Since the last blog I have reacquainted myself with one of my favourite bands, Blowzabella, and I have done so by attending one of their concerts for the first time since the early nineties before the children came along to interrupt my regular folk clubbing. The concert was everything that I would have hoped for and was also my first visit to Cecil Sharp House which seems to have eluded me all this time despite living in London for many years.
You can read a review of the concert HERE on Unicorn Folk and I would recommend that you go and see Blowzabella whilst you have the chance as the band plan to disband in 2028 on their fiftieth anniversary – and none of us are getting any younger!
I have also been listening to a variety of new music recently including the new album from Elizabeth and Jameson, Way Out West, which I promised to review in the last blog and it’s a good illustration of the range of their music which can be witnessed in concert on a regular basis in the Unicorn Folk region but also nationwide on their current tour. You can find details of that in the Featured Events section on the home page of Unicorn Folk as you can their gig in Royston later this month and can read the review of the album HERE.
Another relatively new collaboration between Seb Stone, Matt Quinn and Lizzy Hardingham resulted in the traditional harmony singing trio called Culverake who are beginning to make a name for themselves and have recently brought out a new album called Unto The Sky which can certainly be recommended.
I have also been listening to Mikey Kenney’s new album, his fourth, called Tiny Little Light, which the press release describes as the “… culmination of ten years of attempting to create harmony between the two sides of his musical personality; the experimental, psychedelic, freak-folk, alternative singer-songwriter and the informed, rooted and academic traditional fiddle player.” It is certainly an eclectic album but I am finding that it does repay more listening. You can listen to a track or two from the album on the latest edition of Filby’s Folk also available from today and the first since Sunday 17th August owing to my involvement with and recovery from Royston Arts Festival which took place in September. There are also tracks to listen to from Blowzabella, Culverake and Elizabeth & Jameson, all mentioned above, along with some from the UK Folk Album Charts, together with tracks from a currently available bargain CD from Fairport Convention, a live recording from their 2017 Cropredy Festival.
Elsewhere on the main Unicorn Folk website you will find there have been a few changes so that the main menu system is a bit more logical and, of more importance to advertisers, there is a new price list which offers significant reductions and makes it much more cost effective for cash-strapped folk clubs and festivals to advertise.
If you are a folk fan then you can plan all your festive folk activities in this region by using the Unicorn Diary. If you are organising folk events do let Unicorn Folk know if we have missed anything and you would like to have your event listed for FREE in the Diary – just email the details to info@unicornfolk.uk.