Songs
The songs on the album include the Child ballad "The Two Sisters" and "Death (Rock Me to Sleep)", based on a poem said to have been written by Anne Boleyn, [4] set to a tune by Lucy Ward.
"Alice in the Bacon Box", a song written by Ward in the style of a traditional folk song, tells the story of Derbyshire hermit Alice Grace (1867–1927) from Little Eaton who, on being evicted from her cottage, lived in a box previously used for storing bacon, which had been given to her by the local butcher. [5] [6] [7]
Ward performed "Stitch in Time" by Mike Waterson at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2009. A shorter (3:37) recording of this song is included on the third CD of the album BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2009. [8]
Ward's version of "Maids When You're Young", a traditional song popularised by The Dubliners, was nominated for best traditional track at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2012. [9] It was included on the first CD of the album BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2012. [10]
Unhalfbricking is the third album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention and their second album released in 1969. It is seen as a transitional album in their history and marked a further musical move away from American influences towards more traditional English folk songs that had begun on their previous album, What We Did on Our Holidays and reached its peak on the follow-up, Liege & Lief, released later the same year.
The Unthanks are an English folk group known for their eclectic approach in combining traditional English folk, particularly Northumbrian folk music, with other musical genres. Their debut album, Cruel Sister, was Mojo magazine's Folk Album of the Year in 2005. Of their subsequent albums, nine have received four or five-starred reviews in the British national press. Their album Mount the Air, released in 2015, won in the best album category in the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. In 2017 they released two albums featuring the songs and poems of Molly Drake, mother of Nick Drake.
ABCDEFG is the fourteenth and final studio album by Chumbawamba. It was officially released on 1 March 2010, but copies ordered from the band's website arrived the week before.
Megson are an English folk duo composed of husband and wife Stu Hanna and Debbie Hanna. The duo have released nine albums and one EP on their own label, edj. Their live performances feature Stu playing a guitar or mandolin and Debbie sometimes playing accordion or tin whistle as backing to their vocal harmonies.
The Bairns was the second album by Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, which then comprised Rachel Unthank, her younger sister Becky, pianist Belinda O'Hooley and fiddle player Niopha Keegan. Produced by Adrian McNally and released by Rabble Rouser on 20 August 2007, it was nominated for the Best Album award at the 2008 BBC Folk Awards and was also nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize. It received a four-starred review in The Guardian.
Belinda O'Hooley is a singer-songwriter and pianist from Yorkshire, England. Formerly a member of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, she now records and performs as O'Hooley & Tidow with her wife Heidi Tidow.
O'Hooley & Tidow are an English folk music duo from Yorkshire. Singer-songwriter Heidi Tidow performs and records with her wife, singer-songwriter and pianist Belinda O'Hooley, who was formerly a member of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset. O'Hooley & Tidow were nominated for Best Duo at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Their 2016 album Shadows was given a five-star review in The Guardian, and four of their other five albums, including their 2017 release WinterFolk Volume 1, have received four-star reviews in the British national press. In 2019 their song "Gentleman Jack", from the album The Fragile, featured as the closing theme for the BBC/HBO television series Gentleman Jack.
Lucy Victoria Ward is an English singer-songwriter from Derby, England. She performs, with a voice described as expressive and powerful, traditional English folk songs as well as her own material. Three of her albums, Adelphi Has to Fly, Single Flame and I Dreamt I Was a Bird, have been critically acclaimed and have each received four-starred reviews in the British national press.
Cruel Sister, the first album by English folk group Rachel Unthank and the Winterset was released on 11 May 2005 and launched at Holmfirth Festival of Folk. Described by BBC Music as "an outstanding debut", it received support from a number of DJs on BBC Radio 2 and was subsequently awarded Folk Album of the Year by MOJO.
Silent June is the first album by O'Hooley & Tidow. Recorded between August and November 2009 at their home in Golcar, Huddersfield, it was released on 22 February 2010 on the No Masters label, distributed by Proper Records.
The Fragile, the second album by the folk music duo O'Hooley & Tidow, was released on 9 February 2012 on the No Masters label. It received a four-starred review in The Guardian. The album's title is derived from the words of one of its songs, "Mein Deern", about the dying hours of Heidi Tidow's German grandmother. The album features guest performances by Andy Cutting, Jackie Oates, Jude Abbott, Cormac Byrne, Anna Esslemont, Sam Pegg, The Solo Players and London's Diversity Choir.
The Hum, the third album by the folk music duo O'Hooley & Tidow, was released on 17 February 2014 and received four-starred reviews in The Guardian and The Irish Times. Inspired by the sights and sounds of the Colne Valley, it has been described as "a collection of songs paying homage to the West Riding village of Golcar", the former industrial village in the West Riding of Yorkshire where Belinda O'Hooley and Heidi Tidow share a home together.
Single Flame, the second album of British singer-songwriter Lucy Ward, was released in the United Kingdom by Navigator Records on 19 August 2013. It was critically acclaimed and received a four-starred review in The Guardian.
Summat's Brewin', the fourth album by the Yorkshire-based folk music duo O'Hooley & Tidow, was released in August 2015 in a limited edition of 1,000 signed copies. The songs on the album explore society’s fascination with drink, drinking and real ale.
I Dreamt I Was a Bird, the third album of British singer-songwriter Lucy Ward, was released in the United Kingdom by Betty Beetroot Records on 2 October 2015. It consists of eight original compositions by Lucy Ward and one traditional ballad – "Lord Randall". The album's title is taken from the lyrics of one of its tracks, "Daniel and the Mermaid".
Adrian McNally is a record producer, a composer/songwriter and a musician with English folk group the Unthanks, which he also manages. As well as producing all of the Unthanks' albums he has produced the compilation album Harbour of Songs for which he was commissioned by The Stables in Milton Keynes as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, an album for Belinda O'Hooley and albums for Jonny Kearney & Lucy Farrell.
Shadows, the fifth album by the Yorkshire-based folk music duo O'Hooley & Tidow, was released on 29 July 2016 on the No Masters label.
WinterFolk Volume 1, the sixth album by the Yorkshire-based folk music duo O'Hooley & Tidow, was released on 3 November 2017 on the No Masters label and distributed by Proper Music. The album is described as reflecting on "some of the darker hued aspects of yuletide, considering the season in an alternative, real way, from the absence or loss of children, to domestic violence at Christmas, from global warming to poverty, religion, displacement, migration and loneliness".
Stroll On is the debut album by British singer-songwriter Steve Ashley. It was released in April 1974 in LP format on Gull Records and was critically acclaimed in the UK, being awarded “Contemporary Folk album of the Year” in the leading monthly folk magazine, Folk Review. It has been described as "a masterful, beautifully textured and gentle epic" and "a masterpiece of its kind – a beautiful, rich and deeply atmospheric collection of very English songs, like a musical impression of Dickens, Victorian Christmas cards and Thomas Hardy’s Wessex with a running concept concerning seasonal change". According to the music collectors' magazine Goldmine, it is "one of the key albums in the entire history of English Folk Rock".
Inversions is an album, released on 28 June 2019, by British singer-songwriter and pianist Belinda O'Hooley. Jude Rogers in The Guardian called it "a set of beautiful piano and spoken-word pieces". Mike Ainscoe, for Louder Than War, described it "a series of touching and heartfelt outpourings...Revealing and yes, in a way, cathartic, Inversions captures Belinda O'Hooley at her most insightful".
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