COMING YOUR WAY & NEWS

Fay Hield is coming to Lichfield

Award-winning musician and academic Fay Hield and the Hurricane Party featuring stellar musicians Sam Sweeney, Andy Cutting, Rob Harbon and Roger Wilson will be playing at the Guild Hall, Lichfield on April 6. Tickets are £14 or £12.60 for members and £7 for under-16s. Call the box office on 01543 262223. Fay, as part of the award-winning folk group The Full English, will be playing at Shrewsbury Folk Festival on August 25. The festival runs from August 22 to 25.

Liverpool singer/songwriter and activist Alun Parry will be bringing his particular style of folk to Willenhall Folk & Acoustic Club on April 30. The concert starts 8.15pm at the Lichfield Road venue and for more information visit Willenhall Folk and Acoustic Club @ The Victory Club
Parry is also looking for storytellers for an innovative new show he is planning for May 1 at The Bluecoat, Liverpool,entitled Love Hope & Resistance. Tickets are £3 and £5
Parry says: "The show is a mixture of spoken word and my music. It will be an uplifting celebration of social struggle. I want people leaving with their hearts full and their spirits high. In a time when we can see our losses, this show will remind us of our huge gains, and how we won them.
"There will be five spoken word sections, each ten minutes long. I am looking for people who might want to do one of the ten minute pieces."
The themes are Fear, Hate and Compliance, Love, Hope and Resistance
If you are keen to come up with a ten minute piece, whether that be a talk, story telling, dramatic vignette or something else then get in touch via parrysongs.co.uk/go/contact.
Note: the show is an experimental one and the door fees from the public will cover Parry's costs only, so it can’t be viewed as paid work.

The Robin2, Bilston

The Robin2 in Bilston which features many folk, blues and acoustic artists has added a radio station to its website - Robin 2 Radio

The station can accessed through the club's homepage, just click on the icon. It's provided through the club's site partners DeliRadio, and exclusively features artistes who perform at the Bilston club.
The radio station has only just been created, so it is limited at the moment, but that will build up over the coming weeks.

Appearing at the Robin on the back of  their new album Oysterband will be playing the venue on March 20 supported by Rumours of Spring,
Tickets are £16 and doors open 7.30pm.
Go to: www.seetickets.com, www.ticketweb.co.uk, www.gigantic.com. You can also find the club and acts at www.facebook.com/therobin2,  Twitter - @Robin2music or you can read the Robin 2 Blog  at www.therobin2.wordpress.com.
The night before, March 19, the band will be playing  at The Glee Club, Nottingham. Tickets are £17 and for more information contact 08714 720 400.

Picture courtesy of Wildfire Folk

A youth folk orchestra is on the lookout for new members. Wildfire Folk, which has been going now for five years, is based in Lichfield, Staffordshire. The band which has experience of playing community events and large festivals has garnered praise from some big names in the folk world and have already released two EPs. Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention referred to them as a great band of young people playing great music.

The group has more than 20 members with ages ranging from 12 to 25 and rehearse at Wade Street Church Hall, Frog Lane, Lichfield every Thursday in school terms between 6 and 8pm.

The turnover of musicians who are going off to new careers and to study at university means it is now looking to recruit members. They are looking for players of any instrument who have reached a standard approximate to Grade 2 and are aged between 11 and 27.
Wildfire Folk is a non-profit making organisation, costs are met through a term subscription of £25 and an annual payment of £15. If you are interested in joining the band please contact Stuart Davies on 01543378728 or steldav@hotmail.co.uk or you can visit their website www.wildfirefolk.co.uk

Blackbeard's Tea Party

Busking folk and ceilidh band Blackbeard's Tea Party from York will be bringing their eclectic style of musi to the Midlands when they play at the Hare & Hounds, Birmingham on April 3, doors open 7.30pm and they will be supported by Blatherskites. The band will then be playing at the Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock on April 6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O220wyoCTt4

Wolverhampton singer/songwriter Dan Whitehouse will also be playing the Hare & Hounds supporting Simone Felice on April 2 doors open 7.30pm and tickets are £12. Call the box office on 0844 870 0000. 

Phil Beer

Phil Beer best known as 50% of Show of Hands will be playing at Katie Fitzgerald's, Stourbridge on April 24 as part of his latest solo tour. He will be supported by local blues and acoustic singer Sunjay Brayne. The gig will be in the cellar bar. Tickets are £10 in advance or £12 on the door. For more information call 01384 485238. 

Beer will also be playing The Guildhall, Lichfield on March 29 starting at 8pm. Tickets are £16.00  or £14.40 for members and £8 for under-16s. Also coming to the venue is Horizon Award for Best Newcomer in 2012 and BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Folk Singer of the Year nominee Lucy Ward who will be playing there on April 18, with the show starting at 8pm. Tickets are £16 or £14.40 for members and £8 for under-16s.

Feast of Fiddles is celebrating its 21st birthday with a UK tour with final performances over the Easter weekend.

For these birthday bashes the shows will feature Show of Hands’ Phil Beer, Fairport Convention’s Chris Leslie, Steeleye Span and Gigspanner’s Peter Knight, Bully Wee Band’s Ian Cutler, ex Battlefield Band’s Brian McNeill, Garry Blakeley (Band of Two) and Tom Leary (John B Spencer Trio/Albion Morris/Zeus).
The “backing band” is led by founder Hugh Crabtree on accordion and iconic folk-rock drummer Dave Mattacks, who has played with Fairport, Steeleye and Richard Thompson as well as Paul McCartney, Elton John and Chris Rea. Feast of Fiddles will be playing Huntingdon Hall, Worcester on April 10. For more information call 01905 611427 or visit www.worcesterlive.co.uk.

Bill Caddick

Bill Caddick will be back in action after suffering health problems and celebrating reaching 70 and five decades on the folk circuit at Newhampton Folk Club, Wolverhampton on April 12. Caddick will be supported at the venue in the upper room of the Newhampton Inn, Riches Street, Whitmore Reans by Louise Jordan. Tickets are £8.

The Acoustic Strawbs will be playing The Red Lion Folk Club in Birmingham on March 26 supported by Wes Finch. Tickets are £13. Vin Garbutt will be playing the venue on April 9 with tickets £12 and folk veteran Julie Felix will be in concert there on April 16 supported by Take Two. Tickets are £11.

The Kitchen Garden Cafe, Birmingham have a fine line-up of musicians for April starting with Scottish quartet The Tannerhill Weavers on April 2. Doors open at 7.30pm and the show starts 8pm. Tickets are £10. On April 6 country, bluegrass and Americana duo, Wooden Horse play the venue tickets are £6 and times are as previously stated then on April 13 award-winning duo Gilmore & Roberts come to the venue. Tickets are £10 in advance and times are as previously stated. For all the concerts tickets are available from the Cafe or www.wegottickets.co.uk

Irish singer Cara Dillon will be releasing her new album A thousand Hearts on May 19 and the word is it will be featuring a few special guests. The album will be released on Dillon's own Charcoal Records label in partnership with Sony Music.
Dillon, from Dungiven, Derry is also overhauling her website and at the moment it looks like the work is still going on, there is no date set for when it goes live again so keep checking back. She will be coming to the Midlands for a couple of concerts as part of the album's promotional tour.Later this month she will play the Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury on March 21, the show in the main auditorium starting at 7.30pm. Tickets are £18.50 and she will be supported by Winter Mountain. On May 15 she will be at the Artrix, Bromsgrove. Show starts at 8pm and tickets are £18.50.