Hey Ho! We had to change the name of our folk night, but we hope you like it! Mill Race Folk from now on will be known as Hey Ho! Folk. We’ll still be putting on extraordinary folk shows in gorgeous locations around Bedfordshire!
Thanks so much to everyone who came out to deepest darkest Elstow to see Ewan McLennan at the sold out spooky old Moot Hall last night. Wasn’t he incredible? Davypoo was magical as the support. Davy also made a film of Ewan performing Corrie Doon for the Hey Ho! podcast. We can’t wait to share it with you.
We hope to see you all again soon. Marisa, Jack and Davy the hosts of Hey Ho! Folk, are on all the usual social media platforms and we’d love to hear from you x
Happy Christmas and have a wonderful New Year! We’ve just sent out our last newsletter of the year so make sure you subscribe to that if you want to stay up to date with all the latest tickets and podcast episodes for Mill Race Folk
Marisa, Jack and Davy couldn’t do these shows without such a supportive audience. We really appreciate it and we look forward to seeing you again in the new year.
We’ve got some great folk acts booked for 2019 at Moot Hall in Elstow, Bedfordshire and at a new venue in the heart of Bedford town! (details to be revealed in Spring). We have more podcast episodes planned, more trips aboard the John Bunyan Community Boat and Marisa Jack and Davy will be releasing a new record too. We will announce details of that later in the year.
NEXT MILL RACE FOLK SHOW
Cohen Braithewaite Kilcoyne Saturday 19th January at Moot Hall The perfect way to shake off the post Christmas blues!
Cohen took to squeezeboxes in his teens and has since developed into a fine player of both the melodeon and anglo concertina. His charming solo repertoire consists mainly of traditional songs, tunes and the occasional un-accompanied song. Expect ballads, industrial songs, sea songs and shanties all firmly rooted in the English tradition, with a fair amount of material linked to the West Midlands where Cohen has lived for much of his life.
Support comes from Marisa Straccia. She is one of the organisers of Mill Race Folk and one third of folk trio, Marisa Jack and Davy. She’ll be singing traditional British songs on banjo and guitar.
Tickets are only £10. A great last minute Christmas present! Buy tickets now>>>
Davypoo has been busy fixing the distinctive lampshades ready for the new season of Mill Race Folk at Moot Hall in Elstow. They are an important part of the stage design as they are not only dressing, but also our very beautiful spotlights. Davy designed and made them himself. He is a very clever boy!
The next show is on Saturday 22nd of September at Moot Hall with Thom Ashworth and Jack Sharp. Tickets are available now
More acoustic events at Mill Race Folk will be announced soon, but here is a flavour of things to come. Tickets for the shows below are available to buy now.
Saturday 22nd September 2018
FOLK DOUBLE BILL
Jack Sharp and Thom Ashworth
Moot Hall, Church End, Elstow, MK42 9XT. Doors at 7:00 PM,
Tickets £10 + booking fee
To start our new Mill Race Folk season we have an amazing double bill.
Thom Ashworth is an English folksinger and bassist and has been described as a “vibrant new voice-to-watch on the folk scene” by fRoots Magazine. He performs stripped back arrangements of traditional songs on voice and acoustic bass guitar. Listen to Thom’s 2nd EP, ‘Hollow’
You will recognise Jack from Marisa Jack & Davy, and as one of the hosts of Mill Race Folk. He also plays in rock band Wolf People. He will be playing solo folk songs with guitar and bouzouki, many of which have been collected in Bedfordshire. Buy Tickets from Eventbrite now
Thursday 27th September 2018
Folk on the Boat
Matt Tighe & Tad Sargent
A two hour river cruise with live folk music from Matt and Tad leaves from the moorings at the Barns Hotel, Cardington Road, Bedford (boarding at 7.15 p.m).
Gorgeous folk duo Matt Tighe and Tad Sargent come to Bedford on 27th September to play Mill Race Folk on The John Bunyan Boat. Their sublime folk tunes are a perfect accompaniment for a lazy trip down the Ouse. Take a cool glass of something fancy in your hand and soak up the delights of the river on an early autumnal evening.
Matt Tighe is quickly making a name for himself in the world of folk and Traditional music. He has been described as a, “fiery virtuoso”, and has already had an extensive experience in performance, playing at many festivals and clubs within the UK and Ireland. London Born Tad Sargent, whose family roots come from Castlebar in county Mayo, started playing music at a young age on the piano. He picked up the bouzouki in 2008 and has performed/recorded and worked with many great musicians and groups such as Barrule, Tony Christie, Luke Daniels and Cara Dillon.
Don’t miss out, these tickets are very limited. Call the friendly team at John Bunyan boat on 01946 690301 (Mon-Fri 09:00-17:00) to book your tickets £tbc
Saturday 13th October 2018
Bird in the Belly
Moot Hall, Church End, Elstow, MK42 9XT. Doors at 7:00 PM,
Tickets £10 + booking fee
Bird in the Belly are a Brighton based collective made up of solo artist Jinnwoo, folk duo Hickory Signals, visual artist Epha Roe, and instrumentalist Tom Pryor. Together they have spent the last 12 months recording songs and stories that have either never before been recorded or are rarely recorded – all set to contemporary folk music, in the hopes of reintroducing these songs back into the folk canon. Tickets are available now
Saturday 19th January 2019
Cohen Braithewaite Kilcoyne
Moot Hall, Church End, Elstow, MK42 9XT. Doors at 7:00 PM,
Tickets £10 + booking fee
Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne is a folk musician and singer. Cohen has been a musician since the age of 6 and took to squeezeboxes in his teens and has since developed into a fine player of both the melodeon and anglo concertina. Cohen is also a well-regarded singer and in 2014 won Bromyard Folk Festival’s Future of Young Folk Award for singing.
Cohen’s solo repertoire consists mainly of traditional songs with accompaniment from anglo concertina or melodeon. Alongside this Cohen also performs traditional tunes and the occasional un-accompanied song. An average solo performance includes traditional ballads, historical songs, industrial songs, sea songs and shanties all firmly rooted in the English tradition, with a fair amount of material linked to the West Midlands where Cohen has lived for much of his life. Buy tickets from Eventbrite now
Saturday 9th March 2019
Ewan McLennan 07/05/16
Ewan McLennan
Moot Hall, Church End, Elstow, MK42 9XT. Doors at 7:00 PM,
Tickets £10 + booking fee
Ewan’s last gig with Mill Race Folk was cancelled due to snow. We have finally managed to get him back, and this time it will be at the incredibly beautiful Moot Hall in Elstow.
Ewan’s music has depth of feeling & sincerity. Whether singing haunting traditional Scottish ballads or weaving the powerful stories that make up his own songs, Ewan’s unique, moving and earthy voice is always compelling. His guitar playing is outstanding and forms an essential part of his music. Ewan’s most recent project, entitled Breaking the Spell of Loneliness, was a collaborative tour and album with renowned author and journalist George Monbiot, seeking to use music and word to open up the issue of loneliness and community.
Last month we hadBryony Griffith and Will Hampson performing on the John Bunyan Boat. It was a lovely warm Spring evening. The river was looking gorgeous and the music was perfect. Folk on the boat returns in September, why not subscribe to our newsletter so you can be first in line for tickets. The boat can only take 40 people so the show could sell out fast. Cruise on Bedford’s beautiful Ouse with a glass of booze, good folk and nice views. Or something!
If you missed Bryony and Will, here’s a session they recorded for us before the show. Here they perform ‘The Ringers of Egloshayle’. We’ll be recording a podcast with them in a few weeks all about the background to this song.
If you’re new to The Mill Race Folk podcast, you can listen to our first four episodes here. We have music and folk song discussion with Laura Smyth and Ted Kemp, The Foxglove Trio, Stick in the Wheel and Gemma Khawaja. Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. Also, let us know what you think of the podcast by contacting us with your thoughts and comments. We’d love to hear from you.
On Woman’s Hour yesterday Anna & Elizabeth had a nice cosy chat with Auntie Jennie Murray. You can listen to them on the bbc iplayer now.
They’re playing at Mill Race Folk tomorrow (sorry folks, we’ve now officially SOLD OUT) at Moot Hall in Elstow. It’s going to be magical! See you there x
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
We are really sorry to say that we have had to cancel tonight’s concert due to the bad weather. Ewan was really gutted and we left it until this morning to make a decision as we hoped the thaw would happen a little sooner. Unfortunately the snow is particularly bad in Bristol and Ewan wouldn’t be able to make it to us in time.
We will be refunding all tickets bought through eventbrite for this event, and we hope to reschedule a gig for Ewan as soon as possible. If you have any questions please let us know.
Apologies. We are really gutted.
Stay informed by signing up to our newsletter. Ewan and everyone at Mill Race Folk are gutted that tonight has been cancelled but we look forward to seeing you all soon x
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)
On Saturday 20th January 2018 Mill Race Folk presented The Foxglove Trio at Cafe at the Mil at Bromham Mill.
It was a great night with a full house. Thanks to everyone who came out to see the Ffion, Kathy and Patrick perform. They sounded fantastic and were so entertaining. Songs were sung beautifully in both English and Welsh and played with perfect precision. We were all left completely enchanted!
If you’ve never been to Mill Race Folk before, why not listen to what you have missed! Check out our new folk song podcast (now on iTunes). It’s all about traditional folk songs by the folk who perform them. We ask the musicians who come to Mill Race Folk to choose a traditional song to play, then we have a cosy little chat about it.
Mill Race Folk returns to Bromham Mill on Saturday 3rd March 2018 with Ewan McLennan. Tickets are available now from eventbrite.
MarisaJackandDavy 