New Album
Ashley's show, "From Psychedelia to Sonnets", will be available on CD from Talking Elephant on April 22nd. Recorded at Wigan Parish Church, it contains material based on Ashley's book, "Words, Words, Words", and features musical accompaniment from Ruth Angell and Becky Mills. You can pre-order now.
New Website
Ashley has a brand new, official website. Check it out here.
Video Archive
With Ashley's permission we'll be adding various archive video extracts to this site, beginning with a Mummers' Play from an old Albion Band Christmas show from 2000. Watch this space. Please note - all videos are copyright. Please do not share or reproduce them without permission.
Ashley MBE
Many congratulations to Ashley who has just received an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to folk music. Excellent news for his many supporters and admirers across the world and a well deserved accolade.
Ashley's Gigs
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August |
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Saturday 13th Village Hall, Cropredy, Oxfordshire - 3pm |
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(Fairport Cropredy Convention Fringe Festival) |
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'From Psychedelia to Sonnets' with Ruth Angell and
Becky Mills. Call for tickets or buy on the door. Tickets: £5 entry
01295 750633. |
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Sunday 21st Henry
Tudor House, Shrewsbury |
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'From Psychedelia to Sonnets' with Becky Mills and
Ruth Angell. 01743 361666. |
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September |
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Friday 28th The
Sage, Gateshead |
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'From Psychedelia to Sonnets' with Ruth Angell and
Becky Mills. 0191 443 4666 |
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Sunday 30th Kings
Place, Kings Cross, London |
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'From Psychedelia to Sonnets' with Ruth Angell and
Becky Mills. 020 7520 1490 |
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October |
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Sunday 2nd The Forge,
at The Anvil, Basingstoke |
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'From Psychedelia to Sonnets' with Ruth Angell. 01256
844244 |
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Friday 14th Performing Arts at Century Theatre,
Coalville, Leicestershire |
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A Centre Stage promotion. ‘From Psychedelia to
Sonnets’ with Ruth Angell. 01530 278444 |
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Saturday 15th Morton Village Hall, |
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A Village Ventures |
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Thursday 20th Preston Minster, Preston,
Lancashire |
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'From Psychedelia to Sonnets' with Becky Mills. 07971
243809 |
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Saturday 22nd Treehouse Bookshop, Kenilworth,
Warwickshire |
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'From Psychedelia to Sonnets' with Ruth Angell.
01926 855436 |
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Sunday 23rd Kitchen Garden Cafe, Kings Heath,
Birmingham |
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'From Psychedelia to Sonnets' with Ruth Angell and
Becky Mills. 0121 443 4725 |
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December |
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Saturday 3rd Wigan Parish Church |
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Ashley with Judy Dunlop and Blair Dunlop in a very
special Christmas concert. 01942 824291 |
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Twangin' 'n' a-Traddin' Revisited
Ashley's 1994 album Twangin' 'n' a-Traddin', originally released on HTD Records, is being given a face-lift and will be re-released on 27 April. Re-titled Twangin' 'n' a-Traddin' Revisited the original instrumental album will have three songs included this time round. Ashley's original idea was 'twangy rock meets foot-tapping folk' and was a musical meeting of some of his friends in folk-rock - Richard Thompson, Simon Nicol, Phil Beer,etc.- and players who specialise in late '50s/early '60s rock instrumentals - Clem Cattini, Colin Green, etc. As Ashley said in his original sleevenotes, this was the music he grew up listening to and represented his earliest loves, musically speaking. The newly included songs are all self-penned and paint a picture of those times.
Now that Ashley has reached the venerable age of 70 he wanted to go again with this album, which is one of his favourites.
Blair Dunlop CHECK OUT BLAIR’S DATES HERE
A New Album and a Re-Release
Ashley has a new album due out in August entitled "The Riot of Spring and Other Historical Dramas, Large and Small ". This is a compilation album put together by Ashley from his back-catalogue. It is a 17-track CD and opening the album is a brand-new track, "The Riot of Spring". The lyric to this track was inspired by a documentary about the rehearsal and first performance of The Rite of Spring in 1913. Ashley saw similarities between the dissonant impact created by the ballet and its music and the Great War, which was only one year away. The lyric paralleled the furore around the Rite of Spring to the shock, the chaos and the changes that the war would bring. In 2014 several articles appeared, posing the opinion that the revolutions and changes in the creative world as a whole - painting, music, dance architecture, books - had foretold the war that was to come and that those changes would be lasting. Ashley's arrangement for this track draws references from the original score and Nijinsky's choreography. Using only voice, acoustic guitar and strings the track recreates the tempos and irregular movements of its near namesake. Track listing of the CD below.
1 The Riot Of Spring 2 Battle Of The Somme 3 Bonny Labouring Boy 4 I'm A Poor Dressmaker 5 Betteshanger Treasure
6 A Chromosome Or Two 7 Ivory Tower 8 I'm Going Away 9 The Day Came When The Doctor Called In The Relieving Officer
10 John Barleycorn 11 Matty Groves 12 The Trees They Do Grow High 13 Seven Strong Spires 14 Michael Morey's Hump
15 The Party's Over 16 Ill Omens 17 Two Thousand Years Is A Very Long Time
The album is released by Talking Elephant Records and will be available for the first time at Cropredy, where Ashley will be signing copies.
In addition, Talking Elephant have produced a vinyl version of " By Gloucester Docks I Sat Down and Wept" in a wonderful new gatefold sleeve which also will be available for the first time at Cropredy. The re-released cd, first available in 1987, has been a great success, receiving wonderful reviews and selling well.
"When I first heard this wonderful piece I knew I was hearing something that was not just heartfelt and personal but beautiful, original and fresh. Twenty-six years on, I have still heard nothing remotely like it" - Simon Nicol