2014. Whither am I bound?

Time to think about festivals again. From experience I can tell you this - it doesn't get any easier. The title applies just as much to artists too.
The first ever Behind The Castle Festival, a one day mostly folk event in Sherborne, Dorset, on June 14 is a must. I shall, of course be attending End Of The Road 2014 but then that probably goes without saying. This is the start of the road.
I'm not a great believer in resolutions for the New Year but this time I decided upon a few. Some are more instantly commenced than others.  This is one that certainly is active immediate.
I shall listen to - and pay proper attention to - at least eight hours of music that is new (to me at least) each week. The investment will be in time, for there is no reason for this to cost much and it could be done entirely legally on-line. It's going quite well I must say but then many good intentions founder before the end of January. The fact that it has rained almost continually has helped and that January looks like it will be a very quiet month for me as regards going to see live music isn't going to be a hindrance either, although that would also count if it were new to me.
One can spend many happy hours trawling through profiles, reading reviews and listening to Soundcloud, Mixcloud and the like, as quite often I do and it costs nothing. On the other hand the likes of Amazing Radio can provide much that is just there and ready for the listening. The presenters have done the pre-filtering for you but, and this is important, not too much filtering. It is free, legal and available worldwide.
I am happy to tell you that, until about twenty minutes ago, I was quite unaware of Finnish accordion player Johanna Juhola. Here is that track and Amazing Radio was the reason that I got to hear it.

You might like Olivia Chaney too ---  yet another one to watch in 2014.

Casual Conversations With A Woodpigeon

It is about to appear, I have mentioned this artist and band before, and yet this début EP also remains unknown to most.
Here it is... 'Casual Conversations With A Woodpigeon'.

As album titles go it is, I think, on a par with 'Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose'. It's not a short name, but an unforgettable one, and that matters. It is also a self-released EP, funded using Kickstarter. It is officially launched on March 26...

I'd heard bits and pieces before this point but then saw Cloudi and her band live at the first North Dorset Folk Festival last autumn and was very impressed. Still wondering? Well here they are live at Urban Outfitters, in Southampton, this very afternoon.
  

The second edition of North Dorset Folk Festival has a new venue, Marnhull Village Hall, and will take place on Saturday October 26, 2013.
Tickets go on sale soon. See you there.

New Music 2013 - Part 4 - Funding For Something to Happen

We all know it. Music costs - illegal music costs us all more - but that aside making it is far more expensive than buying legal recorded music. There are various options, rarely ever open to new and aspiring artists until recently, to harness the enthusiasm of music fans to directly fund a project they want to reach realization. One such, that has recently rolled-out in the UK, is Kickstarter. I have previous experience with it in its US version and that was without issue (a US based project that was very successful).
As is all such speculative investment it is not without risk but there are upsides - the investment can be small (from £5 typically, but that may be proportional to the sum required for the project), a definitive end date for the appeal for funding and no penalty if the desired target is not reached. Funds are only taken and then released to the appellant upon successful attainment of the target - if it isn't reached you lose nothing.
OK I thought, when I heard Kickstarter was coming to the UK; I won't go looking. I'll wait and see what comes along and grabs my attention although it was never likely to be anything other than music...
This, though I didn't know it at the time, proved to be that appeal. About five weeks ago I attended the first North Dorset Folk Festival. It was a great day and one of many acts was Cloudi Lewis.

I have reviewed it briefly.
So why did I choose to support this? Well, quite simply that performance was wonderful. A band doing what they want to do and if that is the current vogue then that's all to the good. If it wasn't then, hell, they'd probably do it anyway. That, to be honest, is the attitude that the music industry needs even more of right now. I'm prepared to put a small sum of money behind that dream...

There are green shoots, as the old saying goes, but they still need feeding and encouragement to survive.

Live Music 2012 - North Dorset Folk Festival

Another weekend, another newly fledged indoor one-day festival to keep the chill autumn winds at bay. The musical subject matter was very different to last weekend and so was the choice of venue. Last Sunday I was at the extremely familiar-to-me Cheese and Grain in Frome whereas as yesterday I was only thirty-something miles away in the totally unfamiliar surroundings of Sturminster Newton High School.
One of the first acts to play the main stage (there was also the studio stage) was an acoustic four-piece that met at Southampton Solent University and the first of several acts that had made it inevitable that I should decide to purchase a ticket.

Flatland Wolf - North Dorset Folk Festival. 27 October 2012.

They are preparing an EP for release but if you want an idea of their sound then avail yourself of this:

I'm sorry about the delay. Here is some more from Saturday, starting with the Studio Stage:

Cloudi Lewis and her band.

The seven-song set started with a cover version of  KT Tunstall's 'Black Horse & The Cherry Tree' and then continued with six original songs:

1. Black Horse and The Cherry Tree
2. Middle Man
3. White Dress
4. The Woods
5. Over 
6. Stop
7. Rambling

This is the way to do it and they are recording an EP in early January, which will hopefully be released soon thereafter. Very definitely one to watch in 2013.

Back to the main stage and an artist that won 'Best Young Artist' at BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2009. One I have wanted to hear live for some while and, quite possibly, the reason I got wind of North Dorset Folk Festival in the first place.

Megan Henwood and her Fylde custom-made guitar 'Rosie' - the other one is 'Coco'.

She also revealed that she will be releasing her second album before too long.

  

Rather than attempt all my thoughts and ramblings in one post I'll rattle though just a couple more that caught my attention before mentioning others and some more general reflections on the whole event in a subsequent post later in the week.

  

All the way from Liverpool came Jaywalkers.

Very conveniently their 'Early For A Thursday EP' has just been reviewed by North West Folk and another to consider treating oneself to for Christmas, if not before.

Last for this post but certainly not least is the act that preceded them on the main stage:

  

Tinderbox, recently back from a major festival in Germany and touring in support of their 2012 album 'Counting Time'. On Saturday the duo was joined, as they were in Germany, by Bob Burke (on the right here) on additional guitar and vocals.

  

Here's something to think about. I have now mentioned about half the acts that I saw on Saturday. The ticket, including booking fee, was £27.50.