[dropcap style=”font-size:100px; color:#992211;”]W[/dropcap]hat glorious wonders be this? Steeleye Span to play a rare(ish) gig at the renowned Cambridge Folk Festival.
Well darn my britches and pack my pipe we might have to get a ticket. – what’s more they’ve an emerging talent stage which usual swings somewhere between ‘I’m struck dumb with jealous awe’ to ‘where’s my gun’.
…and they serve ale and cider (of course)
Cambridge Folk Festival has announced details of its Emerging Talent stage, The Den, with a list of exciting acts lined up for this year’s event. A relatively new addition to the 49 year-old Festival, the stage, now in its third year, provides a platform for up and coming artists, with last year’s line-up featuring newcomer Jake Bugg who played to an intimate crowd before going on to huge critical acclaim just months later.
This year’s line up in The Den is:
Thursday
Marika Hackman Ellie Rusbridge Matt Tighe & Tad Sargent Cara Winter
Friday
Boho Dancer Common Tongues Rachael Dadd & Ichi Dead Rat Orchestra Janet Devlin Luke Jackson Jarlath Henderson Hot Feet Hudson Taylor Robyn Sherwell
Saturday
A Band Of Buriers Ballina Whalers Blue Rose Code CC Smugglers Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker JP Cooper Hladowski & Joynes Freya Roy Luke Sital-Singh We Were Evergreen
Sunday
Fiona Bevan The Black Feathers Sam Brookes & Magic Lantern
The Cadbury Sisters Cocos Lovers Joe Innes & The Cavalcade Liz Lawrence Jess Morgan Woodpecker Wooliams The Young Folk
Acclaimed fourth stage The Den will host emerging talent over the Festival weekend including:
Super cool 20-year old folk singer, hotly tipped by Radio 1, Marika Hackman; Rachael Dadd & Ichi, a charming and experimental collaboration between folk multi-instrumentalist Dadd and husband Ichi’s idiosyncratic home-made sounds; All-Ireland Champion Uilleann Piper Jarlath Henderson; busking and youtube sensations Hudson Taylor, featuring brothers Harry and Alfie’s vivacious folk-pop melodies; double BBC Folk Award nominated roots singer/songwriter Luke Jackson, renowned for his bold, show stopping voice and carefully crafted songs; Blue Rose Code, featuring the Caledonian soul sound of singer-songwriter Ross Wilson; multi award-winning folk duo and recent Navigator signing Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker, who perform both original and traditional songs with unquestionable musicality and skill; South London singer-songwriter Luke Sital-Singh, compared to the likes of Bon Iver and Ben Howard and tipped by BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music; Suffolk-born Fiona Bevan, already building an enviable songwriting reputation after numerous high profile collaborations, including Ed Sheeran, playing songs from her much anticipated debut album; Cocos Lovers, the eight piece band from Deal conjuring up ‘Kent coast folk with an African twist’; Dublin five piece The Young Folk, dubbed by Hot Press magazine “serious challengers for the area populated by the likes of Fleet Foxes, Mumford and Sons and The Low Anthem.”
STEELEYE SPAN ADDED TO THE BILL
Folk rock pioneers Steeleye Span have been added to this year’s line-up and will appear on Saturday 27th July. One of the most influential names in British roots music, this will be their first appearance at Cambridge since 1994. They replace Shelby Lynne who has cancelled.
FULL LINE-UP
The Mavericks (Sat) The Waterboys (Sun) Bellowhead (Fri)
KT Tunstall (Sat) Levellers (Fri) Amadou & Mariam (Fri)
Liam O’Flynn, Andy Irvine, Paddy Glackin & Dónal Lunny aka LAPD (Fri) Steeleye Span (Sat) Capercaillie (Sun) BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet (Sat/Sun) Heritage Blues Orchestra (Sat) The Staves (Sun) Patty Griffin (Fri) Tommy Emmanuel (Sat) Lucy Rose (Thurs) Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick (Sun) Thea Gilmore (Sat) Mud Morganfield Band (Sun) Martin Simpson (Sat/Sun) Le Vent du Nord (Sat/Sun) Sam Lee & Friends (Fri) Breabach (Sat/Sun) Heidi Talbot (Sat/Sun) The Chair (Sat/Sun) Mokoomba (Sat) The Rambling Boys of Pleasure (Sat/Sun) Willy Mason (Thurs) Darrell Scott (Fri) The Bombay Royale (Fri) Bella Hardy & The Midnight Watch (Sat)Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman (Thurs) Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo (Fri) John Hegley (Sun) Jamie Smith’s Mabon (Thurs) Frigg (Fri/Sat) The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band (Sun) Valerie June (Sun) Larkin Poe (Thurs/Fri) Jim Moray’s Silent Ceilidh (Sat) Brian McNeill (Fri/Sat) We Banjo 3 (Sat/Sun) Korrontzi (Fri/Sat) Sketch (Sun) Monster Ceilidh Band (Fri) State Of The Union (Sat) English String Band (Fri) The Willows (Thurs) Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar (Sat/Sun) Rusty Shackle (Thurs) The Brass Funkeys (Thurs) Peter Buckley Hill (Sun)
CLUB TENT SHOWCASES
Ross Couper & Tom Oakes (Fri) Blair Dunlop (Sat) Ewan McLennan (Sat) Nick Mulvey (Sun) Emma Sweeney (Sun)
The Cambridge Folk Festival showcases both international headline artists and young, emerging talent across four different stages and continues to enjoy sell-out success year on year. Renowned for its unique parkland setting, great facilities and family friendliness, the Festival offers something for everyone with street theatre, music workshops and sessions, raucous ceilidhs, open stages, a youth area, internet café, kids’ ceilidh, storytelling, free creche, paddling pool and playground and real ale bars.
Online booking and information: www.cambridgefolkfestival.co.uk
Phone booking: 01223 357851
Tickets: Full Festival £126; Thursday £20; Friday £45; Sunday £55. Camping: (Full Festival tickets only, per 2-3 berth tent) Cherry Hinton £54, Coldhams Common (second site) £37. Online bookings subject to booking fee.
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