Thank Folk It’s Friday – 17th May

May 17, 2013 at 15:22 (News, Week in Review)
Tags: achoo! bless you, aluka, christy moore, communion melbourne, eddie berman, emily barker, good oak, jamgrass, jamgrass music festival, jeff lang, john flanagan & the begin agains, johnny flynn, laura marling, little features, lucky luke, lucky luke and his shooting stars, patrick james, planxty, rose wintergreen, sam amidon, the mountains, the stillsons, thelma plum, tom west, tunng, winter mountain

TFIF

This Week in Folk

All the News From The Week That Was

- Melbourne’s John Flanagan & The Begin Agains have released their brand new video for the track “Autumn Song”. Details here

- Achoo! Bless You have managed to find the time during their current east coast tour to release their new video “No Way Of Knowing”. Details here

- Thelma Plum has announced plans for a national tour this July. Details here

- The first lineup announcement for the 2013 JamGrass Music Festival reads like a who’s who of Timber and Steel favourites – Patt and Possum (USA), The Company, The Steamgrass Boys, The Green Mohair Suits, Papa Pilko & The Binrats, Quarry Mountain Dead Rats, Hardrive Bluegrass Band, Strzelecki Stringbusters, James Kenyon and John Flanagan & The Begin Agains. Details here

- Communion Melbourne have revealed the lineup for their May show this Sunday including Five Mile Town, Garrett Kato, Miles and Simone, Sean O’Neill and Zack Buchanan. Details here

- UK troubadour Johnny Flynn is making a welcome return to the musical stage after a couple of years concentrating on his acting career – and he’s got an brand new song to share. Details here

- Tom Busby’s (Busby Marou) Americana side-project Good Oak has a new video for “The Bear Song”. Details here

- Tom West plays in Adelaide folk band Traveller and Fortune but has a solo project as well – and he’s just released his new single “Jonathan’s Farm” with a tour to go along with it. Details here

- Laura Marling has announced a Heavenly Sounds tour as her Splendour in the Grass sideshows. Details here

- Speaking of Laura Marling, there’s a lovely video of her and Eddie Berman covering Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” online at the moment. Details here

- Experimental folk six piece Tunng have revealed plans to release a new album as well as sharing the first single. Details here

- Next weekend monthly Sydney folk night Little Features turns one and they’re celebrating with an amazing lineup – Mark Bulmer, Colin Jones, Arbori, Charlie Gradon, Bec Sandridge and Yetis. Details here

- After attributing the wrong video to Emily Barker last week (so embarrassing) we’re making up for it by posting her new video “Dear River”. Details here

Interviews

“It’s almost like we’re getting used to playing in the duo form again. It’s almost as though we have to simplify everything. We’re so used to playing with a band now because we’ve been doing so for the last six months – and it’s been so fun playing with those guys – at the same time it’s really cool to challenge ourselves as a duo” – Patrick James chats to Gareth Hugh Evans. Interview here

“Finding an opportunity to bail Jeff up in the green room (ie the grass behind the tent), Bill whipped out the all-terrain microphone and quizzed Jeff on the sound matter, among others” – Jeff Lang chats to Bill Quinn. Interview here

“The tour has been amazing so far. Kicking off in Sydney in front of our buddies was so rad. It was a real high point for us as a band. It’s so easy when your touring with good mates and sick bands. We have just been losing our shit to each others each night, too fun” – The Mountains chat to Gareth Hugh Evans. Interview here

“I think it has something to do with our longing for a more simplistic life, something to do with a bunch of the younger city kids actually coming from rural areas, and something to do with the music just being honest, tuneful, and great to dance and drink to” – Lucky Luke chats to Gareth Hugh Evans. Interview here

Spotlight On

Winter Mountain

“It’s been a while since we’ve seen a solid male duo on the scene. With boots to fill of the likes of Simon & Garfunkel, these two manage to blend their voices in delicious harmonies, complementing their emotive melodies quite simply but effectively, while still retaining their young and contemporary vibe. It’s kind of like Indie-folk without actually stepping into the indie realm” – KTBell profiles Winter Mountain. Spotlight here

Blog

“Suddenly, there seem to be people everywhere crowd-funding. I’ve just become one of those people. But we’re all still learning about it. I’m half-way through a 30 day crowd-funding campaign for my new record, and even though they’ve helped multitudes of people raise over $10 million in crowd-funding, even the directors of Pozible, an Australian crowd-funding platform, can’t be sure whether my campaign will succeed” – Rose Wintergreen talks Crowd Funding in the first of a four part series. Blog here

Reviews

Gigs

“As soon as this a capella vocal trio started to sing, the room was reduced to complete silence. Unaccompanied, these three talented young women use their voices as diverse instruments, using harmonies, percussive sounds, ooo’s, ahh’s and combined with hand percussion create a sweet, full sound” – Hannah Acfield reviews the album launch from Aluka. Review here

Releases This Week

Bright Sunny South – Sam Amidon
iTunes

Timber and Steel Presents

The Stillsons with Little Wise, Victoriana Gaye
Sunday 19th May – The Worker’s Club, Fitzroy, VIC
Tickets on the Door

Gigs Next Week

Achoo! Bless You and The Mountains
Friday 17th May – Woody’s Surf Shack, Byron Bay, NSW
Wednesday 22nd May – Yours & Owls, Wollongong, NSW

Bob Evans
Friday 17th May – Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
Saturday 18th May – Meeniyan Town Hall, Meeniyan, VIC

Communion Melbourne feat. Five Mile Town, Garrett Kato, Miles and Simone, Sean O’Neill, Zack Buchanan
Sunday 19th May – The Toff in Town, Melbourne, VIC

Good Oak
Thursday 23rd May – Gov’s Espresso, Mermaid Beach, QLD
Friday 24th May – The Armidale Club, Armidale, NSW

Matt Corby with Grace Woodroofe
Thursday 23rd May – The Astor Theatre, Perth, WA

MoFo Speakeasy feat. The Rusty Spring Syncopators, Hayfever
Saturday 18th May – The Gaelic Club, Sydney, NSW

Mustered Courage
Friday 17th May – Coogee Diggers, Coogee, NSW
Saturday 18th May – Karuah Music Festival, Karuah, NSW
Sunday 19th May – The Junkyard, Maitland, NSW
Friday 24th May – The Polish Club, Canberra, ACT

Sarah Humphreys
Saturday 18th May – Lizotte’s Kincumber, Kincumber, NSW

The Starry Field (solo)
Friday 17th May – Jet Black Cat Records, West End, QLD
Saturday 18th May – Pure Pop Records, St Kilda, VIC
Sunday 19th May – The Newsagency, Sydney NSW

The Stillsons
Saturday 18th May – The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine, VIC
Sunday 19th May – The Worker’s Club, Fitzroy, VIC

Tom West
Sunday 19th May – Grace Emily Hotel, Adelaide, SA

Friday Folk Flashback

“As I Roved Out” – Planxty (Christy Moore’s version)

I love how songs, both contemporary and traditional, evolve and change in the world of folk music. I’ve been listening to Sam Amidon’s new album Bright Sunny South and his version of “As I Roved Out” which led me back to the version I know best from Christy Moore and Planxty. They’re so different from each other they could be completely different songs. And they’re both amazing – great stuff!

New Emily Barker Video, “Dear River”

May 17, 2013 at 13:58 (News, Video News)
Tags: emily barker, folk music, the red clay halo

Image Courtesy of Emily Barker and The Red Clay Halo

Last week I posted a piece about a brand new Emily Barker track, complete with my usual waffle about how much I love her music. But unfortunately the video that accompanied the video wasn’t an Emily Barker track. And I didn’t notice until Emily herself pointed it out on Twitter.

How embarrassing.

I promptly removed the piece and disappeared inside my cave for a while to avoid further shame. When I emerged I was greeted with an actual, real, genuine Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo video, for the track “Dear River”, that I now humbly want to share. The track is taken from Barker’s upcoming album of the same name – check it out below:

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Watch Eddie Berman and Laura Marling Cover Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark”

May 17, 2013 at 12:47 (News, Video News)
Tags: bruce springsteen, eddie berman, folk music, laura marling

Laura Marling

That Laura Marling is everywhere at the moment! The latest place she’s turned up is in this live video for The Lab TV, guesting on Eddie Berman’s cover of “Dancing in the Dark”:

The track is set to feature on Berman’s new EP Blood & Rust.

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Little Features in Sydney Turns One

May 17, 2013 at 10:06 (News, Regular Night News)
Tags: arbori, bec sandridge, charlie gradon, colin jones, folk music, little features, mark bulmer, yetis

Yetis
Image Courtesy of Yetis

Can you believe that Sydney monthly folk and acoustic night Little Features has been going for a year now? At times it feels as though these guys have always been a part of the local music scene and at other times it feels as though they’ve just arrived with a breath of fresh air. If you live in Sydney haven’t stopped by Little Features then that needs to change right now – the night is something special.

The Little Features first birthday celebrates some of Sydney’s finest talent with many favourites returning and a couple of new faces in the mix as well. Taking place at their spiritual home of Hibernian House on Saturday 25th May, this month’s Little Features will see Mark Bulmer, Colin Jones, Arbori, Charlie Gradon, Bec Sandridge and Yetis (above) grace the stage. The doors open at 6pm with tickets $20 on the door – and don’t forget, Hibernian House is a BYO venue.

For more information on the show make sure you check out the official Facebook invite here.

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Tunng Announce New Album and Single

May 17, 2013 at 09:15 (Album News, News, Single News)
Tags: experimental, folk music, tunng

Tunng
Image Courtesy of Tunng

UK based experimental folk-tronic (now that’s a genre) six-piece Tunng recently announced plans to release their fifth album this June. Titled Turbines the album will hit stores on the 17th June and that’s the mind-bending artwork above.

The first single from Turbines is “The Village” and has already hit the web – take a listen below:

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Laura Marling Announces Heavenly Sounds Splendour Sideshows

May 16, 2013 at 13:38 (News, Tour News)
Tags: folk music, heavenly sounds, laura marling, splendour in the grass

Image Courtesy of Laura Marling

This is the one we’ve all been waiting for folks! Laura Marling has finally revealed the dates of her Splendour in the Grass sideshows! And as an added bonus they’ll be part of a Heavenly Sounds tour which will see Marling performing in churches in Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne.

By the time Laura Marling lands on our shows her new album Once I Was An Eagle will be well and truly playing on the nation’s collective stereos (it’s released on the 24th May) so there’s going to be a lot of new music to enjoy. Supports are yet to be announced for the shows, with tickets going on general release sale on the 28th May (Heavenly Sounds are also offering a pre-sale on the 23rd May to their newsletter subscribers here). The full list of dates are below:

Tuesday 23rd July – St Stephen’s Uniting Church, Sydney NSW
Thursday 25th July – Flinders Street Baptist Church, Adelaide SA
Friday 26th July – St Joseph’s Church, Perth WA
Tuesday 30th July – St Michael’s Church, Melbourne VIC

1 Comment

Dates For Tom West’s Single Launch Tour

May 16, 2013 at 11:17 (News, Tour News)
Tags: folk music, tom west, traveller and fortune

Image Courtesy of Tom West

Adelaide based singer-songwriter Tom West has been steadily building a name for himself over the last little while both as a solo performer and as part of indie-folk five-piece Traveller and Fortune. Having recently returned from both SXSW and Canadian Music Week, West is ready to release his brand new single “Jonathan’s Farm” and will head out on tour to support it.

“Jonathan’s Farm” is taken from Tom West’s upcoming solo album A Spark In The Dark – take a listen to it below:

The “Jonathan’s Farm” single tour kicks off in Adelaide this weekend before making it’s way around the country. Check out the full list of dates below:

Sunday 19th May – Grace Emily Hotel, Adelaide, SA
Wednesday 5th June – The Front Bar, Canberra, ACT
Thursday 6th June – Dowse Bar, Brisbane, QLD
Friday 7th June – The Newsagency, Sydney, NSW
Saturday 8th June – The Grace Darling Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
Thursday 4th July – Ya Ya’s, Perth, WA

1 Comment

New Good Oak Video, “The Bear Song”

May 16, 2013 at 08:58 (News, Video News)
Tags: americana, busby marou, folk music, good oak

Image Courtesy of Good Oak

Apparently Good Oak is the result of a drunken joke between Tom Busby (Busby Marou) and his housemates Stephen Ryan and Brett Gibson but has morphed into quite an interesting Americana-infused side project. The band launched their debut self-titled EP last month and have just kicked off a tour to support the new single “The Bear Song”.

Speaking of “The Bear Song”, there’s also a brand new video to go along with the single:

The remaining tour dates for Good Oak are below – make sure you check these guys out soon:

Thursday 23rd May – Gov’s Espresso, Mermaid Beach, QLD
Friday 24th May – The Armidale Club, Armidale, NSW
Saturday 25th May – Brighton Up Bar, Sydney, NSW
Sunday 26th May – Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour, NSW

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Timber and Steel Presents: Sunday 19th May at The Workers Club

May 15, 2013 at 13:47 (News, Regular Night News, Timber and Steel Events)
Tags: alt country, folk music, little wise, the stillsons, the workers club, victoriana gaye

Image Courtesy of The Stillsons

Timber and Steel alt-country favourites The Stillsons have just released their brand new single “Break And Keel” and are hitting the road to celebrate with a string of shows in Victoria and New South Wales. And one of those shows, we’re please to announce, will be the Timber and Steel matinée show at The Workers Club in Melbourne this Sunday.

The Workers Club show kicks off 1:30pm with tickets just $12 on the door. Joining The Stillsons in support will be Little Wise and Victoriana Gaye – that’s a lot of awesome music for your dollar.

For more information on the afternoon check out the official Workers Club website here. Take a listen to “Break And Keel” below:

If you can’t make it to The Workers Club on Sunday the full list of The Stillsons’ single launch dates are below:

Saturday 18th May – The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine, VIC
Sunday 19th May – The Workers Club, Melbourne, VIC
Saturday 25th May – Mars Hill Café, Parramatta, NSW
Sunday 26th May – The Grand Junction Hotel, Maitland, NSW

Interview: Lucky Luke

May 15, 2013 at 12:05 (Interviews)
Tags: andy golledge, fanny lumsden, folk music, lucky luke, lucky luke and his shooting stars

Image Courtesy of Lucky Luke and His Shooting Stars

If you’ve been to an alt-country show in Sydney recently your almost guaranteed to have stumbled across Lucky Luke and His Shooting Stars. If you haven’t yet, you’re in for a treat as the band are headlining this months Country Roads night at the Oxford Art Factory on Thursday 16th May. We managed to grab Lucky Luke himself for a quick chat about the state of country music in Sydney.

Gareth Hugh Evans: Your bio says you were drawn to country music thanks to the records your granddaddy used to play. What is it about this music that has connected with you through into your adulthood?

Lucky Luke: This music really started connecting with me as my nostalgia for my childhood and the time I spent in Greensboro North Carolina started to grow. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and the occasional visits to the south whetted my appetite for country music, and the food, the hospitality, and style of that culture. I find that country music is bottomless – the further you dig, the more gold you find (for want of a better metaphor).

GHE: There’s a bustling underground country music in Sydney at the moment. City kids are not usually the target market for this music – why do you think it’s seeing a surge in popularity here?

LL: I think it has something to do with our longing for a more simplistic life, something to do with a bunch of the younger city kids actually coming from rural areas, and something to do with the music just being honest, tuneful, and great to dance and drink to.

GHE: People would probably recognise several members of your band from other Sydney based folk, country and bluegrass outfits. How important is the collaborative element of the scene in Sydney?

LL: I think it’s crucial to have a scene. Like any passion, you need support to feed your hunger to share and learn. We play each other new songs when we have all night jams and three hour shows – that’s really what it’s all about, sharing a culture and growing the community.

GHE: You’re playing at the Country Roads night this Thursday at The Oxford Art Factory with Fanny Lumsden and Andy Golledge. That’s a hell of a lineup! How are you feeling ahead of the show?

LL: Any chance to play is exciting to me, can’t wait. The other acts are in fine form and we’re excited to share the stage with Fanny and Andy.

GHE: Along with the Country Roads show are there any other gigs we should know about featuring Lucky Luke and His Shooting Stars? What’s next on the horizon for you?

LL: We’re playing The Bourbon in Potts Point on Sunday 26th May and launching our debut record on the 12th July at The Basement. Plenty of shows in between which we post on our Facebook page as we go. Thank for the chat Gareth and see you around brother!

Country Roads featuring Lucky Luke and His Shooting Stars, Fanny Lumsden and The Thrillseekers and Andy Golledge will take place tomorrow night at the Oxford Art Factory. For more info check out the official Facebook invite here.