This Week in Folk

All the News From The Week That Was

- Sydney musos Packwood, Jack Carty, Achoo! Bless You, Fanny Lumsden and Rosie Catalano have come to write, record and release their original Christmas song “Heading Home (It’s Christmas Time)” to help raise money for Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia. Details here

- The Illawarra Folk Festival is holding its annual Sydney showcase this Sunday at The Cat and Fiddle in Balmain. For $15 you get nine hours of music from nine different artists. Details here

- Melbourne duo The Weeping Willows will be launching their debut album in Melbourne this Sunday with a little help from Lachlan Bryan. Details here

- Speaking of Lachlan Bryan the alt-country favourite has announced a residency at Melbourne’s Retreat Hotel throughout January. Details here

- One of our favourite Australian Americana/bluegrass bands, The Wilson Pickers, are reforming for Bluesfest next year and have announced plans for album number three. Details here

- After a year away in Europe Phia is finally returning home and is celebrating with a show at the Grace Darling in Melbourne before Christmas. Details here

- Already announced as part of the 2013 Bluesfest lineup Ben Howard has announced three headline shows next April in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Details here

- London-based indie-folk five piece Eliza and the Bear are streaming “Upon The North”, the first track from their upcoming double A-side. Details here

- “Jangle” the new single and video from Adelaide seven-piece Gemini Downs may well be the catchest song of the summer. Details here

- Bluesfest have added a handful more artists to the 2013 lineup including Jason Mraz, Manu Chao and La Ventura, Mark Seymour and the Undertow, Chris Smither, Current Swell, Matt Anderson, Go Jane Go (Kieran Kane, David Fracey and Lucas Kane) and The McMenamins. Details here

- José González’s Junip project have announced plans for a new album next year. Details here

- Melbourne based singer-songwriter James Kenyon has just released his brand new video “35 Degrees”. Details here

- Alice Springs native Sally Balfour has released the video for her debut track “Through The Night”. Details here

- Graveyard Train also released a brand new video this week for their track “The Sermon”. Details here

Interviews

“I have wondered many times what would have happened if my past wasn’t corrupted by rock and roll [laughs]. I really do wonder because I listened to just as much Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez as I do Smashing Pumpkins but I guess because of the age I was I chose to – although some of it wasn’t choice, some of it was encouraged forcefully – go in the direction of more modern rock sounds. At the end of the day I don’t think they were as me, they weren’t what I keep coming back to. I’ve gone through those phases and I don’t put on modern rock records anymore but I still put on Joan Baez, I still put on Joni Mitchell or Emmylou or Karen Dalton more than anybody. Those are the things I keep coming back to” – Ella Hooper chats to Gareth Hugh Evans about her upcoming solo album. Interview here

“Cathy [Guthrie] and I both work for our dads full time as well so whenever we do a tour together we try and scramble whatever time we can and this time we could only get a week. It’s going to have to be a short one, about 10 days, for the tour but hopefully we’ll be able to do a longer one soon. And we’re really excited about Woodford!” – Amy Nelson from Folk Uke talks to Gareth Hugh Evans about their upcoming Australian tour. Interview here

“The thing we’re most fond of is touring; just playing as much as we can around the country. Especially being from Tassie, you’ve got to make the most of it. When you go on a tour, you’ve just gotta do as many shows as you can” – Ben Wells of Ben Wells and the Middle Names chats to Bill Quinn at their headline gig in Canberra. Interview here

Reviews

Gigs

“Admittedly, this gig was the first time that I had heard The Mornings and I was completely taken aback. This inconceivably talented six piece folk band had a strong presence in the room as soon as they took the stage” – Janine Estoesta Reviews 4 Singles, 4 Styles in Melbourne. Review here

Releases This Week

Burgh Island – Ben Howard
iTunes

A Bag of Hammers (Film Score) – Johnny Flynn
iTunes

Timber and Steel Presents

Mustered Courage with John Flanagan and The Begin Agains and The Drooling Mouths Of Memphis
Sunday 16th December – The Workers Club, Melbourne, VIC

Gigs Next Week

Andrew Drummond
Friday 14th December – House Gig, Wyong, NSW
Sunday 16th December – Chords for Lekol, Canberra, ACT
Tuesday 18th December – Vineyard, Melbourne, VIC
Wednesday 19th December – Horse Bazaar, Melbourne, VIC

Darren Hanlon
Friday 14th December –The Grand Poobah, Hobart, TAS
Saturday 15th December – The Street Theatre, Canberra, ACT
Wednesday 19th December – Mojo’s, Freemantle, WA
Thursday 20th December – Church of the Trinity, Adelaide, SA
Friday 21st December – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne, VIC

Husky
Sunday 16th December – Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour, NSW

Illawarra Folk Festival Sydney Showcase
Sunday 16th December – The Cat and Fiddle, Sydney, NSW

Jack Carty
Friday 14th December – Camelot, Sydney, NSW (w/ Katie Noonan)
Sunday 16th December – The Retreat Hotel, Melbourne, VIC

Joe Robinson
Saturday 15th December – Festival of The Sun, Port Macquarie, NSW

Jordie Lane
Friday 14th December – Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle, NSW
Saturday 15th December – Notes Live, Sydney, NSW
Sunday 16th December – Clarendon Guesthouse, Katoomba, NSW

Laneway
Friday 14th December – The Lomond Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
Saturday 15th December – The Little Larder, Brisbane, QLD
Thursday 20th December – The Union Hotel, Sydney, NSW

Mike McCarthy
Thursday 20th December – Lizottes, Kincumber, NSW

Perch Creek Family Jug Band
Friday 14th December – Mullumbimby Drill Hall, Mullumbimby, NSW
Saturday 15th December – The Basement, Gold Coast Arts Centre, Surfers Paradise, QLD
Sunday 16th December – The Joynt, Brisbane, QLD (4.30pm)
Friday 21st December – Woombye Pub, Woombye, QLD

Regina Spektor
Friday 14th December – The Plenary, Melbourne
Sunday 16th December – Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide
Wednesday 19th December – Belvoir Ampitheatre, Perth

The April Maze
Friday 14th December – The Front Canberra, ACT
Saturday 15th December – Oddfellows Hall, Yass, NSW

The Key of Sea feat. Jinja Safari, The Tiger and Me, etc
Friday 14th December – Hamer Hall, Melbourne, VIC

The Pigs
Friday 14th December – Pretoria Hotel, Mannum, SA

The Stillsons (duo)
Thursday 20th December – The Grace Emily, Adelaide, SA

The Trouble With Templeton
Friday 14th December – Barcode, Wollongong, NSW
Friday 21st December – Lizotte’s, Newcastle, NSW

The Weeping Willows with Lachlan Bryan
Sunday 16th December – Kingston Arts Centre, Melbourne, VIC

Friday Folk Flashback

“The Rose Hip” – Fairport Convention

In the late 80s/early 90s my parents pulled my sister and I out of school for three months and took us on an extended trip around the UK and Ireland. Fairport Convention’s Red and Gold album was pretty much the soundtrack of that trip, cementing Ric Sanders as a fiddle icon of mine. Upon returning back to Australia we loaned a copy of the instrumental “The Rose Hip” to my then violin teacher asking him if he could possibly transcribe it to sheet music for me to learn – his reply was “no” because the piece had been performed on an electric violin so wasn’t possible, something which is completely untrue but I believed at the time. Years later “The Rose Hip” was included in a book of Fairport sheet music, by which time I was able to transcribe it myself anyway. Still love this tune to this day.