tube Camden, three mins walk. Dai & the Ramblers will play 2 sets across the evening.

Tickets £10.00 adv BUY NOW / £12.00 door

4-piece Dai & The Ramblers recorded their debut album Duw Duw, crammed full of their rhythm blues tinged brand of Cajun and New Orleans flavoured soul, folk and gonzo jazz, at the legendary Toe Rag studios (The White Stripes). and have just released their second album ‘Bob Bon’, further refining their folk-soul sound. Songwriter and singer Dai Price comes from Newport in South Wales, and previously worked with psychedelic cumbia outfit Los Chinches. Double bassist Rupert Gillett performs with the London Klezmer Quartet and produces records at The Cabin studio in Walthamstow. Sheffield-born Alan Dunn plays piano and accordion, and has worked with folk legends such as Loudon Wainright III and Fairport Convention’s Richard Thompson. South African fiddler Bob Loveday has performed and recorded with artists as varied as Van Morrison, Jeff Beck, The Penguin Cafe Orchestra and Paul McCartney.

“I love his voice; I love the whole band.” Paul Heaton (The Beatiful South)

“Absolutely gorgeous… They make a beautiful sound.” Janice Long (BBC Radio 2)

“A joyous romp… will raise your spirits and gladden your heart” Michael Farley (Americana UK)

£8.50 adv BUY NOW / £10.00 Door

Doors open 7.30 pm, The Harrison 28 Harrison Street, Kings Cross, London WC1H 8JF ·

New Roots presents Sophie Ramsay and Osp Eldjarn. Both artists will play solo sets, with additional cross-collaboration.

Sophie Ramsay combines old and new folk, singing songs from her native Scotland alongside originals with freshly poetic lyrics and European folk influences: her 2013 album ‘The Glassy Mountain’ was described as(f ‘undeniably beautiful’ fRoots), ‘Joanna Newsom meets Belle and Sebastian’ (R2), and as ‘timeless, outstanding… for those who really hear a song’ (Folk Music Worth Listening To). 2016 saw the release of her album of old Scots and Gaelic Songs ‘The Seas Between Us’: ‘Atmospheric, elegant and beguiling, hers is an exciting new voice to carry Burns onwards.’ (Songlines). ‘Ethereal beauty translated into song’ (Folk Words) ‘Deeply moving’ (fRoots). Sophie accompanies herself with nylon string guitar, viola and recently occasional electronics. She has been touring the Scottish Highlands a lot recently with cellist/singer Sarah Smout, and is a member of respected folk group Mediaeval Baebes. Her voice opens the double Emmy nominated theme music for ITV’s Victoria. 

Ösp Eldjárn- Folk Album Of The Year 2018 Nominee, Icelandic Music Awards.

Hailing from a valley in the North of Iceland, Ösp Eldjarn makes music that both reflects the folk songs of her native country, and absorbs the artistry of contemporary London songwriting. She carries with her a fine Icelandic tradition of soaring melody, songs of glacial beauty and striking emotional power. Ösp’s debut album was released earlier this year, attracting the attention of respected critics and DJs, including rave reviews from Iceland’s leading music writer, Arnar Eggerts and Indie Rock Mag. Ösp has performed at major festivals including Cambridge Folk Festival and Iceland Airwaves. She comes from a famously musical Icelandic family and before starting her solo career, released two successful albums with her brother from the band Brother Grass. She will be performing songs from her album,Tales from a poplar tree, together with Italian born violinist singer/songwriter and multi instrumentalist Valeria Pozzo. 

New Roots is committed to promoting events that shine a light on up and coming talent in the UK alt-folk and roots scene. It’s committed to providing artists with an environment that is sympathetic to what they do, giving musicians the respect they and their music deserves. For this reason we ask for no talking and no use of mobile phones during performances to ensure the music gets the attention it warrants.

The Crown, Battersea, 102 Lavender Hill SW11 5RD.  Ph 20 7738 1122. 7.00 pm to midnight.  FREE ENTRY

The Cable Street Rag Band will play two sets, 8.30 pm & 9.45 pm

Old-time, hot jazz, ragtime, swing and blues from The Cable Street Rag Band, a red-hot five piece featuring Ewan Bleach, Dakota Jim and Louisa Jones (Whiskey Moonface). The venue is the lovely independent pub The Crown on Lavender Hill in Battersea. There are great burgers, 5 cask ales, 21 gins (!!), craft beers, comfy sofas, and it’s free entry. And there’e a real piano, always the sign of a great boozer. The Cable Street Rag Band will play two live sets, 8.30 pm and 9.45 pm, featuring the music of The Washboard Rhythm Kings, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Clarence Williams, Sidney Bechet, Jelly-Roll Morton, Lucille Bogan, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, The Harlem Hamfats The Memphis Jug Band, and across the whole night there’s a playlist of the very finest old-time jazz, country blues, delta blues, barrelhouse styles, swing and New Orleans rhythm & blues.

[PicaPica] ‘It’s clear something extraordinary is happening’ ★★★★★ fRoots Magazine 

Venue: The Green Note, Camden NW1 7AN Ph 020 7485 9899

Doors open 7.00 pm, nearest tube Camden, three mins walk.

Tickets £10.00 adv  BUY NOW

Recent Rough Trade Records signings PicaPica feature the vocal interplay of Josienne Clarke (BBC Folk Award Winner 2015/ Nominee 2017) and Samantha Whates, dual front women who create powerful harmonies atop layers of texture created by Adam Beattie & Sonny Johns (Grammy nominee/ Mercury Prize nominee/ MOBO nominee), a tiding of magpies picking shiny moments of tone and timbre from 60s west coast, sunshine pop and indie folk. Josienne and Samantha met on the London acoustic music scene several years ago and immediately shared a love of singing and writing. They have been unofficially collaborating for years, and PicaPica is now the fully-realised, perfectly-formed four-piece expression of their superb sound together.

London based Dubliner Louis Brennan is a singer-songwriter in the folk tradition. His folk however aren’t the field hands and travelling minstrels of yore but the repressed middle managers and ennui-ridden urbanites of late stage capitalism. They populate tales of bad sex, half-drunk commutes and interpersonal claustrophobia delivered in Brennan’s cracked baritone, at times embarrassingly intimate, at times spuriously broad, peppered with pitch-black humour.

“A master storyteller with a voice like rolling thunder” GQ

“His ability to twist and turn a simple phrase can render the most innocent line into something utterly heartbreaking” CLASH

£7.00 adv BUY NOW / £8.00 Door

Doors open 7.30 pm, The Harrison 28 Harrison Street, Kings Cross, London WC1H 8JF ·

Based in South London and Bristol, The Bara Bara Band are a quartet that employ the traditional trio of banjo, guitar and fiddle, supported by cajon/drums & percussion. Playing a mix of their own songs and traditional folk songs and tunes, their stark delivery pulls on distinctly English strands, with echoes of ’60s Wyrd Folk and ’70’s punk informing their more traditional folk roots. They recently released their new album The Seeds Inside to favourable press acclaim.

‘Stick In The Wheel are the the forefront of [the new folk] – The Bara Bara Band are right up there too’ Jeremy Searle, R2 Magazine 

“Listening to this music is an exciting experience. Clear and obvious roots of tradition feed its creation, with freshness of innovation… a heady mix that moves from ethereal through accusative to darkly observational” – Folkwords

“…This album… like all good traditional music, touches the air we breathe and greases the axles of our lives… it rhymes with the very best of new and old English folk music” – Soundblab

‘destined for great things’ American Roots UK

Brighton folk duo Hickory Signals are multi-instrumentalists Laura Ward and Adam Ronchetti. Combining Laura Ward’s crystal clear, formidable folk voice with guitar, shruti, flute, glockenspiel and a variety of percussion, the band layer sounds sensitively and minimally to atmospheric effect- their music has been described as haunting, cinematic, un-rushed and detailed. Previous live show highlights include headlining ‘Folk Rising’ at Cecil Sharp House in 2015, support slots for Buddy Whittington, Blazin’ Fiddles, Stick in the Wheel, Jinnwoo and Hattie Briggs, Club Tent stage slots at Cambridge Folk Festivals 2014, 2015 and 2016 plus a number of local festival slots. 

Cunning Folk sings songs about the ritual landscape of the British Isles, traditional folk songs & songs about magic. Cunning Folk is an old English term for someone who could lift a curse, heal, set a protective charm, find lost things & predict the future. A true storyteller, Cunning Folk’s sophisticated, wonderfully accessible songs weave tales of Britain’s myths and history, occupying the same English underground alternative folk terrain as Julian Cope, The Incredible String Band, Comus and Vashti Bunyan.

“Charming & mesmeric” Guardian

“Engagingly idiosyncratic” Prog

“Genuinely & gently joyeous” Fatea Records

“Perfectly epitomises folk music in principle & execution” Sonic Bandwagon