Blair Short-listed for Folk Awards

We are pleased to announce that Blair is one of the final 4 nominees in the BBC Radio Young Folk Award, having been chosen from scores of 15 to 20 year-old acts. The nominees were announced on BBC Radio 2 and tracks from each act were broadcast. Blair was given a good plug and a recording of his Black is the Colour was played. The winner will be announced at the Folk Awards ceremony in February 2012.

Ashley & Blair –en France

Ashley and Blair will be running a residential course in France at the end of next summer in which they will talk, play, sing and teach. The week takes place 10-14^th September 2012 at La Grande Gennerie in La Mayenne department to the north east of Rennes. Enjoy a relaxing five day workshop whilst improving your talents in beautiful countryside with good food, wine and company. The cost is £250 for all food and drink during the workshop and £150 secures a place. All the food is home-cooked on the premises. Check out details at www.lagrandegennerie.com

The Albion Band Re-Launches

The new re-invented Albion Band gave their first press conference at the Sidmouth Folk Festival. Here’s the press release, some biographical details of the new members and an extract of “Thieves’ Song” from the new EP.

PRESS RELEASE

Beyond a simple line up change, 2012 will see a complete reboot of The Albion Band.

2011 sees the torch being passed to a newer generation of English folk talent. As ever, this band brings together some of the finest musicians and singers in the UK folk scene.

This new line-up recaptures the spirit of The Albion Band's heyday with a rockier, edgier approach to traditional English folk music. Taking the unique character of classic era Albion Band and fusing it with award winning song writing and a contemporary rock and indie vibe, this is the new sound of 21st century English Folk-Rock.

Ashley Hutchings said:-

"For a good number of years people have been encouraging me to re-form The Albion Band. I have resisted these calls; getting the old faces together again in a permanent kind of way didn 't seem the right thing to do. Then, just before last Christmas, I had a Eureka moment. The way forward was to allow a new generation to take over the baton of The Albion Band. The next day I asked my son Blair what he thought of being part of a new reinvented Albion Band. His reply was that he couldn't think of anything he would rather do. We were up and running. Initially, I thought I would be some kind of Brian Wilson-figure, lurking in the background, pulling the strings. However it hasn't turned out that way. The youngsters don't need me and are building something new themselves."

The band will perform self-penned, re-written and traditional material as well as re-booted Albion Band classics in what promises to be a diverse and energetic live set. All booking enquiries to www.albionfolk.co.uk

BIOGRAPHIES

Blair Dunlop - Guitar/Vocals

Blair began playing guitar at the age of six and, unsurprisingly, grew up around the music of The Albion Band; "/ remember going to a lot of Albion Band gigs and falling in love with the music, Ken Nicol's guitar playing has stayed with me in particular and inspired me to learn and play music I really connected with." However Blair initially began his entertainment career in the film industry playing the part of young Willy Wonka in Tim Burton's blockbuster movie 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. After leaving school he then decided to follow a career in music with his first EP being released in the summer of 2010 and the follow up 'Bags Outside the Door' this summer. Blair has just completed a short tour of Italy and performed at the Southbank Centre at the 'In Search of Nic Jones' tribute concert. He has supported acts such as Fairport Convention, Cara Dillon and Georgie Fame.

Gavin Davenport-Guitar/Vocals

Multi instrumentalist and song writer Gavin Davenport spent his early twenties infiltrating the folk scene and encouraging people to buy him drinks in return for singing traditional songs culled from early Albion projects including Battle of the Field and Morris On. Spurred on by this he developed a deep love of traditional song which led him to academic research (MSc in Oral Tradition) and mainstage performances from Europe to Canada. In last few years he has gained an enviable reputation as a powerful interpreter of English traditional songs and ballads, both accompanied and unaccompanied and won acclaim and plaudits for his songwriting. He's played with an eclectic range of folk projects from the traditionalism of vocal harmony and instrumental group Crucible to the heavy metal excesses of dance band Glorystrokes and all points in between.

Katriona Gimore - Fiddle/Mandolin/Vocals

Fiddler Katriona Gilmore credits the 1997 incarnation of The Albion Band as the sparking point for her musical career: "/ saw Joe Broughton with The Albion Band when I was 12 and his playing just blew me away -1 was considering giving up the violin, and that inspiration arrived in the nick of time." After several years of playing alongside her guitarist father, Katriona joined forces with innovative lap-tapping guitarist Jamie Roberts in 2006. The duo have since released two albums, toured with Fairport Convention and been nominated for the BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award. Katriona, also an award-winning songwriter, has previously toured as part of indie folk sensations Tiny Tin Lady and with Rosie Doonan's Snapdragons, and has appeared as a session musician on several acclaimed albums.

Tom Wright- Drums/Producer/Vocals

Tom was educated at the Leeds College of Music where he worked with a host of Punk, Jazz, Folk and Dance acts. Tom set up his first studio near Mansfield where he produced the debut album by Anglo-Turkish fusionist Dogan Mehmet as well as working with artists such as Eliza Carthy and The No Good Sinners. Tom is now based in Sheffield, where he divides his time between recording & producing, touring as a drummer & multi-Instrumentalist and co-running an online music retail business. Tom cites Folk musicians like Martin Carthy and John Kirkpatrick as big influences on his drumming saying "The unique rhythms of English Morris Music are so important to dance music, It was important to me that I incorporated these elements into my kit playing. Guys like Dave Mattacks and Roger Swallow really helped shape the way that the drum kit is used on contemporary Folk and Folk-Rock Music. I feel very privileged to be invited to be part of that heritage".

Tim Yates- Bass Guitar/Melodeon

Arguably the most onerous task in the new line up falls to bass guitarist Tim Yates; many incredibly talented musicians have come and gone, but Tim will be only the 2nd bass player following in the mighty footsteps of Ashley Hutchings. For the last couple of years Tim has been playing with The QP and Blackbeard's Tea Party, building on the blueprint for the genre established by various Ashley Hutchings projects in their own different way. Tim's take on it is that; "It's a huge privilege to play in The Albion Band and be able to play the music that has inspired so many for so long."

“Larkrise” Dates

SEPTEMBER
Sat. 24th	Chipping Norton Theatre 01608 642350
OCTOBER
Fri. 21st	Roseland Festival, near Truro, Cornwall 0845 094 0428 / 01726 879 500
Sat. 22nd	St.Mary's Church, Wallingford, Oxfordshire 07973 214289

Blair Dunlop

See above.

SEPTEMBER
Sun. 4th	Woodworks Festival, Bedfordshire 01234 767037
Thurs. 10th	Parish Centre, Chesterfield 01246 559606
Wed. 28th	Ropetackle Arts, Shoreham 01273 464440
Thurs. 29th	Town Hall, Tenterden, Kent (with Ashley Hutchings) 01843 835694
Fri. 30th	BBC Radio Cambridgeshire live session (evening)
OCTOBER
Sun. 2nd	Hitchin Folk Club 01462 812391
Sat. 8th	St Mary's Arts, Sandwich, Kent
Wed. 12th	Red Lion Folk Club, Birmingham (with Ashley & Judy Dunlop)
Fri. 14th	The Met, Bury  0161 761 2216
NOVEMBER
Fri. 4th	Musicport Festival, Bridlington 01947 605089
Mon. 7th	The Grey's, Brighton (with Ashley Hutchings) 01273 680734
DECEMBER
Fri. 2nd	Frazer Theatre, Knaresborough 07703 472154