Two new videos of us performing songs in a cold old house somewhere in Bedfordshire. We sing ‘Acre of land’ which is our groovy variant of ‘The Elfin Knight’ (Child 2; Roud 12) and ‘Oak and Ash and Thorn’. Those lyrics are from Tree Song by Rudyard Kipling and the tune is by Peter Bellamy.
Let us know what you think!
Pride, Inspiration, Hope: Bedfordshire Brickworks Day at the Higgins Museum Bedford is on Saturday 25th May 2019. Music is in the courtyard from 11am – 4pm. We’re on at 3pm and will be performing ‘The Pits That Scarred the Land’ written by Graeme Meek.
11am Jack in a Barrel
1130 Nigel Moorcroft
1200 Chris Lawley
1230 Jon Bickley
1300 Petrichor
1330 Lizzy Hardingham
1400 Ragged Staff
1430 Catherine Earnshaw
1500 Marisa, Jack & Davy
1530 Pete Castle
Other events will be taking place on the day in the Museum buildings. One of these will be an interview and discussion about the Brickworks with David Syzmanski (former Managing Director of Hanson Building Products) conducted by Jon Bickley from Invisible Folk.
We have videos of performances for the Mill Race Folk Podcast. They’re produced by our very own Davy Willis and they look and sounds gorgeous.
Next ep of the podcast is coming soon! We’re going to be chatting about the Ringers of Egloshayle with Bryony Griffith and Will Hampson. Watch the video of them performing the song now. A collection of all of the videos are available here
We’ve joined forces with the team at The John Bunyan Community Boat and we are so excited to announce the launch of ‘Folk on the Boat’.
Our first cruise takes place on Thursday evening, June 14th 2018. It will feature well known folk artists Bryony Griffith and Will Hampson from Huddersfield in West Yorkshire. Expect powerful vocals, deliciously rustic fiddle playing and driving yet sensitive box playing. They have a distinctive repertoire of dark ballads, chorus songs and dance tunes all delivered with good-humoured Yorkshire banter. The Mill Race Folk team, MarisaJack&Davy will be onboard playing a few songs too.
There’s a 3 course pre-cruise dinner that can be booked in advance from the Barns Hotel (01234 270044). Drinks are available from the Riverside Tavern Bar.
Don’t miss ‘Folk on the Boat’. Book a ticket and visit the John Bunyan Boat website by clicking here
If I were Queen of France, or still better Pope of Rome,
I’d have no fighting men abroad, nor weeping maids at home.
All the world should be at peace, and the right should be the might,
I’d have those that made the quarrelling the only ones to fight.
This is the refrain from “Jeano and Jeannette,” the opening track from Anna and Elizabeth’s new album, ‘The Invisible Comes to Us’. They chat to Robert Sullivan in this fascinating article in The New Yorker.
If you live in Bedfordshire, make sure you have a ticket to see Anna and Elizabeth when they come to play at Moot Hall for Mill Race Folk on Saturday 5th May. Tickets are available at eventbrite
This is very exciting news! We have a very special event at the gorgeous Moot Hall in Elstow, Bedford. We have the wonderful Anna and Elizabeth coming to Mill Race Folk!
Elizabeth LaPrelle was raised in rural Virginia and is frequently lauded as the finest traditional singer of her generation. Anna Roberts-Gevalt is a multi-instrumentalist whose musical curiosity has taken her from old time fiddling in Kentucky to a more recent immersion in Brooklyn’s avant-garde community. Together they find new ways to tell old stories of love, loss and intrigue, while relishing the tension that arises between their very different backgrounds and orthodoxies; holding firm to the roots of the music while removing the limits of how that music can be played and presented.
They will play with additional accompanists to recreate the expansive sonic landscape of their new album. The spartan simplicity of their voices and acoustic instruments will include percussion, synth, pump organ, woodwinds, field recordings, film projections, choreography, and crankies—illustrated, hand-cranked scrolls depicting songs and stories as they are performed.
“Simply amazing.” No Depression Magazine
“Heartbreakingly great.” Jeremy Gara (Arcade Fire)
“They brought many of us to tears with some of the most yearning harmonies I’ve heard at the Tiny Desk…
Take a deep breath and soak it all in.” Bob Boilen (NPR MUSIC)
Tickets are only £16 (plus booking fee) and you can buy them here at eventbrite.
ABOUT MOOT HALL
The venue for this event is at Moot Hall. It’s a 15th century timber-framed market hall, set on the village green, in the centre of Elstow
The hall was originally built to serve Elstow Abbey as a market house but is now a museum. It contains beautiful period furniture and has exhibits illustrating the life and traditions of 17th century England. The Star Food Co. will be on site selling picnic style nibbles and snacks along with tea, coffee, beer and wine.
Davy made a video of The Foxglove Trio performing ‘William’ at Mill Race Folk. It is a folk song performed beautifully in Welsh. If you want to find out more, Ffion, Kathy and Patrick tell us all about the story and how they approached the song in the next episode of our podcast (which will be out soon! Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss an episode)
We are so excited that Laura Smyth and Ted Kemp are coming to play at Mill Race Folk at Bromham Mill on Saturday 18th November. They have a new album out (called “The Poacher’s Fate”) which is a Froots Playlist album choice. They’re on the BBC Radio 2 folk playlist and Gideon Coe on BBC 6 Music has been playing them on his show too. Check them out and grab a ticket to see them live at beautiful Bromham Mill. See you there!
A video of Laura and Ted from their last visit to Bromham. They’re coming back on Saturday 18th November. Book yourself a ticket now
MarisaJackandDavy 