2015

Award winning independent folk roots and acoustic label, Folkstock Records have been releasing emerging singer songwriters since its inception following their much acclaimed festival held in September 2013. With high profile support from Patrons Peggy Seeger and Fairport Convention’s Dave Swarbrick plus national treasures Whispering Bob Harris and Tom Robinson, the boutique label has been getting a reputation for their successful and award winning in house promotion, plugging and production. The word has spread and Folkstock have been asked to present two artists, Kelly Oliver and Minnie Birch, by Time Out London for ‘Rising Stars of Folk’ on 27th October at The Electric Carousel in Piccadilly and curate two Emerging Talent events as part of London Folk and Roots Festival in November which involves those two plus six further artists. All eight artists have been involved with Folkstock from the beginning and performed at the first festival they organised in 2013. The ‘Alt Country’ showcase at The Islington on 4th November is headlined by Cambridge band Fred’s House and features Marina Florance from Norfolk, Kaity Rae from London and another Cambridge act, Ben Smith. Kelly Oliver is headlining the all female ‘Folk’ evening on 11th November at The Islington. Joining her are Minnie Birch from Hemel Hempstead, Daria Kulesh from Kings Langley and Zoe Wren from London, currently studying music at Cambridge University. All the acts have impressive stories to tell and songs to sing and are worthy of a national platform as recommended by The Telegraph as Martin Chilton’s ‘Folk Gig Pick’ on 9th October. Folkstock Records are releasing a special cd to celebrate the acts performing for their London showcases called DOWNTOWN. This album of ten tracks with at least one track from each artist available as a download free of charge to everyone who buys an advance ticket to any of the shows. All you have to do is send us an email with proof of purchase to folkstock@hotmail.co.uk.

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Brantley Gilbert released a new album exclusively to Europe this year entitled READ ME MY RIGHTS, and is continuing to tour overseas in support of the project. The US native penned each of the tracks, sharing a more intimate glimpse into this chapter of his life. The project serves as a thank you to the loyal European BG Nation for their support of 2014’s JUST AS I AM, which notched the third-highest country debut of 2014 in the US, and landed in the Top 5 Best Selling Country Albums of 2014. The album also scored Favourite Country Album at the American Music Awards, producing two times Platinum number one smash Bottoms Up, Gold certified number one One Hell Of An Amen and Gold certified Small Town Throwdown. Earlier this year, Brantley took home the first ever, fan-voted Renegade Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards recognising an artist who breaks boundaries while remaining true to himself or herself. The rough-and-tumble hitmaker has racked up six number singles, impressive albums sales, multiple award show nominations from the CMA, ACM, ACA, ACC, Billboard Music Awards and CMT Music Awards, in addition to being named 2013 ACM Awards New Male Vocalist of the Year. This March, Brantley performed for the second time at the C2C Festival in Europe, making him the first act ever to perform at the festival twice. He is following up the trip with a tour this November through The Netherlands, Germany, and the UK. For tour dates and more visit, www.brantleygilbert.com.

The CMA Songwriters Series has now expanded into Canada and will be presented as a one-hour broadcast, ‘CMT Presents: The CMA Songwriters Series,’ will air on CMT (Canada) Friday, Oct. 16. This partnership was announced in June at CMA World GlobaLive!, CMA’s annual international artist showcase held during CMA Music Festival. Artists and songwriters Kristian Bush, Deric Ruttan, Ron Sexsmith, and Josh Turner performed during the celebration of songs and song-writing, which was taped this summer in Toronto at The Great Hall, a historic venue located in the music and arts district of Toronto’s Queen Street West. This is the first time CMA and CMT (Canada) have partnered to present a television event. U.S. and Canadian residents will be able to view the episode starting Oct. 16 from CMA’s YouTube channel. The CMA Songwriters Series has been presenting the very best of Country Music’s songwriters, whose hits are known worldwide, since 2005. CMA Songwriters Series shows take the form of intimate presentations where songwriters can exhibit their craft and share many of the stories behind the songs they have penned. Through international honours and events including CMA World GlobaLive! and the expansion of the CMA Songwriters Series in Canada, Dublin, London, and Paris, CMA has famously recognised and empowered its international membership and Country Music fans globally.

On REPROBATES their third full-length album, Blackbeard’s Tea Party have searched history books and traditional folk tales for stories of dark and wicked characters from murderous pirates to blood-thirsty executioners and rebellious slave-traders, all sharing a dubious morality. REPROBATES combines the band’s mixture of gutsy folk rock with elements of funk, dance and classic rock. Blackbeard’s Tea Party have earned a considerable reputation for a frantic, energetic live show. REPROBATES was produced by Dave Boothroyd at Reel Recording Studios, following the 2009 mini-album HEAVENS TO BETSY; the band’s first full-length album, 2011’s TOMORROW WILL BE SOBER; and 2013’s WHIP JAMBOREE. Autumn 2015 will sees the band embark on another UK headline tour in support of REPROBATES. Tour Dates: October Fri 9: York, The Duchess Stonebow House Sat 10: Bristol Folk House Sun 11: London, New Cross Inn Fri 16: Sevenoaks, St Edith Hall Sat 17: Chester, Telford’s Warehouse Sun 18. Lichfield Festival of Folk Thu 22: Sheffield, The Greystones Fri 23: Nuneaton, Queens Hall Thu 29. Hull, Fruit Sat 31: Hampshire, King’s Somborne Nov Sun 1: Leicester, The Musician Mon 2: Etton, The Processed Pea Light Dragoon Sat 7: Howden, The Shire Hall Sat 28: Stockton on Tees, ARC Stockton Arts Centre Dec Fri 4: Southport, The Atkinson Sat 5:Norwich Arts Centre

With just under two months left until the 2015 CMA Awards several of the nominees were revealed on ABC’s Good Morning America this week with the rest announced on the CMA website shortly after. Steven Tyler and breakout singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini helped announce the final nominees in all 12 categories live from Times Square. Ballerini was herself nominated for two awards. The nominees are a mix of country stars such as Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, and Garth Brooks and several exciting newcomers, such as Sam Hunt, Maddie & Tae, and Chris Stapleton. Eric Church and Little Big Town lead the nominations with Eric Church nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year for the first time and Little Big Town up for five awards. For the eighth consecutive year, Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley will co-host the show as it airs live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on November 4. New Artist of the Year: Sam Hunt Maddie & Tae Thomas Rhett Chris Stapleton Kelsea Ballerini Album of the Year: Jason Aldean – OLD BOOTS, NEW DIRT Kacey Musgraves – PAGEANT MATERIAL Little Big Town – PAIN KILLER Kenny Chesney – THE BIG REVIVAL Chris Stapleton – TRAVELLER Female Vocalist of the Year: Miranda Lambert Kacey Musgraves Carrie Underwood Lee Ann Womack Kelsea Ballerini Male Vocalist of the Year: Dierks Bentley Luke Bryan Eric Church Blake Shelton Chris Stapleton Entertainer of the Year: Garth Brooks Luke Bryan Kenny Chesney Eric Church Miranda Lambert Single of the Year: Kenny Chesney – American Kids Little Big Town – Girl Crush Lee Brice – I Don’t Dance Sam Hunt – Take Your Time Eric Church – Talladega Music Video of the Year: Kacey Musgraves – Biscuits Little Big Town – Girl Crush Maddie & Tae – Girl In A Country Song Miranda Lambert – Little Red Wagon Carrie Underwood – Something In The Water Song of the Year: Kenny Chesney – American Kids Little Big Town – Girl Crush Randy Houser – Like A Cowboy Eric Church – Like A Wrecking Ball Sam Hunt – Take Your Time Musical Event of the Year: DJANGO AND JIMMIE – Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard Lonely Tonight – Blake Shelton & Ashley Monroe Raise ‘Em Up – Keith Urban & Eric Church Smokin’ And Drinkin’ – Miranda Lambert & Little Big Town Wild Child – Kenny Chesney & Grace Potter Musician of the Year: Sam Bush, Mandolin Jerry Douglas, Dobro Paul Franklin, Steel Guitar Dann Huff, Guitar Mac McAnally, Guitar Vocal Duo of the Year Brothers Osborne Dan + Shay Florida Georgia Line Maddie & Tae Thompson Square Vocal Group of the Year: Lady Antebellum Little Big Town Rascal Flatts The Band Perry Zac Brown Band

PRS Guitars has just launched another ‘exclusive to Europe & Australia’ PRS model, the Fatback 24, from the Wood Library programme. Based on the 30th Anniversary Custom 24, the new guitar features a thicker ‘McCarty depth’ body, some amazing hand-selected, up-graded timbers – and just 60 of the Fatback 24s will ever be made available. Although the body is thicker than a regular Custom 24, the use of lightweight Ribbon Stripe African Mahogany ensures the guitar balances perfectly – and the wide curl flame maple ’10-top’ makes the Fatback 24 look as good as it feels, of course. The guitar also features 30th Anniversary mother-of-pearl birds inlays, very cool ivoroid fingerboard purfling and a choice of six colours: Charcoal Burst, Dark Cherry Sunburst, Fire Red Burst, Faded Whale Blue, Black Gold and Orange Tiger. In terms of playability and tone the Fatback 24 features a Pattern Thin carve mahogany neck (with Gabon Ebony fingerboard and headstock veneer) and PRS’s new 85/15 treble and bass humbuckers harnessed to volume, tone (with push-pull coil-tap) and three-way toggle switch. We’re loving the new 85/15 pickups – they-re incredibly clear, with lots of low-end and a nice sparkly treble that never gets ‘ice-picky’ A PRS tremolo system rounds out the spec of the very special limited edition model, which ships in a similarly limited Black Paisley PRS case. The Fatback 24 carries a recommended retail price of £3750.

Rab Noakes’, I’M WALKIN’ HERE, will be the artist’s 19th solo release. Noakes has described it as 21st-century skiffle. The release comes as a Double-CD with CD1 consisting of a clutch of Rab Noakes songs written within a fairly close space of time. CD2 contains songs from a variety of sources from traditional to Elizabeth Cotten to Michael Marra to Beck Hansen to the group Garbage plus some more Noakes compositions. There will also be a limited edition LP of CD1 with complementary downloads of all tracks. Noakes worked with John Cavanagh as producer as well as an engaging range of musicians and singers. Una McGlone on double bass and Stuart Brown on drums were joined by Ula Kinderyte on violin, Harry Hussey on accordion Richard Merchant on coronet and Emma Roche on flute and piccolo. Rab played most of the guitar parts himself both as live accompaniment with the vocal on the track and a variety of overdubbed parts. Singers Hilary Brooks, Barbara Dickson, Roddy Hart, Jill Jackson, Jimmie Macgregor, Alice Marra and Emma Pollock joined Rab on vocals on a number of the songs. Rab said at the outset of the recordings that he wanted to make an album that nobody else could make. He made that comment with regard to the reference points and to the combination of experience and circumstance that make up its uniqueness. This is an album full of heartfelt performances of first-rate songs. www.rabnoakes.com

Under The Apple Tree sessions will be hosting their very own stage at Country to Country Festival, taking place on the 7th and 8th March at The O2 in London, with many of the biggest stars in Country music coming across the pond to play the main stage. Before the main stage kicks off, there are a whole host of pop-up stages situated around the O2 site, featuring some great artists spanning across UK Americana and Country. It is UTAT’s delight to announce that the Under The Apple Tree sessions will be hosting their very own stage on both days of the festival. They will be situated at The Saloon between 12 – 2pm each day, showcasing a total of 8 artists who will all be performing across the weekend! Full lineup: Saturday 12.00-12.25 Goat Roper Rodeo Band 12.30-12.55 Worry Dolls: 13.00-13.25 Angel Snow: 13.30-14.00 Katie Armiger Sunday 12.00-12.25 Loud Mountains: 12.30-12.55 Woody Pines: 13.00-13.25 Kimmie Rhodes: 13.30-14.00 Ward Thomas

Following a massive touring schedule last year which saw them playing 170 shows across three different continents in support of their Platinum-selling album HARLEQUIN DREAM, indie folk band, Boy & Bear took the energy they had gathered on the road directly into the studio. The band teamed up with renowned producer Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon, Kaiser Chiefs) with the intention of cutting a record the old fashion way, live in the studio, straight to tape, with virtually no overdubs. “I was shitting myself,” laughs frontman Dave Hosking, who took on the almost-unheard-of challenge of recording his vocals live with the band. “But it’s funny you know, what made it less intimidating was having someone like Ethan there, who is such an advocate for it. He put it on the table at our first meeting, that he’d be very keen to at least try going for it as a first approach. When we left the meeting we felt pretty good about it. We were up for the challenge.” Given the demands of the previous year’s touring, Hosking, usually the band’s main songwriter, hadn’t had time to create a new set of songs – so for the first time Boy & Bear composed as a collective on a number of tunes, building them from the ground up as a band. The first taste listeners will have of this new approach is single Walk the Wire, which was is driven by gritty guitar and the honest, organic production style employed by Johns, the song is a bold new statement of intent and is released on October 30. The song can be listened to now, here: https://soundcloud.com/nettwerkmusicgroup/boy-bear-walk-the-wire/s-1dmeb Boy & Bear will be playing a handful of intimate warm up shows in the UK in November, ahead of a full headline tour in spring 2016. Tickets go on sale on Monday August 17. Live Dates: Thu Nov 5: London, Dingwalls Sat 7: Glasgow, King Tuts Sun 8: Manchester, Deaf Institute