Weather Weather Weather Weather - what's it going to do?

Watching the forecast on Metcheck is always fun - the festival week has been changeable for the 7 days or so but it's beginning to settle down, so here's the forecast as of 1pm Friday 20 August.

You can click the forecast to take you to an up-to -date 14 forecast for the site at any time.

Looking good though, and if anything the nights are looking a little warmer than usual.

Free Wi-Fi on the festival site

Last year we had a small pocket of free wi-fi on the festival site, it worked perfectly but had limited range.

This year the technical team of Charles & Heather, have set up a system that covers the whole site.

So wherever you are on the site, you will be able to pick up emails and browse the internet for FREE!

The SFF Pork Pie!

Once again, we're proud to team up with Boxfresh Organics again this year - we believe we have the best festival shop anywhere with a unique range of fresh food and provisions, and this year they’ve extended their product range.

So in addition to freshly baked breads delivered fresh every morning, a full range of organic meats (including everything for breakfast) and more; this year they’ve added a range of pork pies from Simply Pies in Whitchurch, and there’s an exclusive Shrewsbury Folk Festival Pie (pork and Shropshire Blue cheese) you’ll be able to try!

See you in the queue!

Programmes

The festival programmes have been printed and delivered, and if you pre-ordered one then it should be delivered in the next couple of days.

If you haven't pre-ordered one, then from early next week, you will be able to pick a copy up from the tourist information centre in Shrewsbury (next to Rowley's House). UPDATE - have dropped the programmes off should you wish to call in and buy one.

Time to start planning your festival weekend.......

Dervish and special guests

On Saturday night, Irish legends Dervish are playing the mainstage - but you may have noticed they're billed as Dervish and special guests.

We can confirm that they will have 4 fantastic guests with them, and they are...

It should be quite a night, we're looking forward to hearing what the band and all-star guest list come up with!

2010 Map

The programme has now been signed off and will be printed soon - as ever there's a map in the back, but here's a copy for you to have a look at now and to see how we've laid the site out this year.

Tuneworks at SFF

We're really proud of the variety of sessions that happen at Shrewsbury, Izzy and his team do a fantastic job at organising these and they always end up being a highlight for anyone who takes part or even just wanders in and listens!

Here are the details of the Tuneworks sessions that will be held at the festival this year....


Tuneworks Beginners Session

This session uses the beginners tunebook available on the festival

website - from the homepage follow the link to Tune Workshops. The

tunes are all tried and tested session standards and are backed up

with some audio files that will give you an idea of the speed. The

idea is that you learn them at home ready for the session. We will

play plenty of repetitions of each tune allowing you to get them

firmly under your fingers in a session environment. Bring your own

tunebook!


Tuneworks Improvers Session

This session uses the improvers tunebook available on the festival

website - from the homepage follow the link to Tune Workshops. With a

wider range of tunes that incorporates those learned in the beginners

sessions, the pace will be slower than at a normal tune session,

giving learning musicians the chance to practice in a larger session

environment. These sessions have been great fun in the past and we

look forward to sharing a tune with friends old and new! Bring your

own tunebook!


Tuneworks Follow On Beginners/Improvers

Last year, many musicians wanted to keep playing after the beginners

and improvers sessions so if you make your way to the Tuneworks

noticeboard in the food tent you'll probably find a gang of fellow

tune addicts ready to kick off again!


Tuneworks Full Speed Session

A chance for everyone to have a blast before the end of the session -

using the tunebooks means you'll know at least some of the tunes, and

get to hear and play them at full speed!


Tuneworks Turn Up and Play Sessions

A few of the Tuneworks staff will meet you at the Tuneworks

noticeboard in the Food Tent and help you get some tunes from our

tunebooks on the go - a good chance to unwind after or before seeing

some of the other great music available at the festival!


Tuneworks Beginners Coaching Fiddle

Kitty Greenwood is an experienced fiddle teacher who can help you get

to beginners session standard. Concentrating on a tune or two from the

beginners tunebook, she will help you to get those all-important

techniques right from the word go! You'll need to bring a fiddle along

to this workshop.


Tuneworks Beginners Coaching Whistle

Rob Pierce is a great flute and whistle player - just the person to

get you going on a tune or two from our beginners session book. You

will need a D whistle or a flute to participate in this workshop.


Tuneworks Uilleann Pipes Course

Jim Carroll is fast becoming one of the country's most respected

Uilleann Pipemakers and has a vast wealth of knowledge of playing

Irish music on a range of instruments. Turn up at the first session

and he will arrange how best to teach attendees over the weekend.


Storytelling

Tim O'the Oak will entertain everyone in the family with his

fascinating stories. A real festival find last year, Tim is one of the

country's best loved storytellers and brings an animated and energetic

style to each night's bedtime story.


Irish Session

After a number of very popular sessions last year, our friends from

Nottingham are back for a session each evening. A great chance for you

to get involved or sit back and listen!

Ratlingfolk Folk Against Fascism Day

Our friends at Ratlingfolk are organising a local folk day on Sunday 25th July where some of
Shropshire's best known folk artists gather in support of Folk Against
Fascism.

Organized by SFF committee members Izzy MacLachlan and Des Walker,
Rattlingfolk takes place at the Horseshoes pub, Bridges, Ratlinghope between
12.30 and 8pm.

Local favourites include Bill Caddick, Harriet Bartlett, Star of the Sea,
Flaxenby, Jonathan Day and Almost Bluegrass with other artists still to be
announced. There will be plenty of sessions including a slower paced tunes
making use of the SFF improvers Tunebook.

The event is outdoors under cover and costs £5 with under 12s being free.
Barbecued food is available all day.

For info on this and other Rattlingfolk events, check
www.MySpace.com/Rattlingfolk or join the Rattlingfolk Facebook group.

Car Sharing to SFF

Car Sharing

For those of you who can't make it by bus, train or car and who are coming from further afield http://www.gocarshare.com/ are offering a solution.

Car sharing will allow you to find fun people to share the journey with whilst sharing the cost of travel and hopefully making a difference to the environment.

Simply go onto www.gocarshare.com and log on via facebook; if you are planning on driving, just post a car share request to Shrewsbury home of the Shrewsbury Folk Festival.

Hope this helps a few of you out!

Calan - pics and radio piece

(click for larger pic)

Last weeks' schools project with Calan was a real joy - the group were fantastic in school and the whole school loved having them there.

The band will be at the festival this year, they'll perform with the kids again, but also have their own slot on stage - make sure you catch them if you get chance!

Whilst in school, Genevieve Tudor from BBC Radio Shropshire came and recorded a short piece about the schools project, you can listen to it here (MP3, 3.5mb)

(click for larger pic)

Beer & Cider list for the festival

We have the cider & beer list for the festival, here you go.....

Ciders
Riches Cider Co.
Sweet ,Medium and Dry
Brook Farm Cider
Medium Dry and extra dry cider, Medium Perry

Dunkertons Organic Cider
medium sweet and dry ciders
organic perry and Browns single variety cider

Gwatkins Cider Co
Foxwhelp, Norman , Stoke Red and Yarlington Mill ciders plus Blakeney Red Perry
Hecks cider and perry
Hecks perry and Kingston black cider

Westcroft Cider Co
Janets Jungle Juice and Morgans sweet

Burrow Hill Cider Co
Medium and dry cider plus pear cider
Someset cider brandy

Broad Oak
Kingston black and medium sweet ciders plus Moonshine and perry

Newton Court Cider
Newtons Dry and Perry

Gwynt y DDraig The Welsh Cider Company
Black Dragon, Dog dancer, Fiery Fox, Two Trees Perry, Farmhouse Sweet, Happy Daze, Malvern Hills Perry, Farmhouse cyder and Barnstormer

Cider House special cider
Magners
Stowford press

We shall also be selling farm pressed apple juice from Ju's farm in hereford.

The Beers
Salopian Brewery
Hop twister
Lemon dream
Shropshire Gold
Oracle
Darwins Origin

The Ludlow Brewing Co
Ludlow Gold
The Boiling Well
Ludlow Best

Timothy Taylors
Timothy Taylors Landlord
Best Bitter

Enville Ales
Enville Ale
Enville White
Gothic Ale
Ginger Beer
Old Porter
Nailmaker Mild

Hook Norton
Old Hooky
Hooky Bitter
Hooky Dark
Hooky Gold

Ma Pardoes
Entire
Dark Swan
Broughs Pale Ale

Three Tuns
XXX
1642 Bitter
Solstice
Old Scrooge
Clerics Cure

Hobsons
Best Bitter
Town Crier
Hobsons Mild
Twisted Spire

Woods Brewery
Shropshire Lad and Lass
Wonderful
Quaff
Pot 'o' Gold

Bathams Bitter (if i can get hold of some) !

Plus some Gluten free bottled ales from greens
these are:
Pathfinder
Mission
Quest
Pioneer

Also on tap:
Grolsch
Carling
Worthingtons
Guinness
Butty Bach
Dorothy Goodbodys
Hereford Pale Ale

Hope this is enough for you all!

Calan and the Schools' Project

The final year of our current schools' project took place last week.

Over the last three years we've taken the folk music and dance traditions of Great Britain into three local schools. Year one saw the Demon Barbers, year two we had Breabach, and this year we had young Welsh band Calan working in Shrewsbury.

Over the last three years over 1100 children have worked with the bands, with 90 of them appearing in concerts at the Theatre Severn and the festival.


The children who worked with Calan this week will all be at the festival in August (along with their families) to experience the whole event, and will perform with the band on Sunday afternoon in Marquee 2.


It's been a fantastic project and we intend to carry on with our work in school - we'll take a one year break next year and will then be back with a new project to take musicians and young groups into the schools of Shrewsbury and Shropshire in 2012

SFF @ The Hive. Concert Series

In the past year we've hosted 3 concerts at the Hive - they've all been successful events at a fantastic, intimate venue in the centre of Shrewsbury.

Over the past few months we've been working on extended these occasional concerts into a formal concert series. We have 10 events between September 2010 - June 2011 and the first 5 go on sale today.

The venue is The Hive in Shrewsbury, a seated, air conditioned small arts centre that is perfect for folk music - it only seats 100 people and tickets will sell quickly.

Sunday 19th September
Jackie Oates Band

Sunday 24th October
Crooked Still

Sunday 21 November
Kris Drever Trio (with John McCusker & Donald Shaw)

Sunday 12th December
Bella Hardy (Bright Morning Star Christmas Show)

Sunday 9th January
Jez Lowe

Venue details are:
The Hive, 5 Belmont, shrewsbury, SY1 1TE
box office 01743 234970

any questions please email me neil@shrewsburyfolk........

Schools' Project

The third year of our schools' project started today.

We have Welsh band Calan working in St George's Junior School all week where they will be teaching children the Welsh traditions of traditional song and dance.

They will work with every class, but in particular will be working with 30 children who will perform with them on Friday night at a concert at the Theatre Severn.

The band and 30 children will perform the same concert at the festival this year - it's always one of the highlights of the festival, so make sure you see the concert this year!

Shirt #3 - ladies Kiwi vest

Colour reproduction is in the pictures is OK- the real thing is just a little richer in colour.

Click image for larger picture

Shirt #2 - Mens Wave Design (Khaki)

The colour reproduction isn't so great on these pictures, in reality there's a touch more green in them than is shown here

Click images for a larger picture

Shirt #1 -Ladies Chocolate Barcode Design

Click the images for a full size version - colour reproduction is OK in the pics, the picture of the front of the shirt is close to the actual colour

T-Shirts

The festival t-shirts have arrived..it's always a bit of a daunting moment when you open the first box, just in case you made a massive error with pantone codes!

This year we have

ladies fitted shirts (2 different styles)
ladies fitted vests (1 style)
kids t-shirts (1 style)
mens shirts (2 different styles)

The adult t-shirts all have front and back prints, and the Folk Against Fascism logo on the left sleeve.
Kids shirts and the vest have a front print only.

Show of Hands - Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed. SFF 2009

Show of Hands - Arrogance Ignorance & Greed.
Shrewsbury Folk Festival 2009

Show of Hands played the main stage of the Shrewsbury Folk Festival on Saturday 30th August 2008. This footage comes from the feed that was shown on the screens in the main tent and around the site

Morris: A Life With Bells On

At the festival this year we'll be screening the fantastic folk film, Morris: "A Life With Bells On"

There will be multiple showings of the film over the weekend, and best of all they will be FREE for all festival goers - we'll announce more details a little closer to the festival.

In the meantime, here's a link to the trailer.....
Morris: A Life with Bells on Trailer

Hatch Show Print 2010

(click image for a larger view)

Our posters from Hatch Show Print in Nashville arrived today, and they're the best we've ever had.

These letterpress posters are all handmade, and each one is unique - they are genuine works of art and look great when framed.

They will be for sale at the festival merch tent in August.

A Blog About Bogs

Here’s today’s glimpse into the glamorous life of the SFF organising committee through the year.

The toilets for the festival are now arranged and booked – and they’re quite an improvement on previous years. Rather than the standalone single toilets we’ve had in the past, the toilets on site this year are quite a step up (literally).

Each unit will have real toilets, sinks with running warm water, soap and towel dispensers, vanity mirrors, and best of all lighting!

For those of you interested in these (and let’s be honest, that’s everyone) you can find them at Andy's Loos and we’re having the Duchess unit from the Events Range.

Dancing at Shrewsbury

As well as an unrivalled list of concert artists and workshops, we have a equally exciting dance programme that covers every aspect of traditional dance.
Whether you are doing it or watching it, you will love it!

Fun, frolics, laughter and spectacle from our dance teams; driving rhythms and rock solid dance beats from our bands.

Let the music lift your spirits and feel that need to move to the music.


The Dance Line-Up

Bands
Toothless Mary caller Fee Lock
a lively and energetic ceilidh sound, a blend of funk, 80's disco and folk

Dartmoor Pixie Band caller Sarah Bazeley
a unique sound that’ll make you want to get up and jig!

Tickled Pink caller Martin Harvey
one of the most sought after bands on the UK festival circuit, they rock!

One Short Band caller Shelia Mainwaring
another brilliant band from Shropshire, some of the best folk dance musicians in the UK.

Whiskey River Boys
Louisiana Swamp Music, Country Blues, Old Timey, Americana, old style R'n'R, Blues, good country music.....

Elysium
Disco meets ceilidh - a new concept mixing everything from House and Breaks to Drum'n'Bass and Techno, with a bit of folk thrown in for good measure.

Dance Teams
Barefoot Bellydance (Tribal style bellydance)
Crook Morris (Cotswold Morris)
The Dartmoor Broom Dancers and Dartmoor Step dance (Dartmoor tradition)
The Ironmen and Severn Gilders (Border Morris)
Kick Start (Appalachian)
The Knots in May (North West Morris and more)
North British Sword Dancers (Longsword, rapper and much more)
One Step Beyond (Appalachian)
Rapper Rascals (Rapper)
Rivington Morris (North West Morris)
Shropshire Bedlams and Martha Rhoden’s Tuppenny Dish (Border Morris & More)
Wharfdale Wayzgoose (Border Morris)
Sambassadors of Groove (Samba & Latin percussion)

Filming and webcasts at SFF 2010

As we have done in the past couple of years we will be filming the mainstage performances - this is done primarily to feed the big screens that sit either side of the stage in the main marquee.

There are a couple of upgrades to the set-up this year - for the first time we will be filming both in widescreen and in high definition!.

We'll also be further developing the webcasts from last year, and for the second year running we'll be webcasting mainstage performances live!

Sadly the technical limitations of webcasting means that we can't stream in HD, sorry.

More details of this and timings muhc closer to the event.

Video Catchup - Richard Thompson, Bellowhead, Krista Detor

We've added more videos to our Youtube channel - you can see all the videos we've uploaded here and relive some memories of the festival (or just see what you missed!)

Richard Thompson - Dad's Gonna Kill Me



Bellowhead - London Town



Krista Detor - All to Do With the Moon

Early bird offer coming to an end!

There are just 3 days left of the early bird offer - this is the last chance to buy weekend tickets at the reduced rate, saving £15 on a adult weekend ticket.

Full details are on our website or just click the flyer on the post below for all the ticket breakdowns.

The 2010 Flyer

For those of you who don't receive these through the post, here's a chance to download a PDF of the full 2010 flyer.



Click here to download the flyer.

Afro Celt Sound System

It's been a badly kept secret, but we've had to wait until the band were ready to announce the whole tour.

A pioneering and thrilling live band, Afro Celt Sound System return to live
action this summer for the first time in five years.
Twice Grammy-nominated
and multi-million album selling, the band play summer festivals throughout
Europe. Shrewsbury Folk Festival is very proud to be one of a select few
festivals in the UK presenting the Afro Celt Sound System in 2010.
A career-spanning survey double CD release of the bands best work
on Realworld will be announced soon.

"It's like a hurricane let loose... the spontaneity, the mix of ancient and
modern, the black and white, the fluidity and breathless glee" Q Magazine

Jon Boden solo slot confirmed for Monday

Just a quick update to let you know that Jon Boden 'solo' has been confirmed for the festival on Monday afternoon.

Not sure of the exact timings yet, but it will be early afternoon as Bellowhead are finishing the festival on Monday.

The line-up is now complete, we'll list all the artists for you early next week.

Hatch Show Print

As many of you may know, we use Hatch Show Print to print fantastic posters that we make available at the festival - there's nowhere else in the world that makes posters like this and we have them shipped over from Nashville.

This year Alan & Sandra visited the print shop on their way home from Folk Alliance - and our posters are on display in the 'unique' print room.

Here are few images from the shop - including one of Alan helping you find the poster!

The image from the window shows our 2008 poster, it's obviously been in the window since then, and has been mangled by the Hatch Show Print Cat!

We'll be back to Hatch again this year for another poster - and will post details of it as and when we have them here.

Folk Alliance

Since last Wednesday Alan, Sandra & Neil have been at Folk Alliance in Memphis. We first went in 2008, but this time were ready and knew what to expect......

Wall to wall music from both big names and upcoming artists all in one huge hotel (the Marriott in Memphis); there were panels, sessions and chances to meet artists, agents, folk arts professionals and fellow festival organisers from all over the world.

It was good to meet some old friends of the festival including Leonard from the Duhks, as well as seeing people for the first time - I confess that I had to travel to the US for my first chance to see Martyn Joseph (he played about a half a dozen showcases and was excellent)

We saw lots more showcases including Michelle Shocked, Po Girl and John Gorka, but the overall highlight was the Sweetback Sisters who put in an amazing concert. We talked to countless artists, and spent time in a city that is very quiet during the day but comes alive at night.

We spent some time on Beale St and met a genuine blues legend in Clyde Hopkins, had a memorable beer in a Beale St bar quite unlike anything you've ever seen, took the l-o-n-g walk to Sun Studios, where the tour was much better than you could expect (they take tours during the day, and then bands record there in the evening), took in a basketball game at the FedEx Arena on Saturday night, and even had time to see the Peabody Ducks

Great restaurants, including a fantastic meal at Rendevous Ribs where we were memorably served by Robert Snr who's been there 46 years!

I came home today (Monday), but Alan & Sandra are touring for an extra week including a trip to Graceland and then to spend some time in Nashville.

Hopefully, by the time they get back we'll be able to announce the headline act!

Who is on When

We've now booked ALL the acts for 2010, and here's the full* line-up along with days performing. This is the first time the list along with artists for all the stages and venues have been released, so have a look through as there are people we've not announced before here......

* all acts are booked, but we can't release the headliner just yet, as it's part of a world tour and everything has to be announced together...we'll be able to do this in March. What we can let you know is that they'll be performing on Sunday night, just after Billy Bragg.

Here we go, in alphabetical order

FRIDAY 27th
Adrian Edmondson & The Bad Shepherds
Adrienne Young
Andy Wall
Fairfield
Jackie Oates
Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts
Kimber’s Men
Koshka
Lucy Kaplansky
Michael McGoldrick Big Band
Mick Ryan & Paul Downes
OK Brandy
Penny Priest
Richard Shindell
The Kittiwakes
The Young’uns
Toothless Mary with Fee Lock

SATURDAY 28th
Adrienne Young
Andy Wall
Cara Dillon
Chuck Brodsky
Dartmoor Pixie Band with Sarah Bazeley
Dave Young & Dave Bordewey
Dervish & Guests
DJ ceilidh with Pete Rees & Phil Bassingdale
Drever, McCusker, Woomble with Heidi Talbot and Boo Hewerdine
Fairfield
Heidi Talbot & Boo Hewerdine
Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts
Kimber’s Men
Koshka
Lucy Kaplansky
Mick Ryan & Paul Downes
OK Brandy
Penny Priest
Richard Shindell
Richard Shindell & Lucy Kaplansky
The Kittiwakes
The Navvy’s Wife
The Old Dance School
The Tom McConville Band
The Young’uns
The Wilsons
Whiskey River Boys
Winter Wilson

SUNDAY 29th
Billy Bragg
Calan
Chuck Brodsky
Dartmoor Pixie Band with Sarah Bazeley
Genticoram
Tim Judson & Julia Disney
Kerr, Fagan & Harbron
Kimber’s Men
Kristina Olsen & Peter Grayling
Nancy Kerr & James Fagan
Lucy Ward
Sam Carter
The Fay Hield Trio
The Old Dance School
The Wilsons
The Young’uns
Tickled Pink with Martyn Harvey
Tom Kitchin & Gren Bartley

MONDAY 30th
Bellowhead
Belshazzar’s Feast
Calan
Chuck Brodsky
Hans Theessink
John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett
Kerfuffle
Kristina Olsen & Peter Grayling
Majorstuen
Mawkin:Causley
May Contain Nuts
The Old Dance School
The Wilsons
Tom Kitchin & Gren Bartley

Festival Showreel Part 2

The second part of our 2009 festival showreel includes highlights from Show of Hands, Eric Bibb, Spooky Men's Chorale and The Proclaimers



We have all the footage from the main stage performances, if you'd like to see a particular song/clip then let us know and we'll upload it to youtube in the coming weeks.....

The Line-Up and The Art of Virtue

For the last few weeks, we've been waiting on the confirmation of one more act that will complete our main stage line-up....

It's a space on Sunday night, it's a big band and it's quite complicated.

We're confident it will work out, but patience is a virtue and this time we're going to give it time to fall into place!

In the meantime, here's a more complete look at parts of the line-up (an even more complete list is on our website)

Bellowhead
Cara Dillon
Dervish & special guests
Billy Bragg
Michael McGoldrick Big Band
Ade Edmondson & the Bad Shepherds
Richard Shindell
Lucy Kaplansky
Heidi Talbot & Boo Hewerdine (with Drever McCusker & Woomble)
Genticorum
Jackie Oates Band
Hans Theesink
John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett
Nancy Kerr & James Fagan
Chuck Brodsky
Mawkin:Causley
Adrienne Young
Fay Hield Trio
Kristina Olsen & Peter Grayling
Belshazzar's Feast
Kerfuffle
Kerr Fagan Harbron
Lucy Ward
Tom McConville

..and a few more

We're almost ready to announce our full line-up(honestly!), but while you're all waiting......

Every year we like to bring some North American artists to the festival who you may have heard of, but almost certainly haven't seen. In 2007 we brought Richard Shindell over for his first visit to the UK in ten years, and since then we've had Crooked Still, Mark Erelli, Ollabelle, Eilen Jewell, Krista Detor and more.

This year is no exception and as well as having both Richard Shindell and Lucy Kaplansky with us in August, we have a couple artists to add to the line-up -Chuck Brodsky and Adrienne Young (and her band)

There will be full bios in on our website (and in the programme), but here's a quick clip of Chuck

Chuck Brodsky

Happy New Year, plus a few more names

Well it's a little late, but we have an excuse! I had intended to post this on Monday 4th, but a gas explosion in Shrewsbury (BBC News), took out my phone lines and broadband until today.

We're just waiting on our headliners to confirm and then we'll make a 'formal' line-up announcement, but in the meantime here are a few more names from the festival for 2010

Bellowhead

Jackie Oates (and band)

Nancy & James

a few more names for you...

Dervish + Special Guests (can't say who yet, but it looks exciting!)

Heidi Talbot & Boo Hewerdine with Drever, McCusker and Woomble

Mawkin/Causley

Full line announcement due in a couple of days.......

more of the line-up....

The festival starts on Friday night with Adrian Edmondson & the Bad Shepherds opening on the main stage.

and later in the weekend we welcome back

Genticorum
Kristina Olsen & Peter Grayling

Genticorum played the very first Shrewsbury FF at the Quarry, and Kristina & Peter played at the festival when it was held in Bridgnorth - it's great to have them both back.

Emily Smith - Caledonia. SFF 2009

There are lots of hits on the blog at the moment with people looking for line-up information - we WILL announce a few more names this week, but in the meantime here's a fantastic video of Emily Smith from August.

Emily Smith Band - Caledonia.
Main Stage, Saturday 29th August

Richard Shindell & Lucy Kaplansky

We're also bringing Richard Shindell and Lucy Kaplansky over to the 2010 festival.

They will both play individual sets over the weekend, but will play a special one-off duo show for us on Saturday.

....and we're off!

We're going to officially announce the full line-up in January, but we're ready to go with ticket sales right now.

2010 Tickets

But we can't expect you to buy tickets without a little flavour of who will be performing in 2010.

So, as promised here are three names plucked from the 2010 line-up

Billy Bragg
Cara Dillon
Michael McGoldrick Big Band

We'll put a few more names from the line-up on the blog ahead of the announcement of the line-up so far in early January.

Almost there......

We're just putting the finishing touches to the line-up for 2010, and all the slots for the 2 main marquees all just about all booked and ready to go.

As you'd expect there are big names, some old favourites, but also some fantastic new names to the festival including two acts on the main stage who've never even played in the UK before!

We looked at all the suggestions from you on the blog and facebook and it certainly had an impact on some of artists we booked...thanks!

Tickets will be on sale in early Jan, and we'll announce the full line-up then...but for those who follow the blog, twitter and Facebook we'll let a few names out of the bag just before Christmas and in the run up to the New Year.

Mark Erelli - Crying

At the Chris Wood show in Shrewsbury last Friday, 3 people asked me for this video to be uploaded.....

Mark Erelli - Crying.
Main Stage Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Friday 28th August 2009

Spooky Mens Chorale - Dancing Queen

The Spookies from the main stage on Sunday.....

Karine Polwart - Follow the Heron

Follow the Heron from Karine's Monday afternoon set

Seth Lakeman - Solomon Browne

Solomon Browne from Seth's fantastic set at the festival on Saturday 29th August.

Chris Wood - One in a Million

Requested by Phil on our first video post, Chris Wood's 'One in a Million' - a fantastic song from my favourite set of the whole festival....

Show of Hands & the Spooky Mens Chorale 'Don't You Want Me'

Here's the second video in the set - this time Show of Hands fantastic reading of the Human League's 'Don't You Want Me'.

If there's anything you'd like to see from the mainstage this year. then please comment...next up is Chris Wood (as requested by the first person to comment).

2009 Festival Videos

As a result of running big screens in the main tent, we also end up with DVDs of every main stage performance that takes place over the course of the festival (in fact, artists take one away with them - the guys who run the setup have these ready 10 minutes after the performance!)

The footage is superb and the sound is taken straight from the mixing desk, so the quality of these DVDs is excellent, and while we can't let full concerts go, we can let the odd song go out....

So, between now and January, we'll add clips from the festival to youtube and will post a link here - is there any particular song from the mainstage you'd like to see?

If you leave a comment here then I'll pick a few at random and upload them.....

Here's one of my favourites to get you started, Mark Erelli - Troubadour Blues from his mainstage performance on Friday 28 August.

Artists for 2010?

We're beginning to think about artists for 2010, and are putting our long list together of artists to be considered.

Who would you like to see at the festival 2010?

We'll read all the answers we receive, so this is a chance to help shape next years' festival!

Folkelarm, Oslo

Over the course of the year the organisers end up at folk music conferences, from Folk Alliance in the US, right through to Celtic Connections and the AFO in the UK.

I'm currently in Olso for Folkelarm 2009, a Norwegian folk expo, there's LOTS of music and delegates from as far away as Japan, Mexico, Canada and more.

It's a great conference and an essential part of networking for us to share best practice and form bonds with festivals around the globe.

Have seen some fantastic music so far, highlights include Valkyrien Allstars, Gjermund Larsen Trio, and an excellent Oslo five-piece Majorstuen.

There's a Showcase Scotland event today where Ross Ainslie & Jarleth Henderson will perform a showcase for the festivals of the world..those who saw them at Shrewsbury last month should expect to see them booked all over the globe next year!

Concerts in Shrewsbury 2009/2010

The festival team organise and host concerts in Shrewsbury throughout the year, with many of our festival artists in smaller venues around town, our current line up is

Friday 2nd October 2009
Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury
OYSTERBAND
support from Kerfuffle
£15 01743 281281 http://www.theatresevern.co.uk/

Fri 6th November 2009
Shrewsbury School
EDWARD II
£12 01746 768813 http://www.shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk/

Fri 20th November 2009
Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury
CHRIS WOOD’S HANDMADE LIFE
support from Mawkin:Causley and Lauren McCormick
£16 01743 281281 http://www.theatresevern.co.uk/

Sun 31st January 2010
The Hive, Belmont, Shrewsbury
MEGSON
£10 01743 234970 http://www.hiveonline.org/

Sun 21st March 2010
The Hive, Belmont, Shrewsbury
KRISTA DETOR
£10 01743 234970 http://www.hiveonline.org/
(there is a songwriting workshop with Krista in the afternoon – tickets for this are free but MUST be booked in advance neil@shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk 01743 231522)

We hope see you at these events, please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or queries.

It's over!!

The Proclaimers are close to finishing their set, and we'll soon be thinking about 2010.

But before we do that, we hope you had a fantastic festival and we'd like your comments and thoughts on the last four days.

Highlights for me were Chris Wood, Lau, Darwin Song Project, the packed out tent for the beginner's session, and the new Sabrina Marquee.

Let us have your thoughts, good or bad, and we'll respond to them and consider them for next year......over to you...

Streaming concerts

We're receiving lots of email/comments on the streaming webcast, so it seemed sensible to start a new 'thread'.

Most of the comments are from people who are watching the webcast in high resolution with no problems at all (I've been testing it out on site with my laptop and a '3' mobile broadband modem and it works fine), but if appears there are a small number out there who are struggling in some areas.

If you're having trouble with stuttering streaming, no vision, or badly out of sync audio then please reconnect and try again - we know the feed is working as we're receiving loads of positive comments via email.

12 hours before gates open!

Currently sat in my tent after an excellent day on site, everything is just about ready - the caterers are on site, lots of stewards arrived today and we're pretty much ready to go!

The satellite link up is working and wi-fi is live on site (leaflets will be given out as you arrive).

Wherever you are travelling in from we hope you have a safe and delay free journey - gates open at 10am, programmed events kick off around 5:30pm, with main stage at around 8pm.

Hope you all have a fantastic festival!

Set-up #3

It's all very busy today, all the marquees are up with stages in place and the sound guys were setting up as I left at around 4pm.

The set up teams are working hard and ticking off all the jobs in short order.

The screens were being installed into marquee 1, these are 12ft screens and are HUGE.

The forecast rain never really materialised today, it was a little squally in the morning, but the ground is still dry and pretty much perfect for camping. The weekend forecast is pretty good, perhaps a little rain on Sunday but all is looking well.

Artists' reception will be set up tomorrow (which is good as all the riders/beer/wine etc are currently in my dining room - will be nice to have some space back!)

All in all, it's looking fantastic - spirits are very high and we will be ready for the off at 10am on Friday.

I'll be heading back down tonight to drop a few things off - will try and remember my camera this time.

Set-up #2

Lots of action on site today, the roadways for camping are being laid out, Boxfresh Organics are setting up the fantastic festival shop and generally there's lots of movement as temporary structures seem to multiply each time you visit the site.

A few showers in the morning haven't had any effect on the ground, and by this evening the sun was out and I took a picture of the new Sabrina Marquee being erected.

Over the past 4 years, this marquee has grown from a small tent that seated around 50 and hosted the open-mic, to a venue that seats 300 and has a full programme of concerts, workshops and this year has two special album release shows, both Rachael McShane and The Wilsons are putting on special shows to launch their CDs. (and don't worry the open mic, still takes place!).

Here's a pic of the new Sabrina Marquee nearing completion in the early evening sun....

Darwin Song Project review

The Darwin Song Project receives its second (and possibly final) full airing with all 8 participants on Saturday night at the festival.

The disc is officially released on Monday 31st August, and will be available at the festival...the reviews are beginning to come through, here's one from Netrhythms

"Song projects featuring an assemblage of individually talented singer-songwriters have a bit of a chequered history, some amounting to nothing more than a thinly-veiled personal showcase for the artists that’s at best tenuously connected to the project’s theme.

The Darwin Project, however, is an honourable exception, for it displays a spirit of genuine artistic collaboration between the contributors, a special alchemy that I’m guessing is attributable to the good sense and vision of its director Neil Pearson in bringing together an ideal mix of participants who between them encompass a wide range of songwriting experience and styles: established masters Chris Wood and Jez Lowe; veterans of similar exercises Karine Polwart and Emily Smith; acclaimed American artists Mark Erelli and Krista Detor; and rising younger stars Rachael McShane and Stu Hanna. It’s even more of an achievement when you consider that most of the eight participants hadn’t even met beforehand, and that extraordinarily, they managed to get all the songs written during one week-long songwriting retreat in early March of this year and ready for performance at a public concert less than a fortnight later – an occasion that provides the source recording for this disc, which has been brilliantly mastered by Stu Hanna himself. The Project has already been the subject of features on BBC Radios 2 and 4, and the songs are due to be further aired at this year’s Shrewsbury Folk Festival.

This 72-minute CD succeeds in capturing the magic of the occasion, and features 17 of the 19 songs performed at the concert. The eight artists each appear in both lead and supporting roles (there being no purely solo outings), and the instrumental settings actually feel spontaneously conceived, almost semi-improvised and coming together in performance stage rather than being consciously pre-arranged.
The songwriters’ brief was to create new works that have a “resonance and relevance” to Charles Robert Darwin (naturalist and “father of modern evolutionary theory”), who was born in Shrewsbury two hundred years ago (in February 1809). Darwin’s great-great-grandson, Randal Keynes, addressed the writers at the start of the week, furnishing them with unique insights and eloquent anecdotes which clearly much inspired the resultant songs, which surely do Darwin’s memory proud.

The first few songs portray snapshots from Darwin’s life; intriguingly, he sets sail on the Beagle to the tune of one of his great-nephew Vaughan Williams’s folksong settings! On Rachael’s reflective Heavy In My Hand, Darwin ponders his initial decision to decline the offer of the trip, after which on Chris’s masterly Turtle Soup he relishes the exotic adventures to come and portrays them with a keen sense of wonder before darker overtones and realisations creep in. Jez’s tale of Jemmy Button examines the familiar theme of the return of the native, while reactions to Darwin’s theories come from the confused man-in-the-street (Stu’s The Merchant’s Question) and an indignant American (Krista’s Emma Brawley), finally being summarised in Jez’s fond jolly-jape pastiche outlaw-ballad We’ll Hunt Him Down.
The grandeur of the miracle of life itself is conveyed by Mark’s Dylanesque Mother Of Mysteries (with beautiful harmonies by Karine) and the Boyesen-poem-inspired Mother Of My Soul, while other songs intelligently address the central theme and conundrum, the conflict between faith and science, which so preoccupied Emma, Darwin’s cousin (later to become his wife). Emma’s personal feelings and worries regarding the gulf between these two belief-systems, and their effect on Charles, are explored on the powerful trio-song Will You Be Waiting?, while Save A Place (sung by Emily) is a tender personal entreaty by Emma for Charles to remember her while at work. The sheer cruelty of natural selection is brought home to Charles by the death of his daughter Annie at age 10, conveyed extremely poignantly in the pair of songs at the core of the set – Emma’s Lullaby (sung by Krista) and the especially moving We’re All Leaving (sung by Karine) – having been also eerily alluded to in Mark’s earlier Kingdom Come. Then, two songs towards the end of the set muse on the implications of Darwin’s theory: Krista’s soulful-gospel Clock Of The World and the concluding rousing acappella of Chris’s sacred-harp-like hymn You May Stand Mute, an exhortation to us all to lay aside our opposing factions and unite in love and humanity.

Each of the songs is strong enough to stand alone outside the context of the project, although the performances on this disc will always be special. The digipack presentation is exemplary too, with booklet containing full lyrics and background notes. The project can be judged both a resounding artistic success – a massive credit to all concerned – and a fitting celebration of one of Shrewsbury’s most famous sons."

Set-up #1

The main two concert marquees are up and from tomorrow we'll start putting the stages in - we're at least a day ahead of where we were last year and will hit the ground running tomorrow when the majority of the set-up team arrive on site.

Here's a couple of pictures from the site today, the third concert marquee will be up tomorrow - this is a new marquee and will be a little different inside....we'll take a pic as soon as it's ready!

The Site Set-Up / Weather

Just a quick update to let you know that we've started the set up of the site today - the main concert marquees will all be on site today, and should all be safely up by tomorrow.

The site set-up team arrive in earnest on Monday, and from then on in I should have some pictures to post.

Have just been checking in on the weather, the set up week looks warm and dry and the ground looks like being in perfect condition for the festival....it does look as though it's going to cool off a little by the weekend though, so an evening jumper might be required!

Shirt #4

Well, not so much shirts as ladies vests.

Last year we tried ladies vest for the first time and they sold out by Saturday lunchtime! - this year we've opted for a couple of styles.

Our cedar green top is described as a 'strap vest' in the catalogue and thinner straps.

The baby pink top has thicker straps....the pictures decribe it better!

Both are available in S, M & L and sizes are pretty generous.

The Programme

The finished printed programme arrived last week and we've shipped copies out to all those who pre-ordered copies when they bought tickets.

Shrewsbury Tourist Information centre (has now moved to Rowleys House from the Music Hall) have copies available NOW!

Beer!

Regular festival attendees will know that we really push the boat out with the bars, and this year is even better; here's the full list of beers and ciders & perrys that will be available over the week.....it's probably not even worth considering working your way through them, although doubtless many will try!

REAL ALES
Ma Pardoes
Entire
Original
Dark swan
Broughs Pale ale

Enville Ales
Enville Ale
Ginger Beer
Enville White
Old Porter
Nailmaker Mild
Simply Simpkiss

Timothy taylors
Landlord

Woods Brewery
Quaff
Craven Ale
AAA
Shropshire Lad
Woods Wonderful

Hanby Ales
Cherry Bomb
All Seasons
Scorpio Porter

Wye Valley Brewery
Best Bitter
Butty Bach
Dorothy Goodbodys
HPA

Salopian Brewery
Darwins Original
Shropshire Gold
Hop Twister
Lemon dream

Hobsons Brewery
Twisted spire
Town crier
Hobsons mild
Best bitter

3 Tunns brewery
XXX
1642 Bitter
Solstice
Clerics Cure

Hook Norton
Hooky bitter
Old Hooky
Hooky dark

Willoughby Brewing Co.
Tried and trusted
Trusted Gold

Greens gluten free beers
Bottled selections only

CIDERS & PERRYS

Burrow Hill Cider co.
Broadoak Cider co
Riches Cider
Brook Farm
Newtons Court Cider
Gwatkin Cider
Hecks
Dunkertons
The Welsh Cider Co
Westons Cider
West Croft Cider Co.
Barbourne Cider and Perry co.

...and if all that isn't enough, there will also available on draught
Guinness
Fosters
John Smiths Smooth
Stowford Press Cider
Kronenbourg 1664
Ciderhouse Special Cider

GOOD LUCK!

The Weather

We all know that constantly checking the weather forecast is a stupid game to play, but we all do it anyway...so here goes.

For the past few years, Metcheck have been pretty good with forecasts from two weeks out...here's what they're saying for the festival weekend (and importantly for us, the set up week which starts a week today is looking great too)

T-Shirt #3

...so after being 'advised' in July by the entire female contingent of the festival committee that we needed some slightly larger shirts, we now have an extra shirt for the festival.

It's a fitted ladies v-neck that we only ordered in sizes 16 & 18.

The Heather Rose ladies shirt (pictures a few blogs below) is in S, M & L, which are about sizes 10, 12 & 14.
So this year we have a range of fitted ladies tees across the full size range...and I shall escape the next meeting unscathed!

The Shrewsbury Folk Festival Travel Bug

Thought you might like to read an excerpt from a press release that's been sent out today.....

Oswestry Family Win Shrewsbury Folk Festival Tickets Thanks to Transatlantic Treasure Hunt

An Oswestry family will be paying their first visit to Shropshire's biggest music festival this year after winning a geocaching challenge set in America.

Ken and Pat Tomkins won weekend tickets to the sell-out Shrewsbury Folk Festival after successfully retrieving a travel bug from Washington DC as part of the global craze where people search for hidden caches using GPS systems.

The travel bug - which is a item that can be moved from cache to cache - was originally left in Memphis, Tennessee by festival director and keen geocacher Neil Pearson when he attended the North American Folk Alliance Conference in February 2008.

It was then discovered and moved to a hiding place in downtown Washington. Mr and Mrs Tomkins, who have geocached across the UK as well as in Egypt, Goa and Peru, eventually caught up with the travel bug when they visited their daughter in April this year and brought it back to the UK.

They will complete the travel bug's journey of more than 4,200 miles when they go to the festival at the West Mid Showground from August 28 to 31 with their 16-year-old grandson James.

For more geocaching information head to http://www.geocaching.com/

SOLD OUT!!!

SOLD OUT!!!

That's it folks. As of around 20 minutes ago we sold our last pair of tickets.

Thanks to all of you who are heading to Shrewsbury in a couple of weeks, we hope you have a great time!

T-Shirt #2

This is the first of the fitted ladies shirt, it's in a dusty rose colour (officially 'Heather Rose').

We have these in S, M & L

All the shirts were taken to our July committee meeting for everyone to look at - people loved the shirts. The other comments from that meeting are echoed in the response to the first shirt blog from a couple of days ago.......so we went away and ordered a second ladies shirt that arrived here earlier today. Will post pics of the alternative ladies shirt this week.

Workshop Programme

We've now finalised our workshop programme for the festival, workshops start at 10am on Saturday and they run right through to Monday afternoon.

So if you're interest in learning Orkney tunes with The Chair, joining in vocal workshops with the Spooky Men, or even walking away from a FREE recording session with a fully mixed CD then the details are all here

T Shirt Design #1

We have a good number of shirts this year, we'll show you them all here on the blog over the next 10 days or so....here's shirt #1

Mens Charcoal (sizes Small - XXXL)

Washed black colour, front image is centred on chest (17cm width)

New Darwin Song Project website

The official release of the Darwin Song Project CD (Amazon, Play, iTunes etc) is 31st August, and in anticipation of the release the project website has been redesigned.

The new site is a permanent record of the whole project, and photo galleries, videos and full background information.

The eight artists gather together again at the festival on Saturday night for a complete performance of all the songs from the songhouse.

Details on picking up the Darwin CD ahead of the festival and general release date are available on the website.

Tickets

We're really getting down to the final few tickets now...

Full Festival Tickets
Right now there are only 277 adult weekend tickets remaining and that is moving down pretty fast (adult weekend tickets are valid from Fri - Mon). We're certainly going to sell out well ahead of the festival.

If you're intending coming to the festival, please pick up your tickets as soon as you can as - once these 277 have gone, then that's it, no more will be made available.

Day Tickets
We no longer have individual day tickets left for Saturday, Sunday or Monday, but there are still a few available for Friday night (and obviously full weekend tickets are valid for all days)

Jez Lowe, Chris Wood & Mark Erelli 'We'll Hunt Him Down'

The fourth and final of the Darwin Song Project videos that we'll be uploading before the festival - 'We'll Hunt Him Down' came towards the end of the Darwin set and received a huge response on the night.

Here are Jez's notes on the song from the CD booklet....
'A fond pastiche of the American "outlaw ballad", inspired by a school-teacher friend in Pennsylvania, who in 2004 was reprimanded by his principal for alluding to Darwin's theories in a history lesson to a class of 14 year-old students'.

Twitter

As well as the blog, we've decided to use Twitter.
We set up the account months ago but it's taken us a while to decide to use it!

There are going to be two of us tweeting, maybe more if they fancy it (rather than just me on the blog), and it allows us to post updates that wouldn't normally make it onto here...I think the run up to the festival should be interesting as you'll hopefully get an idea as to some of the smaller jobs that go into making the festival work!

The link you need is http://twitter.com/shrewsburyfolk

Emily Smith, Stu Hanna, Jez Lowe & Rachael McShane - The Earl of Darwin's Farewell / Save A Place

Another one of the Darwin Song Project songs, written by Stu Hanna, Jez Lowe and Emily Smith, and performed by Emily Smith, Stu Hanna, Jez Lowe and Rachael McShane.

‘Save A Place’ is a plea by Emma Darwin to her husband, for him to remember her in little moments during his time at work. It contains and was inspired by the tune “The Earl of Darwin’s Farewell”, taken from Henry Atkinson’s 17th century North-East fiddlers tune book.

Boxfresh Organics

We're proud to team up with Boxfresh Organics again this year - we believe we have the best festival shop anywhere with a unique range of fresh food and provisions.

Boxfresh have now decided their range for this year and where they will source their stock from......this is hot off the press and straight from their website

Not long now until Shrewsbury Folk Festival, a huge highlight in the Boxfresh calendar. Building on the success of sponsoring last year’s festival we have upped the package this year and have moved from sponsoring the Village Stage to sponsoring Marquee 2 where there’s a whole load of topline acts performing over the weekend.

We’re naturally bringing back the shop after the rip roaring success and good time we had last year. This year we will double the floorspace (or should that be grassspace in a tent?) to accommodate a broader range of lovely products.

What we’re aiming at is a shop that will supply not only all the festival basics but also some really great local products at sensible prices. So in addition to the camp necessities such as loo roll, newspapers, sweets, tins of beans, toothbrushes etc., we’ll also have our own great range of locally grown organic fruit, veg, speciality cheeses and store cupboard items. In short we’re looking to keep as many festival goers as possible on the festival site without feeling the need to dash off to the supermarket (you do enough of that the rest of the year don’t you?)

We’ll have a big focus this year on a few key local food partners:-

Artisan breads from Gains Park Craft Bakery of Shrewsbury. In addition to traditional white, harvester and wholemeal, we’ll have a stunning range of bespoke craft breads covering ciabatta, focaccia and rye. Baked fresh overnight just for you and brought in fresh and warm each morning. Please form an orderly queue!

Speciality cakes from Baked For You of North Shropshire. A great range of goodies including flapjacks, fruit cakes and tarts. Ideal for taking back to the tent during that afternoon lull.

Dry cured bacon, speciality sausages and hams from Buttercross of Market Drayton. We’ll also have in stock the Buttercross BBQ pork pack for a tenner which is a great price for a whole lot of very high quality free range pork.

Organic milk from Welsh farming co-op Calon Wen (winners of BBC Radio 4’s Food Producer of the Year 2008)

We’re really looking forward to the festival and we’re proud to be associated with one of the nation’s premier live music events. What we bring along in terms of sponsorship and the shop is something really special that is probably not matched anywhere else in the country. Roll on August bank holiday weekend!

Mark Erelli & Karine Polwart

With the Darwin Song Project CD now finished, we're working on adding the edited sound to the video we took of the concert....we'll get through all the songs eventually.

'Mother of Mysteries' was written and performed by Mark Erelli & Karine Polwart, and here are Mark's notes from the CD booklet..

"Based on one of the most well-known passages from The Origin Of Species: "There is grandeur in this view of life … from so simple a beginning, endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."

FREE webcast!

This year, as well as putting the concerts on large screens in the main marquee, the Shrewsbury Folk Festival’s main stage concerts will be broadcast as a FREE live feed on our website.

We successfully used a multiple camera mix last year that was broadcast live on site to various screens – this year we will have two 10’ x 7’ plasma screens each side of the main stage, as well screens in artists’ reception etc.

For a few years’ Alan Surtees the festival’s director has been looking at ways for festival goers with very young children to still enjoy the evening concerts from their caravan/tent; and by combining the web feed with free onsite WI-FI for all, those who bring laptops etc will at least be able to enjoy some of the concert atmosphere.

The upshot of this is that anyone, anywhere in the world will be able to see the main stage of the Shrewsbury Folk Festival live and with perfect sound on their computers.

We’re pretty sure this is a first for any folk festival, and are obviously excited by the project – we’ll post timings and more details a little closer to the festival over the August bank holiday weekend.

Wi-Fi on site

We've toyed with the idea of having wi-fi at the festival for a few years now, but this year have finally taken the plunge and there will be FREE WI-FI access on site for festival goers.

We're still working out the final details, but the transmitter will be at the back of the main marquee and should cover a large proportion of the festival site....

We'll post full details on the blog, facebook and the main website when we have them.

SFF Tune workshops 2009

This year Izzy has organised two tune workshops, one aimed at beginners and and one at improvers.

From the Tune Workshops page of the main SFF website link you will find downloadable tunebooks and supporting materials.

The Improvers Session follows the same format as previous years where we will play any set of tunes requested from this year's book.

The all-new Beginners Session has nine well known tunes and accompanying audio files so you can play along and practice the tunes before the workshop.

As always, our aim is not to teach you the tunes on the day but to give you common ground with which to enjoy each session. Enjoy!

Those who've attended these sessions over the last couple of years, will remember how friendly and accessible they are, and how those who've never had the confidence to sit in on a session in the past have sat in, played and loved every minute of the experience.

Have a look at the tunebook, listen to the MP3 samples, practice a little, and then join us over the weekend!

Breabach - School's Project Year 2

We’ve just completed year two of our three year Heritage Lottery funded school project where we take musicians into school for a full week to explore the folk traditions of Great Britain.

Year one saw The Demon Barber Roadshow, and this year we looked at Scottish traditions, and had fantastic band Breabach in Radbrook Primary School for a week, with a final concert in the Theatre Severn on Friday 19th June with 30 children from the school.

The band performed a concert exploring the dance, music and song of the Scottish tradition, and throughout the concert they were joined on stage by the 30 children who had been working with the band all week – the children demonstrated Scottish set and step dances, traditional song, and 10 children played traditional tunes on whistles.

It was a fantastic week for the band and the school, but especially so for the 30 children who worked with the band over the week.

There will be a full report and pictures of the full week our website in the coming month.

Richard Shindell - The Hive

The hundred people who packed into our first small show at The Hive in Shrewsbury, were treated to a world-class performance from Richard Shindell.

In the late afternoon he held a songwriting workshop that saw him explain how some of his songs had come about, from how tricky last verses had just fallen into his lap through good fortune; to how his newest song, 'Abi's Gone to the Country', had been written in a couple of hours in Florence only days ago.

The sound for the evening was a perfect as could be imagined and Richard held the audience for 2hr 5mins with a superbly varied and engaging set.

Those fortunate enough to be in the audience will never forget the atmosphere of the room - it genuinely was an evening of real magic.

We're already looking into other shows in the same venue...we'll keep you posted.
Photo courtesy of Alan Surtees

Darwin Artist Video Interviews

Folk magazine website Spiral Earth have just listed video interviews with each of the Darwin artists (Chris Wood, Karine Polwart, Jez Lowe, Mark Erelli, Emily Smith, Rachael McShane, Krista Detor - not sure where Stu Hanna's video went!)

http://www.spiralearth.co.uk/video/default.asp?channel=/video/darwin.xml

These videos were recorded on the Monday of the songhouse week, and are excellent interviews that show the thoughts of the artists in the middle of the songwriting process.

RADIO BROADCAST TONIGHT
Radio Devon are broadcasting a Darwin programme this evening (Thursday 11 June, 7pm - 10pm) where you have the chance to hear some of the songs from the Darwin Song Project.

It's likely there will be between 8 and 10 songs broadcast through the 3 hour programme, with most being played after 9pm.

It will be available to listen live from 7pm here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/

Darwin Song Project - MP3 samples & pre-orders

THE CD
The mixing of the CD is now complete (mixed by Stu Hanna), and earlier today
the disc and artwork were signed off and sent for manufacture - we should
have finished copies around June 12th - as soon as the disc arrives in stock
then all pre-orders will be fulfilled.

There are details of the CD, along with MP3 audio samples of every track on
the Darwin Song Project website

We're now taking pre-orders for the disc on the Darwin website (paypal
only), if you'd prefer to pay by credit card or cheque, the disc is also
available from Fish Records

We also have limited quantities of the fantastic Darwin Song Project brochure -
this is only available direct through the Darwin website.

-------------------------------------------------

CONCERT
The artists all gather together again in August 2009 at the Shrewsbury Folk
Festival, where they will perform the entire concert again on Saturday 29th
August.

Individual Saturday tickets have now sold out, but weekend tickets that
allow you entrance to venues for the whole weekend are still available; if
you'd like to see all 8 artists on stage performing the Darwin Song Project
concert then please pick up your tickets sooner rather than later as it's
almost certain the festival will sell out in advance, festival tickets

Darwin Song Project - Clock of the World

We're getting close to sending the Darwin CD off to be manufactured - just the odd tweak to audio here, an edit on the pack design there and we'll be done......we expect to have finished retail copies here by July.

In the meantime, here's a quick peek at one of the songs 'Clock of the World', written by Krista Detor and performed by Krista, Karine Polwart, Rachael McShane and Emily Smith.

The video and audio were recorded at the Darwin Song Project Concert in Shrewsbury on March 19th 2009.