Jools’ Annual Hootenanny is a TV show presented by Jools Holland and broadcast on New Year Eve as an end-of-year special edition of his series Later…With Jools Holland. It is generally broadcast between approximately 11pm on 31 December and between 1am and 2am the following morning in the United Kingdom on BBC Two. It was […]
June Tabor
June Tabor was born and grew up in Warwick. As a young woman of 18, she was inspired to sing by hearing Anne Briggs’ EP Hazards of Love in 1965. “I went and locked myself in the bathroom for a fortnight and drove my mother mad. I learned the songs on that EP note for […]
Hot Club Du Nax
Some hot jazz in the style of Reinhardt and Grappelli to warm up this rather cold Tuesday morning. In Paris in the 20s and 30s, Reinhardt a world-famous Belgian gypsy guitarist and his congenial partner, Grappelli a French jazz violinist, created a deeply romantic, dreamy and impulsive jazz movement whose music continues to this day. […]
Ain’t Nobody
“Ain’t Nobody” is a song by American funk band Rufus and American singer Chaka Khan. It was released in November 1983, as one of four studio tracks included on their live album Stompin’ at the Savoy (1983). “Ain’t Nobody” quickly gathered popularity, and reached number one on the US Billboard R&B chart and number 22 […]
Le Vent Du Nord
Le Vent du Nord (The North Wind) is a Canadian folk group from Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu in Quebec. The band performs traditional Quebecois music (which is heavily influenced by Celtic music from both Ireland and Brittany), as well as original numbers in this style, in French. In 2018 the group’s membership consists of Simon Beaudry (vocals, guitar, […]
Boxing Day & The Morris
Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated the day after Christmas Day, thus being the second day of Christmas. Although it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It originated in the UK and is celebrated in a number of countries that previously […]
The Flint Street Nativity
For our first Christmas Day blog, I thought that you might enjoy a remembrance of all those primary school nativities that are always such a part of the modern celebration of Christmas. The Flint Street Nativity from 1999 (a kinder gentler time!) directed by Marcus Mortimer, written by Tim Firth, and showcasing a host of […]
Celtic Woman @ Christmas
Celtic Woman is an all-female Irish musical ensemble conceived and created by David Kavanagh, Sharon Browne and David Downes, a former musical director of the Irish stage show Riverdance. In 2004, Downes recruited five Irish female musicians who had not previously performed together: vocalists and shaped them into the first lineup of the group that […]
Kate Rusby @ Christmas
Kate Rusby is an folk singer-songwriter from Penistone, Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Sometimes called the “Barnsley Nightingale”, she has headlined various British national folk festivals, and is one of the best known contemporary English folk singers. In 2001 The Guardian described her as “a superstar of the British acoustic scene.” In 2007 the […]
Albion Christmas Band
The Albion Band, also known as The Albion Country Band, The Albion Dance Band, and The Albion Christmas Band, are a folk rock band, originally brought together and led by musician Ashley Hutchings. Generally considered one of the most important groupings in the genre, it has contained or been associated with a large proportion of […]