Thank you so much to all our performers and the amazing audience who made this festival such a wonderful experience! Home Festival is now over, thank you for making it so much fun.
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Alden, Patterson and Dashwood
Highly acclaimed folk trio Alden Patterson and Dashwood weave rich vocal harmonies, fiddle, guitar and dobro around beautifully written original songs and melodies. Their music takes influence from English folk traditions with uplifting instrumentals and self-penned songs depicting tales of young travellers, sleepy seas and their affection for home. Their independently-released debut album ‘Call Me Home’ received widespread critical acclaim and was awarded ‘Editor’s Choice Album of the Year’ by fRoots, the UK’s leading publication specialising in folk and world music. Over the last three years the trio have made a name as one of the best new acts on the scene and have toured the UK and Europe extensively including main stage slots at the UK’s most prestigious festivals and a tour with folk legends Show of Hands.
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‘It’s lovely stuff’ – Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2 Folk Show
★★★★★ Album Of The Year Editors Choice – fROOTS Magazine
Gitta de Ridder
Gitta de Ridder grew up in the Dutch Newlands of Flevoland, 5 meters below the sea in a town so new even the trees were only young and little. Spending much of her adult life in the UK she found a home in the British indie-folk scene and the English language she writes and sings in. Her 3rd album, "To our Child" sounds somewhat reminiscent of Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’ and the early day releases of Scandinavian songstress Ane Brun. The simplicity and purity she performs her songs with are ever so captivating while telling a story of us humans searching for connection with ourselves and each other.
“Feathers is a holistic singer-songwriting performance of the highest order, gentle, simple yet ultimately stunning” - ★★★★ R2 Magazine
“In a world where there’s no shortage of fine female singer/songwriters, make no mistake, de Ridder’s up there with the best of them” - ‘Acoustic Magazine UK’
Iona Fyfe
Aberdeenshire folksinger, Iona Fyfe, has become one of Scotland’s finest young ballad singers, rooted deeply in the singing traditions of the North East of Scotland. Winner of Scots Singer of the Year at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2018, Iona has been described as “one of the best Scotland has to offer.” (Global-Music.de) With a number of high profile appearances under her belt, Iona, a mere 21 years of age, has toured throughout the UK, Poland, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Canada and Australia. Iona has performed with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra as part of the World Premiere of Disney Pixar’s Brave in Concert at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Released in 2019, Dark Turn of Mind is Iona’s first EP entirely in English and features six ballads and songs found in both Appalachia and Aberdeenshire and has been described as “a new interpretation to the country genre” – Maverick.
Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar (solo performances)
Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar joined forces in 2011. Combining Russell’s powerful vocals and driving guitar style with Algar’s All-Ireland winning fiddle playing, the duo have become one of the most sought after acts on the British folk scene. In 2013 the pair won the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award before going on to win the Horizon Award for best breakthrough act from the same source in 2014. In 2015, they were nominated in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award Best Duo category.
Having toured extensively in the UK for five years, as well as in Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands, Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar have released 3 studio albums.
“folk at its very best” Maverick
“invigorating…infectious joy” Songlines
“Brimming with passion” FRUK
Lukas Drinkwater
Lukas Drinkwateris one of the most in-demand session musicians in theUK as principally a double-bass and electric-bass player, he has also featured on many highly acclaimed records as a singer, guitarist, mandolinist, cellist and drummer. Lukas has had his compositions played on radio stations around the world, including BBC Radio 2, as well as performing at some of the biggest festivals throughout Europe, featuring as a guest artist on stage with The Levellers on European tour, playing in Seth Lakeman's band at Glastonbury Festival, guesting with Frank Turner at London's Roundhouse, touring Australia, the UK and Europe, and playing in the US with Emily Barker, as well as folk club, venue and festival appearances as a solo artist around Europe. Lukas is currently performing with acclaimed acoustic duo 'Jacob & Drinkwater' and with UK Americana Artist of the Year 'Emily Barker’.
Katie Spencer
Like the expressionistic brushstrokes of a landscape painter, Katie Spencer conjures vivid landscapes through the medium of song. Curating intimate studies using her unique finger picked acoustic guitar style and an assured warm voice, Spencer underlines the sense of space that surrounds her home by the sea in Hornsea, East Yorkshire. The striking imagery that rings through her ethereal songs creates a universe of sound and storytelling. Her mesmerising live performances have seen her play world-renowned stages, at the likes of Cambridge Folk Festival and Celtic Connections as she assembles a dedicated fanbase from all corners of the country.
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“The way Katie plays is never contrived, showy or imitative; it sounds true … a world-class folk guitarist” – fRoots
“Great discoveries are always a pleasure and Katie Spencer’s debut album Weather Beaten is a grand pleasure” – RnR Magazine
Robert Lane
Robert is a musician, songwriter, actor, guitar tutor and workshop leader based in the UK. He released Only a Flight Away in April 2018, his third record following his self-titled debut album and his 2016 extended EP Ends and Starts. As an actor he works in theatre and film and is a founding member of short form comedy improvisation group The Improlectuals.
In 2019 Robert was cast as one of the leads in independent feature film Sam and Dan Get Lost directed by Lee Price of Homebird Productions. The film is a partly improvised comedy drama and also features Robert’s music as the score.
“an outstanding release…one of the first essential albums of 2018" - Fatea Magazine
Booking
The festival is now finished, thank you to everyone for making it such a fun experience!
Kirsty Merryn
Kirsty Merryn is a singer-songwriter and also the organiser of this festival! Kirsty is one of the most unique singer songwriters on the UK folk roots scene, performing original and traditional songs on piano and voice. Kirsty’s music is heavily anchored in the folk tradition, with jazz and classical influences. She weaves a spell over the audience as she tells stories via piano-based songs with sharply observed lyrics, and delivered in crystal clear, soaring vocals. In 2017 she supported folk legends Show of Hands on their tour of the UK, during which she launched her debut album, to widespread acclaim. In 2020 Kirsty is releasing her highly anticipated second album, “Our Bright Night”; tales of the supernatural, the dying of the light and of the land.
“Destined to be a big star ★★★★" - Sunday Express
"Bold, and fully formed" - The Guardian
Luke Jackson
Luke is a Singer-Songwriter from Canterbury, Kent, who way back in 2013 was nominated in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for both the Horizon Award for Best Emerging Talent and The Young Folk Category. He was also winner of Fatea’s “Male Artist of the Year 2014” and 2016, his live album ‘Solo:Duo:Trio’ was voted 2018 Album of the Year by Laurel Canyon and in 2020 his last studio release ‘Journals’ was voted 2019 Album of the Year by Fatea Magazine. Over the past few years he has steadily developed a reputation for himself in the Folk, Roots, Americana & Acoustic circuits, through his solo, duo or trio shows, many festival appearances or when opening for such luminaries as Fairport Convention, Show of Hands, Steve Knightley, Martyn Joseph, Seth Lakeman, Karine Polwart, Oysterband, Paul Brady, Glen Tilbrook, Sarah Jarosz and John Paul White, formerly of the legendary Civil Wars. Luke remains an ever present in the live music scene, gigging relentlessly all over the United Kingdom, Europe and now the USA.
Polly Paulusma
Polly Paulusma released her first album, ‘Scissors in my Pocket’ on One Little Indian to widespread international critical acclaim in 2004. Uncut declared, “Never mind all the fuss about Joss Stone and Amy Winehouse […] the finest young British female singer-songwriter to emerge in the last 12 months is the brainy Cambridge graduate Polly Paulusma, with a debut album of mature and literate songs brimful of emotional resonance, potent melodies and meltingly heartfelt vocals.” Paulusma was subsequently catapulted round the world, supporting Bob Dylan, Jamie Cullum, Coldplay and Marianne Faithfull, touring the USA and Europe, and playing Glastonbury, T in the Park and Cambridge Folk Festival. ‘Fingers and Thumbs’ followed in 2007, produced by Ken Nelson (Kings of Convenience, Badly Drawn Boy, Coldplay), and in 2012 she founded the Wild Sound folk label and released the work of nine other artists before becoming a folk imprint at One Little Indian in 2016. This year she will hand in her PhD, and release a traditional folk album, ‘Invisible Music’, her eighth album release. Her ninth, slated for next year, is ‘Pivot’, a serial album currently being released a song a month to a group of private subscribers.
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Saturday
4pm Lukas Drinkwater
5pm Robert Lane
6pm Gitta de Ridder
7pm Iona Fyfe
8pm Luke Jackson
Sunday
4pm Polly Paulusma
5pm Kirsty Merryn
6pm Katie Spencer
7pm Ciaran and Greg (2xsolo slots)
8pm Alden, Patterson and Dashwood
9pm Special guest - Steve Knightley
Line-up
Special guest - Steve Knightley
The front man and composer of folk superstars Show of Hands, Steve Knightley needs no introduction. With more than two decades on the road. 25 album releases, 2 Honorary Doctorates, 3 BBC Folk Awards, 4 Royal Albert Hall sell-outs Show of Hands are a force to be reckoned with. Tours in 14 countries from America to Australia. Steve is appearing as our special guest with a solo show on Sunday night; you don't want to miss this!
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