Towersey Festival is an annual festival of folk, world music and traditional dance, previously held in the village of Towersey, relocated to neighbouring Thame in Oxfordshire, England through 2019. It moved to the Claydon Estate Middle Claydon in Buckinghamshire from 2020. It has taken place every August bank holiday weekend since its founding in 1965.
Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.
"Barrett's Privateers" is a modern folk song in the style of a sea shanty, written and performed by Canadian musician Stan Rogers, having been inspired after a song session with the Friends of Fiddler's Green at the Northern Lights Festival Boréal in Sudbury, Ontario. The song describes a 1778 summer privateering journey to the Caribbean on a decrepit sloop, the Antelope, captained by Elcid Barrett; when it engages in a failed raid on a larger American ship, the Antelope sinks and all the crew is killed except the singer, who returns six years later "a broken man", having lost both his legs in the disaster. Although Barrett, the Antelope and other specific instances mentioned in the song are fictional, "Barrett's Privateers" is full of many authentic details of privateering in the late 18th century.
Chris Wood is an English songwriter and composer who plays fiddle, viola and guitar, and sings. He is a practitioner of traditional English dance music, including Morris and other rituals and ceremonies, but his repertoire also includes much French folk music and traditional Québécois material. He worked for many years in a duo with button accordion/melodeon player Andy Cutting: Wood & Cutting were one of the most influential acts on the English folk music scene. Q Magazine gave their "Live at Sidmouth" album four stars and put the duo "at the forefront of the latest wave of British music acts". One of his first recordings was playing bass and percussion on "Jack's Alive" (1980) the first album by the Oysterband.
Andy Cutting is an English folk musician and composer. He plays melodeon and is best known for writing and performing traditional English folk and his own original compositions which combine English and French traditions with wider influences. He is three times winner of the Folk Musician of the Year award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and has appeared on around 50 albums, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with other musicians. He was born in Harrow, London and is married with three children.
Bellowhead is an English contemporary folk band, active from 2004 to 2016, reforming in 2020. The eleven-piece act played traditional dance tunes, folk songs and shanties, with arrangements drawing inspiration from a wide range of musical styles and influences. The band included percussion and a four-piece brass section. Bellowhead's bandmembers played more than 20 instruments among them, whilst all performers provided vocals.
Roy Bailey, was an English sociologist and folk singer. Colin Irwin from the music magazine Mojo said Bailey represented "the very soul of folk's working class ideals... a triumphal homage to the grass roots folk scene as a radical alternative to the mainstream music industry."
Kerfuffle were a four-piece English folk band, originally formed in 2001 around the East Midlands and South Yorkshire regions of the UK, initially comprising Hannah James, Sam Sweeney, Chris Thornton-Smith (guitar) and Tom Sweeney. Thornton-Smith was replaced by Jamie Roberts in 2007. Kerfuffle disbanded in August 2010.
Last Orders is a four-piece folk band originating from Newcastle upon Tyne and Cumbria. The four members of the band met when they were all members of Folkestra, a youth folk ensemble at the Sage Gateshead.
The Teesside Fettlers are one of the north east of England's longest running and most successful folk bands. They were first formed in the early 1960s and have seen many changes in their line up since. A considerable number of the cream of the North East's folk talent has at one time played with The Teesside Fettlers, including Vin Garbutt, Ron Angel, Richard Grainger, Bob Skingle and Adrian Beadnell. The band have performed across the UK, on the international circuit at festivals, concerts and on radio and television. They sing mainly about Teesside, North Yorkshire and Durham, telling the story of the development of the region, its industrial heritage and the beautiful countryside that surrounds it. A regular request for the group is to provide Ceilidh evenings at which their resident caller, Ron Marshall joins them.
Bombay Bicycle Club is an English indie rock band from Crouch End, London, consisting of Jack Steadman, Jamie MacColl, Suren de Saram, and Ed Nash. They are guitar-fronted and have experimented with different genres, including folk, electronica, world music and indie rock.
The Ian Campbell Folk Group were one of the most popular and respected folk groups of the British folk revival of the 1960s. The group made many appearances on radio, television, and at national and international venues and festivals. They performed a mixture of British traditional folk music and new material, including compositions by Campbell. Much of their popularity flowed from the variety of their performance which included a mixture of solos, group vocals and instrumentals.
David Gibb is a children's musician, songwriter and author from Belper, Derbyshire. He was a finalist of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award 2011, as well as winning the 'Highly Commended' prize at the Young Storyteller of the Year Awards the same year. Since 2014 he has focused on making music for children and families, as well as writing stories for children including Too Many Bubbles, which was published by Simon & Schuster in 2020.
Roving Crows are a four-piece Irish folk rock band, based in Worcestershire, England. Since forming in 2009, they have released three albums and received a number of awards.
Freeman Dre and the Kitchen Party is a folk rock band from Toronto, Canada.
The Fair Rain is an English seven-piece contemporary folk band. Until 13 October 2015, the band operated under the name The Old Dance School, under which they released three studio albums and a live album.
Karl and the Marx Brothers is an English indie folk group from Derby, England. In 2013, they released their debut album Angry Folk on Furthest From The Sea recordings.
Ange Hardy is an English singer, songwriter and recording artist.
The Black Feathers are a husband and wife roots music duo based in Gloucestershire, UK who play a blend of Folk and Americana. Their debut EP was listed in The Telegraph as one of the best Folk albums of 2014.
Paul Sartin was an English singer, instrumentalist, composer and arranger, specialising in oboe and violin. He was best known for his work with the folk band Bellowhead, but also played with three-piece Faustus and the folk/comedy duo Belshazzar's Feast.
