March 31, 2014 at 14:38 (News)
Tags: achoo! bless you, betty & oswald, folk music, newtown hotel
Image Courtesy of The Newtown Hotel
If you like cider and you like folk music (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t?) then you’d do well to get down to the Newtown Hotel in Sydney this Saturday 5th April for the one day Cider Fair.
The fair will feature over 25 ciders to try throughout the day while enjoying the folky tones of local artists Achoo! Bless You and Betty & Oswald.
The cider fair kicks off at 1pm and entry is free. For more information check out the official Facebook event here.
March 31, 2014 at 12:45 (News, Regular Night News)
Tags: bluegrass, bluegrass @ yulli's, folk music, john flanagan
Image Courtesy of John Flanagan
Since the end of last year I’ve been making my way to a new monthly bluegrass night in Sydney that I’ve been really enjoying and I thought it was about time to share.
The night is held in the upstairs bar of Yulli’s, a restaurant in Sydney’s Surry Hills, and takes place once a month. The night kicks off with an all-in bluegrass jam (BYO fiddle, banjo, mando, etc) from 6pm to 8pm, after which a feature artist performs while you have the chance to sip on craft beers and soak in the pickin’ goodness.
The April Bluegrass @ Yulli’s is set to take next Wednesday the 9th April and the feature artist this time around is none other than Melbourne’s John Flanagan (see above). Constant readers of Timber and Steel will know how highly we rate John Flanagan’s bluegrass and Americana infused songwriting and this will be a fantastic chance for Sydney to become acquainted with his music in intimate surrounds.
Bluegrass @ Yulli’s is free entry. For more information check out the official Facebook event here.
March 31, 2014 at 09:56 (News, Video News)
Tags: folk music, owen pallett
Image Courtesy of Owen Pallett
Loop wrangling violinist and singer-songwriter Owen Pallett has a brand new album, In Conflict, due for release on the 23rd May this year. The first single from In Conflict is the symphonic, driving track “The Riverbed” which has a new video from director Eva Michon. Check it out below for a taster of what you can expect from In Conflict:
March 31, 2014 at 08:31 (News, Single News)
Tags: folk music, matthew and the atlas
Image Courtesy of Matthew and the Atlas
Another new track from the new Matthew and the Atlas album Other Rivers, the frantic “Nowhere Now” hit the internet last week. The track follows the excellent “Pale Sun Rose” and demonstrates once again that Matthew and the Atlas is an artist to watch.
Other Rivers is due for release on the 11th April. Listen to “Nowhere Now” below:
March 28, 2014 at 14:35 (News, Week in Review)
Tags: daniel lee kendall, eliza and the bear, fairport convention, folk music, fun shootin' thursdies, gibson bull, hayden calnin, james vincent mcmorrow, john flanagan, kate burke, kate fagan, little bastard, little features, midlake, Passenger, paul greene and the other colours, scott matthew, steve smyth, the audreys, the crooked fiddle band, the morrisons, the paper kites, trouble in the kitchen, Wagons
– A new regular country music night, Fun Shootin’ Thursdies, kicked off in Sydney last night. Details here
– NSW based singer-songwriter Daniel Lee Kendall has made a welcome return to the scene with his new single “Angelique”. Details here
– As well as announcing a new album Wagons also have a national tour on the way this May and June. Details here
– Passenger announced plans to release his new album Whispers this year with the release of cover art and a making of video. Details here
– And just after the album was announced Passenger also released the video for its title track “Whispers” as well as the release date of the 6th June. Details here
– Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow has announced plans to return to Australia this May including a performance at Vivid Sydney. Details here
– Timber and Steel are very proud to be presenting the upcoming tour from singer-songwriter Scott Matthew. Details here
– UK five-piece Eliza and the Bear have released “Brother’s Boat”, their brand new single and video. Details here
– The wonderful Hayden Calnin has announced a couple of intimate EP launch shows in May. Details here
– Little Features hits Sydney this Saturday with a lineup that includes Tom Stephens, Lily So and the Bellows, Direwolf and Maia Jelavic. Details here
– Watch “Shake It”, the new video for Sydney roots singer-songwriter Steve Smyth. Details here
– The new album from Paul Greene and the Other Colours drops today (see below) and so does the first date of their NSW tour. Details here
– US nu-folk legends Midlake will be making their way to Australia this May. Details here
– The Paper Kites have released their new video “Tenenbaum” ahead of their national tour. Details here
– UK singer-songwriter Gibson Bull has released his brand new video “Where Are You Now”. Details here
– John Flanagan is raising money to head over to Nashville to record with a tour that kicks off tonight. Details here
– Sydney seven-piece Little Bastard have released their brand new video “High For You”. Details here
“We’re actually not fans of real gentle folk music anyway. We’re like Led Zeppelin fans and Nick Cave fans. We don’t just sit around listening to ponderous acoustic folk music all day. It sort of makes me a little bit angry and bored [laughs]. So we like things a little grittier than that. We haven’t always reflected that in our records I don’t think and it’s probably partly been my fault, reigning Tristan in thinking my voice is too blah blah blah for that. But this time we just came up with all these rock riffs and just went with it. It was a fun record to make” – Taasha Coates from The Audreys chats to Gareth Hugh Evans. Interview here
“For us we love the sound of American music but we’re not Americans, it’s stupid for us to write about American things. It’s not because we’re just writing about Australian songs – that’s just because we’re in Australia. If you were a Scandinavian bluegrass band you should be writing about Scandinavian things. It’s about writing from your own experience, what you know and what you’re influenced by. Otherwise it comes a across as really disingenuous I think” – James Daley from The Morrisons chats to Gareth Hugh Evans. Interview here
“It’s a bit of a tester I guess. The issue for us is that we’ve got these lives that are scattered around the country. And having young children it’s quite hard to do things like go on the road. So at the moment we’re not really in the position to play together full time or to really take the band on the road or take it overseas like we were doing before. So I guess this is a bit of a starter – we want to just ease into it a bit and see how we’re placed over the next couple of years” – Kate Burke from Trouble in the Kitchen chats to Gareth Hugh Evans. Interview here
“The first gig we’re doing on the Friday night is on the Budawang stage which is the big one. Something Jess said was the very first time she went to The National 14 years ago or whatever she saw bands on the Budawang, this is way before Crooked Fiddle, and she said “I want to be playing on that stage”. And finally we’re playing on that stage at quite a good time on the Friday night so we’re very excited” – Gordon Wallace from The Crooked Fiddle Band chats to Gareth Hugh Evans. Interview here
“I think you learn so much from the players that you get to stand next to. When I made my first solo album I probably didn’t understand that as much and you try to keep track of it all for yourself. It was quite liberating on this album to basically hand things over and say “whatever you hear I know it’s going to be stellar and I’m grateful for you for taking that and making something amazing with it”. The players on this album certainly brought that” – Kate Fagan chats to Gareth Hugh Evans. Interview here
Out Among The Stars – Johnny Cash
iTunes
Sweet Rain Falling – Little Wise
Bandcamp
A Dotted Line – Nickel Creek
iTunes
One Lap Of The Sun – Paul Greene and the Other Colours
iTunes
Melbourne Americana artist John Flanagan is about to head over to Nashville to record his new album. But before he does he needs to head out on the road to raise a bit of cash for things like plane tickets and recording studios. His tour kicks off tonight with a full band show in Melbourne before heading up and down the east coast.
Friday 28th March – Lomond Hotel, Brunswick, VIC
Friday 4th April – Tanswell’s Commercial Hotel, Beechworth, VIC
Ash Grunwald
Friday 28th March – Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, QLD
Saturday 29th March – Base Backpackers, Magnetic Island, QLD
Caitlin Park
Thursday 3rd April – The Toff In Town, Melbourne, VIC
Christopher Coleman Collective
Friday 28th March – Royal Exchange, Newcastle, NSW
Saturday 29th March – The Newsagency, Sydney, NSW
Thursday 3rd April – Grand Junction, Maitland, NSW
Friday 4th April – The Pier, Port Macquarie, NSW
Claude Hay
Friday 28th March – The Old Manly Boatshed, Manly, NSW
Saturday 29th March – The Katoomba RSL Club, Katoomba, NSW
Friday 4th April – The Grand Junction Hotel, Maitland, NSW
Eleanor McEvoy
Friday 28th March – Illawarra Folk Club, Wollongong, NSW
Saturday 29th March – Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham, NSW
Sunday 30th March – St David’s Church, Dee Why, NSW
Thursday 3rd April – South Coast Folk Club, Port Noarlunga, SA
Friday 4th April – HATS-Courthouse Cultural Centre, Auburn, SA
Ella Hooper
Saturday 29th March – The Vanguard, Sydney, NSW
Friday 4th April – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne, VIC
John Butler Trio
Friday 28th March – Belvoir Amphitheatre, Swan Valley, WA
Saturday 29th March – Old Broadwater Farm, Busselton, WA
Tuesday 1st April – Palais Theatre, Melbourne, VIC
Thursday 3rd April – Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide, SA
John Flanagan
Friday 28th March – Lomond Hotel, Brunswick, VIC
Friday 4th April – Tanswell’s Commercial Hotel, Beechworth, VIC
Jordan Millar
Friday 28th March – The Loft, Gold Coast, QLD
Saturday 29th March – Cafe Le Monde, Noosa Heads, QLD
Sunday 30th March – Dowse Bar, Brisbane, QLD
Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens
Friday 28th March – The Wesley Anne, Melbourne, VIC
Friday 4th April – Polish White Eagle Club, Canberra, ACT
Lior
Friday 28th March – Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
Little Wise and Megan Bernard
Sunday 30th March – Matians Cafe, Deans Marsh, VIC
Wednesday 2nd April – Grace Emily Hotel, Adelaide, SA
Thursday 3rd April – “E” For Ethel, Adelaide, SA
Friday 4th April – Café Troppo, Adelaide, SA
Mark Wilkinson
Friday 28th March – The Sound Lounge, Gold Coast, QLD
Saturday 29th March – Visy Theatre, Brisbane, QLD
Sunday 30th March – Pig House Flicks, Byron Bay, NSW
Wednesday 2nd April – The Promethean, Adelaide, SA
Friday 4th April – The Studio Underground, Perth, WA
Paul Greene and the Other Colours
Friday 28th March – The Fig, Manly, NSW
Sunday 30th March – The Waterhouse, Huskisson, NSW
Sally Seltmann w/ Wintercoats
Thursday 3rd April – Lizottes, Kincumber, NSW
Friday 4th April – The Vanguard, Sydney, NSW
Steve Smyth
Saturday 29th March – Baha, Rye, VIC
Thursday 3rd April – Easy Tiger, Paddington, NSW
The Beez
Friday 28th March – Taste Canowindra, NSW
Sunday 30th March – Tamworth, NSW (house concert)
The Good Ship
Friday 28th March – Small Ballroom, Newcastle, NSW
Saturday 29th March – FBi Social, Sydney, NSW
The Little Stevies
Friday 28th March – Caravan Music Club, Melbourne, VIC
The Perch Creek Family Jugband
Friday 28th March – Republic Bar, Hobart, TAS
Saturday 29th March – Devonport Regional Gallery, Devonport, TAS
Sunday 30th March – Live At The Wharf, Ulverstone, TAS
Friday 4th April – The Star Court Theatre, Lismore, NSW
The Pierce Brothers
Saturday 29th March – Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills, NSW
Sunday 30th March – The Small Ballroom, Newcastle, NSW
The Stray Sisters
Friday 28th March – Belvoir Amphitheatre, Swan Valley, WA (with John Butler Trio)
Saturday 29th March – Old Broadwater Farm, Busselton, WA (with John Butler Trio)
Monday 31st March – Albany Entertainment Centre, Albany, WA
Yetis
Thursday 3rd April – The Vanguard, Sydney, NSW
Friday 4th April – The Brass Monkey, Cronulla, NSW
I love the way these tracks play with conventional folk time signatures to create music that has a a sense of urgency and complexity that you don’t often find in the tradition. “Innstück” itself is one of my favourite modern folk tunes.
March 28, 2014 at 13:42 (News, Video News)
Tags: folk music, little bastard
Image Courtesy of Little Bastard
Sydney alt-country-rock seven piece Little Bastard have just released their brand new single and video “High For You”, a rollicking, rocking tune which really captures the live energy of the band. “High For You” is the first single off their forthcoming self-titled debut album which is due for release on the 9th May.
Check out the video for “High For You” below:
March 28, 2014 at 10:45 (Interviews)
Tags: heath cullen, kate fagan, the fagans, the national folk festival
Image Courtesy of Kate Fagan
The Fagan family are truly of Australia’s most prominant folk dynasties (if such a thing exists in this country) and The National is the folk festival most associated with them. This year the wonderful Kate Fagan will be launching her brand new solo album Inner Nature with her full band – the first time she has played this new material with her full lineup. We sat down with Kate Fagan to chat about growing up in the festival scene, collaborating with her band and playing with Joan Baez.
Gareth Hugh Evans: You’re actually launching your new album Inner Nature at The National Folk Festival right?
Kate Fagan: Yes, launching it with a band. I actually sneaked it out towards the end of last year I must admit when I was doing a few shows as a soloist. But this is the first time I’ll be playing that material with a full band and I’m so looking forward to it because it’s a great crew of players and it will be fun to play with those arrangements.
GHE: Is there a reason why you’ve chosen The National as the venue for this launch?
KF: I love The National, it’s a terrific festival, and it’s one that I’ve been fortunate enough to play at many times in various different incarnations. I’ve been there with a bigger band to do a show with the family [The Fagans] many times. And I’ve been there in smaller ways as a duo and trio performing my material. But I’ve actually not been down there as the Kate Fagan Band which I’ve taken to a few other festivals. I really wanted the opportunity to play some of the stages that I love and in front of some of the audiences that I love with that set up. I just love being at The Nash basically.
GHE: I associate you with The National because that’s where I’ve seen you most, both with The Fagans and doing your solo stuff.
KF: It’s a bit of a spiritual home for our crew. It’s a great festival in the ACT which is within my home state of New South Wales so it’s a bit like a home festival in many ways. Always a great time..
GHE: I feel like because it’s a festival you have grown up in both with your family and solo I’d imagine you’ve got a built in fan base there.
KF: The audiences there are always terrific. They’re enthusiastic about music, they embrace all sorts of things and they are just really keen to get in and go along for the ride. So you get some terrific venues there and a great feeling for the shows. I’m looking forward to it. And I’ve been away for so many years from The National – I’ve kind of been on various little adventures between Nationals and now I have two little kids to bring to The National and start the cycle over. This will be the first time I’ve brought both of them to a festival so I’m really looking forward to that too.
GHE: That’s one of the things I love about The National – that it is generational. I was one of those kids that was brought along to festivals and now I go back as an adult.
KF: That’s one of the very very best things about the acoustic music scene across Australia and I guess around the world. It is very inclusive. It’s very diverse. It’s a great environment to do all that stuff in.
GHE: Tell us a little bit about the band that’s playing with you. I noticed that Heath Cullen, who we’re a fan of at Timber and Steel, is part of your band.
KF: He’s a wonderful musician and a fine songwriter and a dear old friend. He played on the album. I made the album a couple of years ago but again it was only recently that I had the space to mix and release it. So Heath was playing on that album, as was the marvellous, sensitive, funny percussionist Hamish Stuart who I just love playing with. So I feel very lucky that both of them were able to come down for Easter. So yeah, there’s Heath and Hamish and also Jason Walker. He’s a neighbour of mine up in the Mountains – I’ve not long moved to the Blue Mountains – and Jason is a terrific pedal steel player who is probably known to a couple of National audiences. He’s been a couple of times, he was last there with Toby Martin from Youth Group I believe. He kind of crosses into the world of alt-country and also I guess rock in some ways. And the ever handsome, stunning Robyn Martin will be joining us on bass and singing also. So it’s a really great crew and a bunch of people I enjoy hanging out with and feel very lucky to be playing with.
GHE: Do the songs on the new album lend themselves better to a full band setting? Or is that just how you wanted to present them this time around?
KF: I think it’s more that there was a chance to do it this time around. And again a festival like The National is big enough to support an extended, full band. It is a nice chance to bring a different sound to some good stages. These songs can go a lot of ways. I actually did tour a lot of them at the end of last year as a solo performer and they can work that way as well. It’s always fun to play with other musicians and particularly those of this quality. It’ll be a good old romp.
GHE: Do you discover anything new about the songs when you play them with a band?
KF: Yeah, I think definitely. There’s always a great lesson to be learned in a way in handing the work over to other people and saying “what do you hear” or “what would you like to play”. The generosity of players, what they bring to your material is just fantastic. I guess with this album I haven’t had a chance to do a lot of that, again partly because I’ve been busy on other projects. But the first real sense of that was when we recorded the album. Some of it had been played in small ensembles but a lot of it was new for the album. Some of those tracks really started to come alive in that way, in a place outside of my own head when we recorded them for the first time. It was just an exhilarating process to hear that. And stuff that you would never expect tends to fly into the room at that point. It’s something that I really love about collaborating with other artists.
I think you learn so much from the players that you get to stand next to. When I made my first solo album I probably didn’t understand that as much and you try to keep track of it all for yourself. It was quite liberating on this album to basically hand things over and say “whatever you hear I know it’s going to be stellar and I’m grateful for you for taking that and making something amazing with it”. The players on this album certainly brought that. Dave Symes plays bass on the album – he’s just a wonderful musician and producer and a very intuitive player. I felt like I was meeting the songs again for the first time again when I heard what Dave and Hamish were doing with those arrangements – they’ve worked together for a long time. There’s this unspoken magic between them.
So it’ll be great to listen to what this band does because we’ve never played together and we’ve been rehearsing in different towns and we’re just going to bring it all together with a bang at The National.
GHE: I was just assuming that you’d done hours and hours of rehearsals with the whole band.
KF: We will have by The National. We’ve all played together in different combinations. Heath and Robyn have played together forever and again have that understanding and that lock. It’ll be fantastic to put it all together.
GHE: One last thing I have to ask because I saw it in your press release – you supported Joan Baez last year. How was that?
KF: Amazing. And a tremendous adventure, a really big adventure. She was all that you would expect as a performer – she was gracious and funny and knowledgable. It was terrific to watch her go out every night and give to the audience. Every night it was as though she wanted to invite the whole audience onto stage with her and they felt included in her material. And I guess somebody like Joan Baez can choose from the vast pantheon of folk songs and just deliver them. So she was able to choose from this extraordinary array of material and just make these songs her own while still making the audience feel very connected to them and as though she was singing on their behalf. It was lovely to watch that and extra special to get a chance to sing with her every night.
GHE: She’s such a touchstone for so many artists, it must have been exhilarating.
KF: It really was. It was great fun and I felt lucky to be doing it and also very inspired to be doing it. We had a great month.
GHE: Fantastic. Thank you so much for talking with me today and good luck at The National.
KF: I’m really excited to bring this album down to The National and I can’t wait to get there!
The National Folk Festival takes place in Canberra from the 17th to 21st April. Kate Fagan’s set times for the festival are below:
Saturday 19th April – 4:20pm Budawang
Sunday 20th April – 5pm Marquee
Monday 21st April – 12pm Majestic
March 28, 2014 at 09:59 (News, Video News)
Tags: folk music, john flanagan, john flanagan & the begin agains
Image Courtesy of John Flanagan
Melbourne alt-country singer-songwriter John Flanagan has announced plans to head over to Nashville later this year in order to record his brand new album. But before he goes he and his fiddle player Jane Patterson will be heading out on a tour through New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT in order to raise some much needed funds.
Check out the full list of the Nashville Calling duo tour below:
Friday 28th March – Lomond Hotel, Brunswick, VIC
Friday 4th April – Tanswell’s Commercial Hotel, Beechworth, VIC
Saturday 5th April – House concert, Canberra, ACT
Sunday 6th April – “The Stables” House Concert, Glebe, NSW
Wednesday 9th April – Yulli’s, Surrey Hills, NSW
Thursday 10th April – Folk Informal @ FBi Social, Sydney, NSW
Friday 11th April – House Concert, Copacabana, NSW
Sunday 13th April – House Concert, Wollongong, NSW
March 28, 2014 at 07:54 (News, Video News)
Tags: folk music, gibson bull
Image Courtesy of Gibson Bull
UK singer-songwriter Gibson Bull has been announced as a part of the final eight of the Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition and to celebrate he’s just released a brand new video for his track “Where Are You Now”. The track is taken from Bull’s debut EP Skin and Bones – check out the video below:
March 27, 2014 at 15:56 (News, Video News)
Tags: folk music, the paper kites
Image Courtesy of The Paper Kites
With a national tour on the way, The Paper Kites have just released their stunning new track and video “Tenenbaum”. The video was released exlusively to the band’s fans first and chalked up 10,000 views on Youtube before even being made public.
Check out “Tenenbaum” below:
The Paper Kites will be touring nationally from the end of May. The full list of dates are here:
Thursday 29th May – The Cambridge, Newcastle, NSW
Friday 30th May – Enmore Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Saturday 31st May – Transit Bar, Canberra, ACT
Sunday 1st June – Heritage Hotel, Wollongong, NSW
Saturday 7th June – The Railway Club, Darwin, NT
Friday 13th June – The Northern, Byron Bay, NSW
Saturday 14th June – The Hi-Fi, Brisbane, QLD
Thursday 19th Jun – Artbar @ Art Gallery of WA, Perth, WA
Friday 20th June – The Prince of Wales, Bunbury, WA
Saturday 21st June – The Gov, Adelaide, SA
Friday 27th June – The Anthenaeum Theatre, Melbourne, VIC
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