BELLA HARDY

BBC Folk Singer of the Year Bella Hardy has sung unaccompanied ballads at a sold-out Royal Albert Hall, learnt the songs of Chinese farmers during her time as British Council Musician in Residence in Yunnan Province, and spent a year in Tennessee as a ranch hand, looking after horses, fiddle-singing in the diners, and immersing herself in the music culture of Nashville. With unflinching courage, Bella has explored and blurred musical boundaries from a mastery of traditional music to pop production and electronics, releasing ten solo records including her 'Best Of' in 2019. With her acclaimed, mesmerising voice and earthy fiddle accompaniments, Bella now writes and composes in her beloved Peak District, conjuring and twisting stories that call straight to the heart. “Brit folk's finest” Mojo Magazine • “Enduringly seductive” The Telegraph • “A fine, no-nonsense interpreter of traditional music and an excellent songwriter” The Guardian • “An aura of sophistication that will win over listeners who never set foot in a folk club” The Sunday Times • “…a shining star in the folk scene’s firmament” fRoots Magazine

Gaelforce are a superb Celtic Folk Rock Band from Yorkshire .

with

Chris Dyson – fiddle, vocal

Geoff Taylor – electric guitars

Sammy Dowgill – bass, vocal

Jim Brierley – drums, vocal

Voted winner on the Great British Folk Festival introducing stage Jan 6th 2023 at Skegness, by public vote.

Rocked up traditional folk & original songs with some jigs n reels. Dont miss them.

Some comments from GBFF

Just seen gaelforce at Butlin’s. Awesome. Zoe-Anne Wadey

great set today at Centre Stage Butlins. I am no really into folk but you converted me just a bit Karen Woodcoc

Vikki Clayton seemed to be aiming for a musical career from an early age. Born in England in the early/middle-1950's, she spent her early childhood absorbing the sounds of trad-jazz records, courtesy of her parents and, by her own account, later came to love the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein through the contemporary cast albums of South Pacific and The King And I. From her grandmother she learned folksongs from old Sussex, and she later enjoyed the advantage of having an eccentric music teacher, who introduced her to Morris Dancing and other folk traditions as well as to the folk-based work of Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Brittein, and Frederick Delius. Clayton took up the guitar at age 12, and at the time her influences were decidedly American -- Bob Dylan and Joan Baez loomed especially large in her consciousness when she was in her early teens. By the end of the 1960's, her family had left London and moved to Lincolnshire, and Clayton had begun hanging around with other folk enthusiasts -- after hearing the then-new Fairport Convention album Leige And Leif, she'd found a direction and, in Sandy Denny (who, rather ironically, exited the group soon after), a home-grown source of inspiration for her singing and playing. Seemingly following Denny's example, as well as the pattern of the times, Clayton joined a series of electric folk-rock bands, including Kelsay and the Ragged Heroes, of which the latter lasted long enough to record an LP. She also became infatuated with the work and music of folksong arranger (and composer) Percy Grainger (1882-1961) during the 1970's. Possessed of a silvery-pure voice and exquisite musical sensibilities, it was inevitable that Clayton would take center-stage as an artist. Her solo recording career -- which has principally been for the New Day label -- began with Honor Tokened, and her subsequent work included Lost Lady Found (which included her first recording of a Sandy Denny song); additionally, in association with Fred A. Baker and Ric Sanders, she recorded Sanders, Baker & Clayton Carried Away, In Flight and Looking At The Stars. Clayton has also worked with Gordon Giltrap and Tony Moore on Midsummer Cushion, an album of Georgian poet John Clare's work set to her music. On Movers And Shakers, she played and sang alongside Gerry Conway, Ric Sanders, John Kirkpatrick, and Jethro Tull's Martin Barre, and she has toured with the Vikki Clayton Band, which includes Jethro Tull co-founder Clive Bunker on the drums. She is best known as a solo performer, however. As of 2004, her most well-known recording is It Suits Me Well, an album of songs written by, arranged, or associated with her longtime idol Sandy Denny, originally released on the Kent-based HTD label and reissued by Castle Records. She is undertaking a lengthy tour of the UK in 2027 going right through till December of 2026.

 "INTRODUCING STAGE " WINNERS from 2026

Hailing from Cheshire, a classy and infectious twin-vocal 6-piece blend of Folk, Country and Americana, based around the music of leader David Boardman and lyrics of Mark Radcliffe. Through 3 well received albums, the band have been steadily building an audience through gigs, festivals and prestige tour support slots to the likes of A-lister Keifer Sutherland and his band, plus Americana legend Sid Griffin and the Long Ryders. Their sound takes in pan-Atlantic influences, the vocal blend of Fleetwood Mac, shades of Dylan and The Band, the occasional muscularity of Springsteen, the pioneering Country-Rock of the much missed Gram Parsons, all seasoned with a sprinkle of classic British indie-pop.

A recent rejig to the line-up has seen the addition of guitar playing vocalist Helen Walford-Insley and drummer Emily Bailey, join the aforementioned Mr Boardman (guitar/vocals), plus Emily Doggett on fiddle, Jim Broughton on Bass and the magnificent keyboards of Gary O’Brien

Virginia Kettle’s Rolling Folk

The Jake Leg Jug Band brings you the authentic sounds of 1920's and 30's America - jazz, blues, ragtime and gospel. Songs of murder, betrayal, gambling, liquor and redemption. 

After self-releasing their debut album Cotton Mouth, the band signed to one of the UK's most prestigious Jazz labels, recording three albums as part of the 'Vintage Recording Project', recording live around ribbon microphones, as it would have been back in the 1930’s. ‘Next Stop!’ ‘Everythin's Jake’ and ‘Break a Leg’ all met with rave reviews;

"A masterpiece of nostalgic music. The band display real virtuosity and create a wonderful sound that will be hard for any other band to repeat"  Folk North West 

  The band followed up with the compilation 'Fifth Avenue', their debut release for the Green Bullet record label in late 2018.

"Pick any track at random and prepare to be entertained "  RnR​ 

January 2020 saw the release of album number 6, 'Goodbye Booze' which commemorated 100 years since the start of the American prohibition, followed in 2021 with an additional vinyl release on Coastal Light Records.​

“Pretty damn good! There isn’t a weak number on the album”  Blues Matters​​

2022 marked the 10th anniversary of the band and saw them play over 100 gigs plus the release of their first ever live album – ‘Live at Audley Theatre’.

“It’s hard to pick out favourites. Thoroughly entertaining” Blues in Britain

In 2023 they released ‘Hello Central’, heralding in a new era as a permanent 3-piece band, augmented by additional live musicians. The album proved to be the band's most successful release to date both critically and commercially, receiving airplay on BBC Radio 2.

"A truly unique and talented group of musicians, their talent shines through on each and every track” Blues Blast Magazine (USA)

"In its genre, this album is simply indispensable" Rootstime (Belgium)

"Probably their best CD. Thoroughly enjoyable - excellent entertainment” Just Jazz

In 2024 the band released its 9th album in 12 years, 'Some Glad Morning' a full album of spirituals.

“An entertaining and varied mix...the Band shows how warming and moving spirituals can still be today…” Rootstime (Belgium)

PAULA RYAN - an award-winning Singer/Songwriter from Tipperary, Ireland is "a unique voice in the contemporary folk world" (Classic Rock Society Magazine). Paula's music is infused with the Celtic lyricism and passion of her Irish Gaelic roots and she uses a range of instruments, some standard (Guitar, Bazouki) and some a bit more unusual (Bodhran, Marimba), to accompany original songs which are “really powerful....what song-writing is all about, making you think” (Fatea Magazine).

Paula's “story-telling” intros and her sometimes serious, sometimes amusing, sometimes reflective, sometimes lively, but always sensitive to the song and the music, presentation of her own original material alongside folk favourites represent performance, originality, creativity, and entertainment at their best!

Paula 's latest studio album is “Turas Cumadoir (Songwriter's Journey)” According to Irish Music Magazine "Albums like this are a rarity and a breath of fresh air when they come along - this one is a gem which anyone will enjoy". The album has earned airplay on RTE Radio 1, Tipp FM and other radio stations throughout Ireland as well as in France, Germany and across the BBC including, BBC TV, BBC and BBC Radio Ulster and received highly favourable reviews from leading folk/acoustic publications such as fRoots, Acoustic Magazine, FATEA.

Paula performs at venues and festivals nationally and internationally and whatever the stage or the size of the audience, her performances, laced with the warmth, wit, uniqueness and musicality of her Irish roots, are "well worth seeking out" (Irish Music Magazine).