Jackie Oates:

What attracts people to English folk music is never just one thing. There is the tradition – a taking and passing on of the people’s music. And there’s an otherness – the way a singer uniquely inhabits a song while echoes of its past remain. These are haunted tunes. That delicate balance between then and now, respect and reinvention, tradition and otherness has made Jackie Oates a name synonymous with the thrillingly rude health of English folk music in the 21st century.

A folk festival child, Jackie had the luxury of growing up surrounded by the music she plays. That unfair advantage meant she started her career as a finalist in the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards. She went on to win the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Horizon prize in 2009, and take home a statue for Best Traditional Track on the same night.

Jackie began recording as a member of Rachel Unthank & The Winterset (now known as The Unthanks). Her plaintive viola and voice helped define the dark Northumbrian sound that won them Mojo Magazine’s Folk Album Of The Year in 2005. As a solo artist Jackie Oates has surprised and beguiled critics and fans with each album; never repeating an idea or sticking to the safety of a formula. Yet at all times being unmistakably her.

“Over the course of her solo albums and side projects Jackie Oates has been in possession of one of the most gorgeous and lyrical singing voices. There is a faraway quality to it, as well as a melancholy and a note of surrender in the sweetness and warmth.”
Songlines

“Velvet voiced treasure of the British folk music scene.”
The Guardian

jackieoates.co.uk

Hands of the Heron:

Hands of the Heron is a fledgling folk collective who emerged from Bristol’s twisting streets during the strange autumn of 2016. Drawing influence from diverse musical sources such as Fleet Foxes, Joni Mitchell, This Is The Kit and Gustav Holst, their songcraft is inquisitive and intuitive, capturing moments of high emotion and distilling them into vivid, memorable melodies.

Sometimes there’s a couple of musicians, sometimes there’s six or seven. Together, they weave tales of love, loss and regeneration featuring mandolin and harmony vocals amid a changing cast of (mostly) string instruments.
Bethany Roberts is responsible for most of the songwriting, but she likes it best when other people join in. They are due to record their debut album in spring 2017.

https://soundcloud.com/handsoftheheron