The deadline is approaching for young musicians, dancers, singers and performers who want to apply for a grant of up to £2,000 to develop their careers.   The Alan Surtees Trust makes up to four awards of £2,000 annually to supports performers or projects rooted in, or influenced by, folk or traditional music of all cultures. The deadline for applications is April 30. The grants will be made to those aged 16 to 30 who show exceptional skill, talent and promise in their field and are influenced by folk or traditional music and arts from any culture. The grants can ..read more

PLUMHALL‘s eagerly awaited third studio album One Star Awake, written and arranged by singer songwriter duo Michelle Plum and Nick B Hall is to be released on the 7th June. The critically acclaimed husband and wife team use a mesmerising combination of acoustic and electric instruments (occasionally with electronica) to create breath taking soundscapes to their powerful original songs. They are renowned for their exquisite vocal harmonies and scintillating live guitar playing. Produced by David P Crickmore of Fiat Lux the new album features violin by Fairport Convention’s Ric Sanders o ..read more

One of the most itchy-footed of troubadours, Martin Simpson has yet found room to make studio album time almost every two years. His latest release is “Skydancers”, his twelfth full length album since 1992, issued on the near-fabled Topic label. Anyone opting for the CD version gets a bonus disc of live and reworked songs. The title piece was commissioned by naturalist Chris Packham to highlight the plight of the Hen-harrier. The beautifully-picked opening  captivates, as birds take flight before the landscape darkens at the introduction of the bird-hunting theme (cruelty masquerading as ..read more

Miranda Rutter is a folk musician, fiddle and viola player, composer, performer, and teacher. She performs with Methera who focus on making folk music through the voice of the string quartet. She has also performed with the English Acoustic Collective and Morris Offspring in ‘On English Ground’ and with Chris Wood in his ‘Listening to the River’. She was also a member of Jabadaw and Fika. She is also a much sought-after tutor, having taught on Newcastle University’s Folk Music degree course, at Folkworks’ Fiddles on Fire Festival, as part of the English Acoustic Collec ..read more

Dallahan frontman and founding member Jack Badcock will unveil his debut solo album this May, fulfilling a long-held ambition and putting his diverse and arresting songwriting skills centre stage. The lead vocalist and gifted guitarist with the acclaimed quartet, for the past decade (dubbed ‘the flying aces of Celtic folk’ by BBC Radio’s Mark Radcliffe), Jack was born in Ireland’s Co. Kilkenny, raised in Yorkshire and now hails from Glasgow. A former finalist in the BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year he has travelled around the world with Dallahan, the multi award-winning band he origi ..read more

Over the course of his fifteen-year career, Sam Carter has earned a reputation for vivid, narrative-driven songwriting. A highly regarded instrumentalist to boot, Sam is renowned by many as “the finest English-style fingerpicking guitarist of his generation” (Jon Boden) and has been described as having a “killer voice” by Ivor Novello-winning musician Nitin Sawhney. His impressive back catalogue and captivating live shows attest to his ability to bring together a diverse set of influences from English folksong and American shape note singing through to hard rock. Sam has appeared on national T ..read more

Ben Nicholls is an acclaimed double bassist, singer, arranger and composer. Ben’s new album Duets features many of the artists he has accompanied over his 30-year career performing with many of the UK’s best known folk and indie artists. Duets features Nadine Shah, Cara Dillon, Sam Lakeman, Seth Lakeman, Tim Eriksen, Kris Drever, Chris Vatalaro, Fay Hield, John Smith, Martin Simpson, Sam Sweeney, Chaim Tannenbaum, Patsy Reid, Evan Jenkins and Jon Boden. Bringing his upright bass playing into focus, the album features arrangements of traditional folk songs as well as newly composed material ..read more

More names and day splits have been announced for Underneath the Stars Festival, the award-winning Yorkshire boutique arts festival which celebrates its 10th year Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th August. Underneath the Stars festival has enjoyed great successes thus far across the UK festival scene, taking home the Small Festival of the Year and prestigious Judge’s Award at the National Outdoor Event Association Awards. It has been widely recognised for its gender balanced programming. Championing diversity, and accessibility, the festival has also gained an Attitude is Everything Silver Charter ..read more

Roots icon Taj Mahal’s brand-new release is ‘Swinging Live at the Church in Tulsa’ recorded in the famed Oklahoma studio that was once the renowned headquarters of Taj Mahal’s friend Leon Russell.  Taj Mahal’s prominence was given a big shove in the back when his cover of Blind Willie McTell’s ‘Statesboro Blues’ was included in the highly influential cut-price CBS sampler ‘The Rock Machine Turns You On’ (1968). Now aged 81, after a long climb to the top of his tree he is a colossus you sit up and listen to. A supreme performer, his aged gravel-strewn baritone contentedly enriched with the ..read more

In the mid 1960’s’, like a magnet, Laurel Canyon tucked away in the hills above Los Angeles and an enclave for Hollywood’s iconic film stars attracted a new kind of celebrity. Sex and drugs had always been rife in tinsel town but rock n roll was taking hedonism to new levels of debauchery and creativity. Boundaries were being stretched and then broken and for a brief period a kind of innocence pervaded before the hippy idyll turned from the light into a cynical darkness. This 3 CD collection relives the magic and creative wellspring from this period with a comprehensive overview that features ..read more