Well, with around a month to go until Shrewsbury Folk Festival, ALL tickets are sold! For those of you not lucky enough to be going, though, don't despair - the main stage will be broadcast live on the festival website, while there's also the opportunity to catch some of the acts in the town of Shrewsbury itself as they play various pubs. (From memory, the Bird in the Hand, the Britannia, and at least two others which I've completely blanked out on had festival acts on last year, while other pubs joined in the spirit by having other acts or singarounds.)
Here are 10 of the acts I'm really looking forward to seeing.
BarlowCree (Sunday/Monday) - Last year's open mic winners - having won a quite frankly incredible contest which saw them beat Tri, Kaleidoscope, and the Bailey Sisters in a competition I was very glad I didn't have to judge. They took the prize of a set in the Boxfresh Marquee and came close to stealing the show from a lot of established acts I saw with a combination of wonderful originals and an excellent cover of Show of Hands' Cousin Jack.
Bellowhead (Friday) - I've somehow never seen Bellowhead live despite having been to two festivals where they were playing. This year is the one that will change that for me - barring mishaps! - and am really looking forward to it.
Cecil Sharp Project (Sunday) - I was lucky enough to see the first performance of this in Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury earlier this year - WOW! Similar to the Darwin Song Project 2 years ago at SFF, some very talented musicians got together to write some songs and tunes inspired by Cecil Sharp, and create their own versions of some of the songs that he collected. The line-up is stellar - Steve Knightley of Show of Hands, Patsy Reid from Brebach, Jackie Oates, Jim Moray, Kathryn Roberts, Andy Cutting, Caroline Herring and Leonard Podolak - and the group had an incredible chemistry considering just how quickly they'd put everything together. I went to the show in Theatre Severn thinking that it would free up some time at SFF for the inevitable clash with another act but will almost certainly end up watching this again, I loved it so much.
Demon Barber Roadshow (Friday) - Another act with a red hot reputation as superb live performers who I haven't managed to see yet. I have a horrible feeling they'll clash with Bellowhead - fingers crossed I get to see them both!
Martyn Joseph (Saturday) - Have heard relatively little of MJ but the rest of my family saw him at Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod a couple of weeks ago and have been raving about him ever since. Not intending on missing him this time around!
Jim Moray (Saturday) - I'm a bigger fan of Jim Moray's first album than his more recent ones but there's no doubt that he's a breath of fresh air on the folk scene today. Great music and a wonderful voice.
Oysterband + Special Guests (Monday) - I have no idea who the special guests are, but with former member Chris Wood and past collaborators Jim Moray and Show of Hands amongst the artists appearing at
the festival there's potential for some amazing combinations here to give us an incredible finale.
Show of Hands (Saturday) - I've seen SoH three or four times live now and they just get better and better.
I've always loved certain tracks - Cousin Jack, Roots, Undertow and The Blue Cockade being probably my favourite four from earlier albums - but Arrogance Ignorance and Greed blew me away with virtually every song being amazing. Complete speculation from me - given Jackie Oates has toured and recorded with Show of Hands, will definitely be in Shrewsbury the following day for the Cecil Sharp Project, and is guesting with them at Sidmouth, could we be lucky enough to see her in this set as well? We can always hope!
Lucy Ward (Sunday/Monday) - Lucy is one of my very favourite folk singers currently around, and has only gone up in my estimation since releasing a superb debut album (which I reviewed last week.) Her two sets last year, at the festival itself and theBird in t he Hand, were two of my personal highlights of SFF and I'm sure we'll get more of the same this time around.
The Younguns (Sunday/Monday) - I bought the Younguns album last year on the strength of superb performances at Warwick and Shrewsbury and it's kept popping up as something to listen to occasionally, but to be honest, nothing can match seeing this trio in person. Combining superb acapella vocals with brilliant stage presence and great banter with the crowd they're a must-see live act. Again, they were superb at the festival last year but arguably even better in an absolutely crammed full Bird in the Hand..
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