 |
Jim Moray | |
|---|---|
 Moray at a St George's Day celebration at Trafalgar Square in April 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Douglas Oates [1] |
| Born | 20 August 1981 Macclesfield, Cheshire, England |
| Genres | Folk Folk rock Experimental English folk music |
| Instrument(s) | Voice, piano, guitars, drums, bass, melodeon and Programming |
Jim Moray (born Douglas Oates; 20 August 1981) is an English folk singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer.
While studying classical composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire, Moray released the home-recorded I Am Jim Moray EP. [2] During 2002 he appeared at the Glastonbury Festival and the Cambridge Folk Festival gaining notice in the music press. A nomination for the "Horizon Award" at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2003 followed before he began work on his first full-length album, Sweet England . The album was recorded in his bedroom while completing his final year of study. Sweet England was released in June 2003 on his own Niblick Is A Giraffe record label.
At the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2004 he was presented with the Album of the Year Award for Sweet England and the Horizon Award for best newcomer. He was also nominated twice in the Best Traditional Song category for Early One Morning and Lord Bateman . [3]
Moray recorded and released the single Sprig of Thyme in May 2004, and in the autumn appeared on the Oysterband's Big Session Volume 1 album. This gained yet more Folk Award nominations in 2005, including one for Cuckoo's Nest, which was sung, produced and mixed by Moray.
After a long gestation period, Moray's eponymous second album was released on 1 May 2006. Moving away from the electronic sound of Sweet England it features a more orchestral sound and denser song structures.
On 6 July 2007, The Independent featured Sweet England in its "Cult Classic" series, affirming its impact and influence on the modern folk scene.
Jim Moray's third album, Low Culture, was released on 14 July 2008. On this album Jim makes use of African kora, the melodeon and mandolin and mbira thumb-piano. Low Culture won the fRoots Critics Poll Album of the Year 2008 and was also the MOJO Folk Album of the Year 2008. It was also nominated for the Album of the Year Award in the BBC Folk Awards 2009.
On 1 February 2010 it was announced that Jim Moray's fourth album In Modern History would be given away as a covermount CD with the June edition of Songlines magazine, with a street date of 30 April 2010. It was also announced that the album would be available in a deluxe box set and standard editions on 7 June 2010.
Moray's fifth studio album Skulk was released on Bandcamp with no build-up or warning in January 2012 going straight to number 1 on the Bandcamp chart. It received a full release on 9 April 2012. Moray received three nominations in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for Best Album, Folk Singer of the Year and Best Traditional Track (for Lord Douglas), winning the latter category.
Along with singer and guitarist Sam Carter, in 2014 Moray launched a new band named False Lights to play traditional music with electric instruments. Their album Salvor, produced by Moray, was released in February 2015 and they announced headline shows at Folk East, Trowbridge Village Pump and Homegrown festivals.
Moray's sixth album Upcetera was released on September the 30th 2016, featuring orchestral arrangements blended with electric rhythm section, electronic soundscapes and, on several tracks, viol played by Damon Albarn and Nico Muhly collaborator Liam Byrne. It was nominated for Best Album and Best Original Track for Sounds Of Earth at the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, at which he also performed the opening track Fair Margaret And Sweet William.
On Moray's seventh album The Outlander he explored a more stripped down style of playing and arranging influenced by the British folk revival of the 1960s and 70s and featuring Bellowhead fiddle player Sam Sweeney on six tracks. It was released on 11 October 2019 and was Moray's first album to be released on vinyl as well as CD and download.
In February 2023 Moray entered Abbey Road Studios to re-record songs from across his career to celebrate 21 years of recording and performing. These recordings were released as Beflean in November 2023, and named as Tradfolk.co's album of the year. [4]
Moray has spoken of receiving abuse online because he wants folk music to become more mainstream. [2]
Aside from all of his own albums Moray has produced other artists, initially from his own studio in Bristol profiled in a Sound on Sound feature in 2006. [5]
Moray produced and mixed the track "The Cuckoo's Nest" for the Oysterband Big Session in 2004. This was a live album, recorded over two nights, featuring a similar line-up to the tour he took part in in 2003. The track was nominated in the BBC Folk Awards that year. [6]
During 2005 Moray produced and performed on James Raynard's debut album Strange Histories, released in September 2005 on One Little Indian records.
In 2008 he wrote and produced the song The Wishfulness Waltz for his sister Jackie Oates' second album The Violet Hour, [1] as well as playing all the instruments on the track. He subsequently produced and mixed her third album Hyperboreans which was released in September 2009 and nominated for three BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards (including best album), and MOJO magazine's top folk albums of 2009. In 2015 he produced and mixed her sixth album "The Spyglass And The Herringbone" as well as co-writing the majority of the tracks.
Moray produced and mixed the debut album Roodumdah by Kent-based folk-rock band Wheeler Street in autumn 2008. In 2010 he produced and mixed Find The Lady by Belshazzar's Feast.
In 2014 he produced and mixed the second album by singer and songwriter Maz O'Connor, This Willowed Light. They worked together again on her third album The Longing Kind. In the same period he also produced the debut album by London folk band Tir Eolas, Stories Sung, Truths Told.
Moray produced Salvor, the debut album by False Lights – his collaboration with Sam Carter, in 2015. [7] The band released Harmonograph, a second album also produced by Moray in 2018.
Moray produced Art Brut's fifth album Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out!, after previously collaborating with lead singer Eddie Argos on the lo-fi musical The Islanders at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013. The album was released by Alcopop! Records in 2018.
In 2023 he began working with electro-folk singer and musician Frankie Archer, who had previously cited his work as an influence. [8] He co-produced (with Archer) and mixed her EP Never So Red in late 2023.
Moray produced, mixed and performed on Blair Dunlop's fifth studio album Out Of The Rain in 2024.
Moray's early live shows frequently featured video projections and lighting effects, something relatively uncommon in British folk music.
During 2001–2003 Moray played as a solo performer, becoming well known for using a laptop and loop pedals live. After the release of Sweet England in 2003, he began playing with a variety of accompanying musicians, notably drummer Laurence Hunt. This flexible line-up toured extensively as an electric band, with Moray playing electric guitar and supplemented by samples and sequences from laptops onstage.
Following the Jim Moray album, during 2007–2008 Moray's line-up solidified around a core of melodeon player Nick Cooke and violinist James Delarre, frequently performing as an acoustic trio before eventually adding drummer William Bowerman in 2008. Bowerman left the band in summer 2009 to join electro-pop act La Roux and was replaced by Dave Burbidge. After puncturing both lungs, Cooke was replaced by Saul Rose for some festival appearances in summer 2009. In 2012 Moray toured with an expanded "Skulk Ensemble" to play the Skulk album live, with added brass, bass and his sister Jackie Oates on backing vocals. In November 2013 Moray staged a 10th Anniversary Performance of his first album Sweet England at the Union Chapel in Islington, London featuring a string section and special guests including Bella Hardy, Jackie Oates, Keston Cobblers Club and Maz O'Connor.
In 2017 Moray assembled a 10-piece band featuring strings, woodwind and an electric rhythm section to play the music from his Upcetera album on tour. This line up was invited to close the show at the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards held at the Royal Albert Hall. [9]
As an opening act or collaborator, Moray has toured with Oysterband, Eliza Carthy, Billy Bragg, Richard Thompson, Ani Di Franco, Bellowhead, The Cecil Sharp Project and John McCusker. He also performed as Orpheus in Anaïs Mitchell's folk opera, Hadestown in January 2011 at the Union Chapel in London.
In 2012 Moray wrote and performed music for the Bristol Old Vic produced show The Islanders, a collaboration with Art Brut frontman Eddie Argos, and writer and performer Amy Mason. [10]
In May and June 2024 Moray supported Richard Thompson on his band tour supporting the release of the album Ship to Shore . [11]
Cara Elizabeth Dillon is a Northern Irish folk singer. In 1995, she joined the folk supergroup Equation and signed a record deal with Warners Music Group. After leaving the group, she collaborated with Sam Lakeman under the name Polar Star. In 2001, she released her first solo album, Cara Dillon, which featured traditional songs and two original Dillon/Lakeman compositions. The album was an unexpected hit in the folk world, with Dillon receiving four nominations at the 2002 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British radio station BBC Radio 2.
Waterson:Carthy were an English folk group originally comprising Norma Waterson on vocals, her husband Martin Carthy on guitar and vocals and their daughter Eliza Carthy on fiddle and vocals.
Rise Up Like the Sun is a British folk rock album released in 1978 by The Albion Band. The album is in part a collaboration between John Tams on vocals and melodeon and Ashley Hutchings on electric bass. This is not the first album on which the two worked together but it remains the most fulfilling for listeners. To build the sound Hutchings brought in two of his former compatriots from Fairport Convention, Dave Mattacks on drums and tambourine and Simon Nicol on vocals and electric and acoustic guitars. In addition another ex-member of Fairport, Richard Thompson, contributed songs and backing vocals. Having assembled the principal contributors and an ambiance that encouraged their friends to drop in, Hutchings gave Tams the freedom to act as the project's musical director. They were joined by Philip Pickett on shawms, bagpipes, curtals and trumpet, Pete Bullock on synthesiser, piano, clarinet, sax, and organ, Michael Gregory on percussion, Ric Sanders on violin and violectra and Graeme Taylor on electric and acoustic guitars. Kate McGarrigle, Julie Covington, Linda Thompson, Pat Donaldson, Martin Carthy, Andy Fairweather-Low and Dave Bristow make guest appearances.
Country Life is the eleventh studio album by English acoustic roots duo Show of Hands. Released in 2003, it marks a departure for the band, with stronger socially and politically lyrics than the duo's previous albums, as well as showcasing the duo exploring a larger musical palette. Some of the album's lyrics concern rural issues which Knightley had taken to heart in previous years, including in the aftermath of their previous lyrical album Cold Frontier (2001). Prior to the release of Country Life, the duo had released an instrumental album named The Path. Both The Path and Country Life were released close together. The album was packaged in a lavish set which included a bonus disc of demo versions and other bonus material. The album's title track was also promoted by the band's first music video.
Oysterband is a British folk rock and folk punk band formed in Canterbury around 1976.
John Tams is an English actor, singer, songwriter, composer and musician born in Holbrook, Derbyshire, the son of a publican. He first worked as a reporter for the Ripley & Heanor News later working for BBC Radio Derby and BBC Radio Nottingham. Tams had an early part in The Rainbow (1988), and may be best known for playing a regular supporting role in the ITV drama series Sharpe, as rifleman Daniel Hagman. He also co-wrote the music for each film alongside Dominic Muldowney.
Witness is the twelfth studio album by British folk duo Show of Hands. The album was recorded in January 2006 at Presshouse Studio, Colyton, Devon, and was produced by Simon Emmerson and Simon ‘Mass’ Massey from the Afro Celts, who helped to incorporate elements of traditional African, ambient and electronic dance music with the duo's characteristic folk style. It was the band's first album in twelve years to use a rhythm section. Lyrically, the album addresses communal and heritage values, and was described by the duo's lead singer Steve Knightley as a "cinematic style journey of the West Country." The album features unofficial third member Miranda Sykes on ten of its twelve tracks.
Jim Causley is a British folk singer, songwriter, and musician from Devon who specializes in the traditional songs and music of the West Country. Journalist Colin Irwin has called him "the finest singer of his generation".
John Spiers is an English melodeon, concertina and bandoneon player.
The Imagined Village is a folk music project founded by Simon Emmerson of Afro Celt Sound System. It is intended to produce modern folk music that represented modern multiculturalism in the United Kingdom and as such, featured musicians from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The name of the project came from the 1993 book The Imagined Village by Georgina Boyes.
Jackie Oates is an English folk singer and fiddle player.
Nancy Kerr is an English folk musician and songwriter, specialising in the fiddle and singing. She is a Principal Lecturer in Folk Music at Newcastle University. She was the 2015 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards "Folk Singer of the Year".
Arrogance Ignorance and Greed is the fourteenth studio album by English folk duo Show of Hands. Released in 2009 on the band's label Hands on Music, the album was produced by Stu Hanna of the English folk duo Megson, with additional production by Mark Tucker. The album followed an emotionally painful period for Steve Knightley where members of his family battled serious illnesses. This led to the album becoming particularly personal and darker than previous Show of Hands albums, aided by Hanna's direct and sharp production. The album also discusses several social and political concerns, and contains several collaborations with other musicians and vocalists.
Shrewsbury Folk Festival is an annual festival of folk and world music and traditional dance held in the town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire, England.
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.
Sam Carter is a British guitarist, singer and songwriter, originally from the English Midlands but more recently based in Sheffield. He has released four albums of mainly original material which fall loosely into the folk/roots category. Carter is the winner of the "Horizon" award for best newcomer at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2010. Highly regarded as an instrumentalist, contemporary Jon Boden of Bellowhead described him as 'the finest English-style finger-picking guitarist of his generation, and former BBC Radio Two folk show presenter Mike Harding wrote that Carter was "one of the most gifted acoustic guitarists of his generation.". As a songwriter, Carter marries a traditionally English narrative style with elements of American gospel, shapenote, R&B and folk-rock has been described as an "impressively original" performer. Some commentators consider that Carter's guitar and vocal style is similar to that of noted British iconoclasts John Martyn and Roy Harper, whilst his lyrical perspective has further invited comparison with the work of Richard Thompson.
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.
Forgotten Kingdom is folk singer-songwriter Jim Causley's fifth studio album excluding his work with The Devil's Interval and Mawkin:Causley.
Ray Cooper, also known as Chopper, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist living in Sweden.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
