About the Show
Foolkiller Folk
The Foolkiller Folk collective explores the storytelling, cultural, and protest power of folk music from as far back as the Child Ballads through as current as released today.
"When one becomes enlightened one kills the fool within" -Jack Conroy
It’s Mark & Val’s turn on air today and we’re pleased to bring you a show of English folk released in 2019/2020 plus a couple of Norwegians.
You’ll be hearing from Hannah James, the JigDoll Ensemble; Josienne Clarke; Tim Edey; Sam Carter; Rowan Rheingans; Jon Boden, the Remnant Kings; Fay Hield; and Erland Apeneseth Trio and Frode Haltli.
Hannah James has been an unmatched force of innovation in British folk for nearly two decades. A multi-faceted performer, James’ virtuosic talent spans all her four disciplines: singer, accordionist, composer and clog dancer. She has amassed an international touring career, multiple award nominations, and credits in some of Britain’s most respected folk projects, including Lady Maisery and Songs of Separation.
In 2015, James introduced her one-woman show, JigDoll. This innovative debut reinvented the notion of solo performance by combining all James’ disciplines simultaneously for an immersive, unforgettable song and dance experience. Utilising cutting-edge looping technology with vocal, accordion and composition skill, a multi-layered soundscape was woven onstage, providing the backdrop for James’ spellbinding fusion of traditional and wholly original dance.
Now, the JigDoll Ensemble sees James enhanced by three masters of their instrument: percussionist András Des (Hungary), fiddle player Kate Young (Scotland), and bassist Marti Tarn (Estonia) perfectly articulate James’ visionary ideas for song, tune and dance. The resulting live masterpiece debuted at 2017’s English Folk Expo, gaining an awestruck standing ovation from distinguished folk industry professionals from around the globe.
With a rare gift for poetic melancholy, Josienne Clarke’s songs have also been described as ‘extraordinary’ (Mojo), ‘gently exquisite’ (The Observer) and ‘full of depth’ (The Telegraph). While the world music bible Songlines said, ’Clarke’s dark, complex imagery in the lyrics pushes the songs into rich metaphorical territory, one of the heart and of self-enquiry’. American Songwriter magazine named Josienne one of the best songwriters of 2016. Her prominent work until recently was in a duo with guitarist Ben Walker. She recently left a relationship, departed from that duo, left London and began releasing solo material while moving to the Isle of Bute in Scotland
Tim Edey (BBC Radio Two’s Musician of the year 2012) a multi-instrumentalist and singer, has toured the world and recorded with most of the major names in Celtic/Contemporary roots music including The Chieftains, Christy Moore, Sharon Shannon, Ross Ainslie, Natalie MacMaster, Donnell Leahy, Altan, Capercaillie, Brendan Power, Michael McGoldrick, Seamus Begley, Dougie Maclean, Kevin Burke, Liam O’Maonlai, The Barra MacNeills, JP Cormier, Shaun Davey, Session A9, Lunasa, Vinnie Kilduff , Mary Black, Session A9, Julie Fowlis, Frankie Gavin to name but a few…
Originally from Broadstairs in Kent and of Irish descent. Tim honed his style learning from his father Richard a fine guitarist and listening to Ed Boyd, Steve Cooney and Django Reinhardt. He has lived in Ireland and now resides in Perthshire, Scotland where he is based with his family and tours all over the world regularly.
Sam Carter is a British guitarist, singer and songwriter, originally from the English Midlands but more recently based in East London.. He has released two albums of mainly original material which fall loosely into the folk/roots category. Carter is the winner of the “Horizon” award for best newcomer at the BBC Radio 2. Folk Awards in 2010. Highly regarded as an instrumentalist, contemporary Jon Boden of Bellowhead described him as ‘the finest English-style finger-picking guitarist of his generation,and former BBC Radio 2 folk show presenter Mike Harding wrote that Carter was “one of the most gifted acoustic guitarists of his generation.”. As a songwriter, Carter marries a traditionally English narrative style with elements of American gospel and R&B and has been described as an “impressively original” performer.
Rowan Rheingans is an award-winning fiddle player, banjoist, songwriter and theatre-maker widely regarded as one of the foremost innovators in folk music today. Best known for her work with acclaimed bands Lady Maisery, The Rheingans Sisters and Songs of Separation, Rowan has won two BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards (‘Best Original Track’ in 2016 & ‘Best Album’ in 2017) and is a six-times nominee. Her duo The Rheingans Sisters were recent nominees for the prestigious ‘Best Duo/Band’ award at the 2019 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Her debut theatre show ‘Dispatches on the Red Dress’, co-written with Liam Hurley, premiered at this years Edinburgh Fringe and won a Fringe First Award as well as nominations for the Carol Tambor ‘Best of Edinburgh’ Award and the Filipa Braganca Award for Best Emerging Female Artist.
Jon Boden is a singer, composer and musician, best known as lead singer and main arranger of Bellowhead. His first instrument is the fiddle and he is a proponent of “English traditional fiddle style” and also of “fiddle singing”, both of which he employed in Bellowhead, in the duo Spiers & Boden, and previously as a member of Eliza Carthy’s Ratcatchers. Boden also fronts his own band the Remnant Kings, put together in 2009. He has also made contributions as a fiddler, singer and guitarist, to three albums with Fay Hield & The Hurricane Party and has been the recipient of 11 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards .
Fay Hield is a traditional English Folksinger nominated for the Horizon Award at the 2010 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Hield was part of The Witches of Elswick with whom she recorded two CDs in their six years together. As an academic, Hield is a lecturer in ethnomusicology and music management at the University of Sheffield where she began lecturing in spring 2012. She is also a consultant for the AHRC-funded ‘Music Communities’ research project conducted at the University of Manchester and guest lectures at other educational establishments, including the Leeds College of Music . Along with her partner Jon Boden she runs two folk clubs.
Erlend Apneseth is a hardanger fiddle player from Jølster in Sogn og Fjordane. He has established himself with a more modern sound, where he is moving in landscapes of more improvised and contemporary music, becoming the basis of timbres from fingerboard and folk music. Apneseth studied traditional Norwegian Folk music at Ole Bull Academy under the guidance of Håkon Høgemo, and became a Norwegian elite fiddler in 2012.
