Monthly Archives: July 2019

THE NEW ROOTS SESSIONS, a series of intimate, stripped back concerts featuring three superb headline solo artists on a triple-bill. 

 

The Harrison,
28 Harrison Street, Kings Cross, WC1H 8JF.
Ph: 020 7278 3966
Nearest tube Kings Cross, 5 mins walk DIRECTIONS

£8.50 adv BUY NOW / £10.00 door
Doors open 7.30 pm. Music from 8.00 pm sharp.

 

 

Scottish singer-songwriter and Rough Trade Records recording artist Samantha Whates is a hugely respected figure on the London roots scene. Her beautifully crafted, poetic songs retain a strong affinity with her Scottish roots, cultivating a sound that is thoroughly contemporary, rooted in tradition, yet uniquely her own. She recently formed new Rough Trade Records signings PicaPica with her long time friend and collaborator Josienne Clarke. Her debut album Dark Nights Make For Brighter Days has been enjoyed both critical acclaim and extensive radio play (BBC 6 Music, KCRW, Resonance FM).

 

 

Scottish singer-songwriter Adam Beattie has released four albums of his own songs. Having roots in Scottish folk music, as well as a lifelong interest in old time jazz, blues and other folk styles, his genre-spanning music is tied together by his warmly soulful, distinctive voice and poetically narrative lyrics. A consumate performer, Beattie’s shows are as captivating with solo voice and guitar as they are in full band incarnation. He has performed to audiences across the UK and Europe alongside musicians such as the legendary Bert Jansch, Jolie Holland and Sean Hayes as well as collaborating on guitar and bass with Brooke Sharkey, Scott Hirsch and Michael Chapman. In addition, Beattie is part of 12-piece folk supergroup Band of Burns, contributing interpretations of Robert Burns songs as well as original compositions, and Rough Trade signings PicaPica, alongside Samantha Whates, Josienne Clarke and Sonny Johns.

‘Incredibly Beautiful’ – Mary Anne Hobbs, BBC Radio 6 Music

‘A great ear for melody and a natural talent for lyric writing’ – Bruce MacGregor, BBC Radio Scotland

‘Carefully crafted, gently affecting song writing with a dark twist’ – Roddy Hart, BBC Radio Scotland

 

 

Expertly combining folk, soul and and pop, singer-songwriter Fiona Bevan is noted for co-writing ‘Little Things’ with Ed Sheeran, reaching no 1 in 13 countries, for which she received a BMI Award. Her debut solo studio album Talk to Strangers (April 2014) was released on Navigator Records, and she has toured as support to Nick Mulvey, Ryan Keen, Ed Sheeran, Hawksley Workman, Ingrid Michaelson, Gwyneth Herbert, Luke Friend and Bill Bailey. She also runs a residency night at Servant Jazz Quarters, Dalston, called “Fiona Bevan Presents” which has featured acts including Mercury Prize-nominated Sam Lee and Ed Harcourt.

‘Startling odysseys that suggest Erykah Badu, Joanna Newsom and Kate Bush spine-tinglingly joined’ The Guardian

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New Roots is committed to promoting events that shine a light on up and coming talent in the UK alt-folk 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 while artists are performing. Our music policy comes from the kitchen table, the roots of public performance- intimate, acoustic based, high quality musicianship with as little interference between performer and listener as possible.

Website: www.newrootsevents.com
New Roots Radio: https://www.mixcloud.com/RadioNewRoots/

THE NEW ROOTS SESSIONS, a series of intimate, stripped back concerts featuring three superb headline solo artists on a triple-bill. 

The Green Note
106 Parkway, Camden Town, NW1 7AN
Ph 020 7485 9899
10.00 adv BUY NOW  / 12.00 Door
Nearest tube Camden, 2 mins walk DIRECTIONS
Doors open 7.30 pm, music form 8.00 pm sharp. 

 

 

JACK HARRIS‘s songs take a compassionate look at things both common and uncommon, and see them differently. They are literate, curious, often in character, and always intriguing. His most recent album, ‘The Wide Afternoon’, produced by UK folk giant Gerry Diver (Sam Lee, Lisa Knapp, Tom Robinson), was released in November 2016 to universal press acclaim. Jack was a SXSW showcasing artist at 17, and the youngest ever winner of the Kerrville Folk Festival’s New Folk Award in 2005 (previous winners include Gillian Welch, Devon Sproule and Anais Mitchell). He has been the recipient of the PRS ATOM award for new music creation, as well as an EFDSS creative bursary for songwriting.

‘Jack Harris is a priest of song who holds himself to a rigorous, ancient code of beauty most of us have forgotten exists.’ Anais Mitchell

 

 

MARTHA PATON‘s razor-sharp observations on modern life and how to survive it combine with a super-tight focus on what makes a great pop song to mark her out as one to watch. Armed with a set of all-killer-no-filler, superbly honed, fiercely intelligent songs that take their cues from Laura Marling, Regina Spektor, Margo Price and First Aid Kit, she comfortably goes beyond her influences to create something distinctly and defiantly her own.

“We were hooked on this from first listen…a beautiful slice of country and folk-infused pop” – Folk Radio UK

 

 

 

LOUIS BRENNAN is a singer-songwriter in the folk tradition. His folk however arent 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 Brennans cracked baritone, at times intensely intimate, at times broad, peppered with pitch-black humour

‘.A master storyteller with a voice like rolling thunder’ GQ Magazine

 

 

‘I’m absolutely addicted….really affecting and beautiful.’  – Lauren Laverne BBC 6 Music / ‘Absolutely fantastic!’ – John Kennedy, Radio X

The Lexington

96-98 Pentonville Rd, Islington N1 9JB

Ph: 020 7837 5371

Nearest tube Angel, 6 mins walk  DIRECTIONS

£8.50 adv BUY NOW / £10.00 Door

 

 

“[Mesadorm’s] Heterogaster is the best album of [the year] so far….quite remarkable” – Rich Pitt, BBC Introducing

5-piece Bristol band Mesadorm is the collaborative project between Blythe Pepino (Vaults), Aaron Zahl, Daisy Palmer (Paloma Faith, Goldfrapp, MIKA), Jo Silverston (The Unthanks, Red Clay Halo, Frank Turner) and David Johnston (ZunZun Egui, Phil King, Chairfight!).

After a period testing the mainstream stage with a major record deal as part of London Art Pop trio Vaults, Blythe Pepino has moved back to her roots as a leftfield rock and electronica songwriter. Pulling on wide strands of influence, from the contemporary electronic sounds of Caribou, Grizzly Bear and Sylvan Esso, to the late 60s and early 70s folk and pop giants Carole King, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, the songs on Mesadorm’s brilliant debut album ‘Heterogaster’ are based around ideas of family, sex, trust and disconnection, and come drenched in rich vocal harmonies and beautifully layered textures.

With critical acclaim from key tastemakers Lauren Laverne (BBC 6 Music), Huw Stephens (BBC Radio 1) and Jon Kennedy (X FM), and the combined talents of superb musicians married to startlingly original songwriting, all delivered through Pepino’s stunningly emotive voice, Mesadorm are set to deliver on the biggest stages in 2019/ 2020.

“I’m absolutely addicted….really affecting and beautiful. One of my favourite tracks at the moment – I’m very excited to to hear more of them” – Lauren Laverne BBC 6 Music

“I love [it]… a beautiful record” – Huw Stephens, BBC Radio 1

“Absolutely fantastic!” – John Kennedy, Radio X

“The best we’ve played on the show..”  Sam Bonham, BBC Introducing

“Melodies that originate in the left field… soothing, genuine, and perplexing… a real jewel.” – Clash Magazine

“Sublime… we’re enthralled by Blythe’s words and Mesadorm’s intense sounds.” – Get In Her Ears

“Mesadorm have that uncanny ability to find that perfect line between pop and experimentation. They achieve a rare and colourful psychedelic minimalism that is strikingly engaging.” – Folk Radio UK

 

 

 

Singer-songwriter Genevieve Dawson is originally from Edinburgh, now based in South-East London. Growing up on Joni Mitchell and Ella Fitzgerald, she went on to study music, playing and singing in jazz and folk bands across Europe and the UK. After a period spent living in Cairo and Morocco she returned to London, completing her studies at the iconic Goldsmiths University. Bringing together a frank lyrical style with a wonderfully rich and soulful tone, Genevieve Dawson’s sophisticated sound pulls influence from jazz and folk in equal measure.

‘ [She] blends folk-roots with spicy infusions of off-kilter improvisation and ambitiously ambiguous harmony. Genevieve’s take is not unlike that of Hejira-era Joni Mitchell- her songwriting knows no upper bounds…see her and her band at any opportunity you get’.  Bittersweet Symphonies.