Howdy folks. While I'm working away hard at part 2 of my 2012
overview/review, I thought I'd take a break to write up a wee
little post about the The Spiral Awards 2013. Mostly because it is one
big public vote. Well, many public votes I suppose as all categories are
open for fans of the artists and bands and of the online magazine to
vote as they please. And just about anyone else who cares to pass by and vote I suppose.
Now, compiling my own list of favourites has proven difficult enough so I can fully sympathize with the guys and gals at Spiral as they have put together these nominations. It's totally understandable why they now want to let the public decide on the ultimate winners. Being nominated, however is a win in itself and with it brings exposure and promotion of a kind. As is to be expected, competition is fierce. I don't wish to command you who to vote for but I am going to share with you my own choices for a few of the categories. Please feel free to follow me with some or all but most importantly vote for who you believe deserves to win based on your experiences of them. There are some categories where I'm a fan of several nominees and others where I may only know the one. I don't think there's anything wrong with voting for the one you know and like either, by the way. I come to music via so many different ways and this will be just another. I will likely look up and listen to a number of the other nominees in categories I'm voting. So whereas they may not get my vote this time round, they may well get my listenership.
Public voting closes at noon 14th March so you do have plenty of time to check out the nominees before voting if you'd like to learn more about each. Please do contribute as being chosen by the public and fans will of course mean a lot to these talented folk.
Now, compiling my own list of favourites has proven difficult enough so I can fully sympathize with the guys and gals at Spiral as they have put together these nominations. It's totally understandable why they now want to let the public decide on the ultimate winners. Being nominated, however is a win in itself and with it brings exposure and promotion of a kind. As is to be expected, competition is fierce. I don't wish to command you who to vote for but I am going to share with you my own choices for a few of the categories. Please feel free to follow me with some or all but most importantly vote for who you believe deserves to win based on your experiences of them. There are some categories where I'm a fan of several nominees and others where I may only know the one. I don't think there's anything wrong with voting for the one you know and like either, by the way. I come to music via so many different ways and this will be just another. I will likely look up and listen to a number of the other nominees in categories I'm voting. So whereas they may not get my vote this time round, they may well get my listenership.
Public voting closes at noon 14th March so you do have plenty of time to check out the nominees before voting if you'd like to learn more about each. Please do contribute as being chosen by the public and fans will of course mean a lot to these talented folk.
 Static on the Airwaves Levellers |
 The Ornate Lie Kim Edgar |
 Contraband Kirsty Mcgee |
 Skulk Jim Moray |
Anyone who's kept up with the blog over the past year will know how much of a Levellers fan I am. So, it will come as little surprise I'm voting for Static On The Airwaves for Best Album. Following 2008's magnificent Letters From The Underground was always going to be difficult. With Static, I think the band have managed to do so with something that harks back to a lot of early days kind of stuff. With their added experience and it is far from any simple rehash of that older work, of course. It just has some wicked fiddle on most of the tracks and some wonderful hook-laden choruses that you really can't help but get your feet moving along to. When it is hard to pick standout songs because all are so good you know a band has done its job well. If pushed, I'd have to single out We Are All Gunmen, Truth Is, After The Hurricane and Mutiny but as you can tell I'm in danger of listing them all.
 Orfeo Fay Hield and the Hurricane Party |
 Northumbrian Voices Kathryn Tickell |
 The Seas Are Deep Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker |
 Another Day Another Story James Findlay |
I saw James Findlay perform when he was supporting Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman last February. While I admit I am more a fan of the more contemporary folk stuff, including the reworked and updated traditional songs, James really impressed me. So much so I bought two of his albums at the gig on the night. I loved how he spontaneously warmed up his voice with a song acapella before warming up the crowd with a host of traditional tunes.
Now this category presents the first issue. I'm coming down on the side of Blair Dunlop because his debut Blight & Blossom is the album I've heard most. I'm afraid I didn't have time enough to get into Vice Of The People by The Albion Band. This of course is the next generation of The Albion Band and what a damn fine generation it is. Including Blair Dunlop himself, together with Katriona Gilmore and a number of other hugely talented young folk musicians. So why am I not choosing their album then? If I had have been able to hear it more than I have, I may well have chosen it but sadly time, as is always the way, conspires against me. It is a great album though and I highly recommend it.
Blair's Blight & Blossom is also fantastic, which is why I'm selecting that one as my winner in this category. I was supposed to go see him play in Milton Keynes but sadly it was during the Great Manflu attack of 2012. That pesky virus lingered on for weeks and weeks and I was coughing so much I didn't want to ruin it for other folk. Next time, Blair, I shall be there!
On my latest podcast (#12) I expressed how much of a difficult time this category would give me when mentioning two acts in particular, going head to head for the Best Duo at the BBC2 Radio 2 Folk Awards this year. To now be faced with just such a decision for these awards means this post is now a day later than I'd planned. Seriously, how does one possibly choose one over the other when both acts mean quite a fair bit to me? This is the very case whereby it needs to be possible to vote for two. I feel queasy having to actually make a firmer decision. I came to Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman thanks to randomly buying their second album at the first Seth Lakeman gig I attended a few years back (I'd already got all of Seth's at this point). I absolutely loved it! Rule & Bant from that album is one of my favourite songs (and was played on podcast #12). Their long-awaited return as a duo on the music circuit was cemented in the summer with the release of their third album, Hidden People. I reviewed it >>here<< and have seen them live three times now. As the shows I'd seen before the latest album proved, they are a world class musical pairing who have perhaps been underrated due to their absence from centre stage for a number of years.
I bet there's no sibling rivalry in real life (these folk are just too lovely) as Kathryn's brother Jamie makes up the Roberts component of Gilmore & Roberts. Katriona Gilmore is every bit as humble and personable as Kathryn, as she talks the audience through stories about the songs they played at the gig I went to in October. They had been on my radar already but as you will be aware I get so much music these days sometimes I miss out on amazing things. I count these guys amongst those amazing things! I am just grateful that as a part of doing all this music stuff I was asked if I wanted to review their latest album The Innocent Left. Is a cat one of the laziest domestic animals in existence? So I snapped that one up and my review can be read >>here<<. It is partly me reviewing the album as to why I didn't get a write up about the gig shortly after that evening of magical entertainment. I have however written up a review of it for part 2 of the overview/review.
So....yes....I can ramble on as much as I'd like but I still have to choose who I'm voting for don't I? Right! Well.....do I have to choose? You see why I sometimes have issues selecting the individual songs for the podcast. Okay then. I have to do it. I'm going to go for Gilmore & Roberts! I'm saying nothing further on the matter. I feel bad enough as it is. Not for choosing Gilmore & Roberts because they so deserve to win with their wonderful combination (both live & recorded) but I sincerely love Kathryn & Sean's work. I would be useless on an award committee wouldn't I?
I can go some way to redeeming myself and feeling less upset at not being able to select Kathryn & Sean for the Best Duo category as well by voting for Kathryn's heartbreaking and thoroughly moving original song, The Ballad of Andy Jacobs. It's one of those where just a few presses down on the piano keys is enough to make you well up. It is striking in the imagery she paints for you with both music and words so that you really get inside Andy's life and feel for what things must have been like for these folk during those times. You can smell the coal and the burning as that fire takes hold towards the end. This is one remarkable achievement and needs to be recognized accordingly. It better win at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards too, as it is nominated in the same category there.
This is another category that threatened to prove a tough choosing challenge. Ewan McLennan has written some really great stuff that I enjoy. Karine Polwart released her most recent album last year too, proving she has a remarkable songwriting talent. At the risk of over-promoting my own reviews and stuff (I'm going to anyway), I did review Traces >>here<<. It is one stunning album of songs! Even so, the winner hands down for me cannot but be the master storyteller, poet, songwriter, musician and all-round talented Mr Nick Burbridge!
Given his hugely busy schedule thanks to just how many different diverse and wonderful projects he works on, he's not exactly had chance to get out on the road in support of his most recent music collaboration with Tim Cotterell. Gathered was released earlier last year and in my last blog post I described why it was one of my top favourite albums of 2012. Anything from Nick stands out so far ahead of pretty much anything else. Its scope, its quality, its production and most importantly (and the reason he gets my vote as Best Songwriter, without any doubt) the structure and content of the songwriting is just unparalleled! I stand by what I wrote at the end of my bit on Gathered in that last post, 'Nick Burbridge is one of the UK's, even the world's, greatest artistic talents!' Make sure you vote for his efforts and if you've never heard much of his stuff before then get yourself to http://www.burbridgearts.org/ where you will find so much greatness you will be back to vote for him before too long. You can check out Gathered below and then please submit your vote.
Again, regular readers and/or listeners will understand why I'm voting for Beautiful Days for the Festival Award. I've been several times myself and it was with great sadness I was unable to make it last year. It is one huge family who all come together to celebrate good independent music and something that feels on the right side of freedom. With any luck I'll be able to get in this year thanks to all the writing I'm doing and so cover some/all of the festival. That is much harder than it sounds to be honest as I found when writing up about last year's Truck Festival. It was an incredible amount of fun though and something I would absolutely without a shadow of a doubt, want to repeat this year. Perhaps I'll hit the jackpot and get to cover Cambridge Folk Festival, Truck Festival and Beautiful Days. That would make one magical mountainous musical summer. Bring it on please!!
Here's the link again for you to submit your own votes: http://www.spiralearth.co.uk/spiralawards2013/
While on the subject of festivals and to bring this wee little (little?? well for me, it is) post to a close I want to share the exciting news that tickets for this year's Truck Festival will be going on sale from 7pm on Monday 4th February. This will start with the final batch of very limited early bird tickets held at 2012 prices. Set reminders or alarms! Make notes with those little magnetic words you have on your fridges (perhaps just the students on that one - I miss those to be fair). Stick up post it notes above the loo and in the shower. Just make sure you get your tickets for one amazing weekend!
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 In Time Alister Atkin |
 The Wild Wild Berry Stephanie Hladowski & C. Joynes |
 Vice of the People Albion Band |
 Blight & Blossom Blair Dunlop |
Now this category presents the first issue. I'm coming down on the side of Blair Dunlop because his debut Blight & Blossom is the album I've heard most. I'm afraid I didn't have time enough to get into Vice Of The People by The Albion Band. This of course is the next generation of The Albion Band and what a damn fine generation it is. Including Blair Dunlop himself, together with Katriona Gilmore and a number of other hugely talented young folk musicians. So why am I not choosing their album then? If I had have been able to hear it more than I have, I may well have chosen it but sadly time, as is always the way, conspires against me. It is a great album though and I highly recommend it.
Blair's Blight & Blossom is also fantastic, which is why I'm selecting that one as my winner in this category. I was supposed to go see him play in Milton Keynes but sadly it was during the Great Manflu attack of 2012. That pesky virus lingered on for weeks and weeks and I was coughing so much I didn't want to ruin it for other folk. Next time, Blair, I shall be there!
 Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman |
 Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin |
 Gilmore & Roberts |
 O'Hooley & Tidow |
On my latest podcast (#12) I expressed how much of a difficult time this category would give me when mentioning two acts in particular, going head to head for the Best Duo at the BBC2 Radio 2 Folk Awards this year. To now be faced with just such a decision for these awards means this post is now a day later than I'd planned. Seriously, how does one possibly choose one over the other when both acts mean quite a fair bit to me? This is the very case whereby it needs to be possible to vote for two. I feel queasy having to actually make a firmer decision. I came to Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman thanks to randomly buying their second album at the first Seth Lakeman gig I attended a few years back (I'd already got all of Seth's at this point). I absolutely loved it! Rule & Bant from that album is one of my favourite songs (and was played on podcast #12). Their long-awaited return as a duo on the music circuit was cemented in the summer with the release of their third album, Hidden People. I reviewed it >>here<< and have seen them live three times now. As the shows I'd seen before the latest album proved, they are a world class musical pairing who have perhaps been underrated due to their absence from centre stage for a number of years.
I bet there's no sibling rivalry in real life (these folk are just too lovely) as Kathryn's brother Jamie makes up the Roberts component of Gilmore & Roberts. Katriona Gilmore is every bit as humble and personable as Kathryn, as she talks the audience through stories about the songs they played at the gig I went to in October. They had been on my radar already but as you will be aware I get so much music these days sometimes I miss out on amazing things. I count these guys amongst those amazing things! I am just grateful that as a part of doing all this music stuff I was asked if I wanted to review their latest album The Innocent Left. Is a cat one of the laziest domestic animals in existence? So I snapped that one up and my review can be read >>here<<. It is partly me reviewing the album as to why I didn't get a write up about the gig shortly after that evening of magical entertainment. I have however written up a review of it for part 2 of the overview/review.
So....yes....I can ramble on as much as I'd like but I still have to choose who I'm voting for don't I? Right! Well.....do I have to choose? You see why I sometimes have issues selecting the individual songs for the podcast. Okay then. I have to do it. I'm going to go for Gilmore & Roberts! I'm saying nothing further on the matter. I feel bad enough as it is. Not for choosing Gilmore & Roberts because they so deserve to win with their wonderful combination (both live & recorded) but I sincerely love Kathryn & Sean's work. I would be useless on an award committee wouldn't I?
 Because Of You Nicky Swann |
 Cosmonaut Nick Cave ft. Emmylou Harris |
The Ballad Of Andy Jacobs Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman |
 Young Man In America Anais Mitchell |
I can go some way to redeeming myself and feeling less upset at not being able to select Kathryn & Sean for the Best Duo category as well by voting for Kathryn's heartbreaking and thoroughly moving original song, The Ballad of Andy Jacobs. It's one of those where just a few presses down on the piano keys is enough to make you well up. It is striking in the imagery she paints for you with both music and words so that you really get inside Andy's life and feel for what things must have been like for these folk during those times. You can smell the coal and the burning as that fire takes hold towards the end. This is one remarkable achievement and needs to be recognized accordingly. It better win at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards too, as it is nominated in the same category there.
 Nick Burbridge |
Anais Mitchell |
 Ewan McLennan |
 Karine Polwart |
This is another category that threatened to prove a tough choosing challenge. Ewan McLennan has written some really great stuff that I enjoy. Karine Polwart released her most recent album last year too, proving she has a remarkable songwriting talent. At the risk of over-promoting my own reviews and stuff (I'm going to anyway), I did review Traces >>here<<. It is one stunning album of songs! Even so, the winner hands down for me cannot but be the master storyteller, poet, songwriter, musician and all-round talented Mr Nick Burbridge!
Given his hugely busy schedule thanks to just how many different diverse and wonderful projects he works on, he's not exactly had chance to get out on the road in support of his most recent music collaboration with Tim Cotterell. Gathered was released earlier last year and in my last blog post I described why it was one of my top favourite albums of 2012. Anything from Nick stands out so far ahead of pretty much anything else. Its scope, its quality, its production and most importantly (and the reason he gets my vote as Best Songwriter, without any doubt) the structure and content of the songwriting is just unparalleled! I stand by what I wrote at the end of my bit on Gathered in that last post, 'Nick Burbridge is one of the UK's, even the world's, greatest artistic talents!' Make sure you vote for his efforts and if you've never heard much of his stuff before then get yourself to http://www.burbridgearts.org/ where you will find so much greatness you will be back to vote for him before too long. You can check out Gathered below and then please submit your vote.
 Beautiful Days |
 Sark Folk Festival |
 Maverick |
 Cambridge Folk Festival |
Again, regular readers and/or listeners will understand why I'm voting for Beautiful Days for the Festival Award. I've been several times myself and it was with great sadness I was unable to make it last year. It is one huge family who all come together to celebrate good independent music and something that feels on the right side of freedom. With any luck I'll be able to get in this year thanks to all the writing I'm doing and so cover some/all of the festival. That is much harder than it sounds to be honest as I found when writing up about last year's Truck Festival. It was an incredible amount of fun though and something I would absolutely without a shadow of a doubt, want to repeat this year. Perhaps I'll hit the jackpot and get to cover Cambridge Folk Festival, Truck Festival and Beautiful Days. That would make one magical mountainous musical summer. Bring it on please!!
Here's the link again for you to submit your own votes: http://www.spiralearth.co.uk/spiralawards2013/
While on the subject of festivals and to bring this wee little (little?? well for me, it is) post to a close I want to share the exciting news that tickets for this year's Truck Festival will be going on sale from 7pm on Monday 4th February. This will start with the final batch of very limited early bird tickets held at 2012 prices. Set reminders or alarms! Make notes with those little magnetic words you have on your fridges (perhaps just the students on that one - I miss those to be fair). Stick up post it notes above the loo and in the shower. Just make sure you get your tickets for one amazing weekend!
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