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...