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Homegrown + English Folk Expo

Venue: Various
Town: Bury
Date: 16-18/10/14
Website: http://themet.biz/homegrown/

Although the Summer festival season has ended, there's always one more event on the calendar to which folk fans can look forward. And what an event the Homegrown weekend has started to become. The event is now in its third year and an already stellar bill continues to get better and better, with The Met attracting an established audience from the local area and beyond with a varied programme across three venues in the centre of town, often leaving the public spoilt for choice and reflecting the very best in English folk music. Thirteen different shows utilising the 2 performance spaces in The Met itself, plus the larger capacity Drill Hall and the recently opened Clarence pub, a staggering total of thirty acts scheduled for public performances across the Thursday and Friday evenings plus a full day on Saturday.

Hand in hand with the musical events is the English Folk Expo music industry gathering, which allows The Met and the musical performances across town to showcase the best and exciting new talents of the genre which go some way to spreading the word on what English music has to offer. Whilst being offered the full programme of events which make up the Homegrown part of the weekend, the delegates who attend the English Folk Expo can add a whole host of their own events which make the most of marketing the artists and the music. The main mover behind English Folk Expo is Terry O'Brien of Playpen Music Management & Agency who took some time at the end of the festival to chat about her tireless work to promote traditional English music - more of that can be found here.

Thursday Friday Saturday Interview Gallery

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Dateline : Saturday

While the small performance spaces in The Met's studio and the newly opened Clarence pub were filled to the brim for performances by The Young 'Uns and Bella Hardy & Cara Luft and Tom Robinson and Winter Mountain respectively, those lucky enough to have got tickets early will have had further treats. The Young 'Uns community singing style and earthy North Eastern humour is becoming much more broadly established and appreciated while the Winter Mountain duo's tender songwriting and exquisite close harmony singing bears well for what will become a highly anticipated second album under the wing of Cara Dillon and Sam Lakeman. The combination of Folk Singer of the year Bella Hardy and her Canadian buddy Cara Luft with their UK/Canadian songwriting exchange partnership is almost the female version of Winter Mountain, with two distinctive voices working together to weave a delightful sound with a transatlantic infused backing. It was interesting to see Tom Robinson fit in an extra gig, all smartly besuited as befits his radio status as well as the chance to appreciate his return to the performing scene after some time away from performing in public. Clearly an affectionately viewed and warmly received character, a sign of the times was the adaptation of his 'what if we live to be 50' lyric to add another decade, bringing the age up to speed.

Opening the final evening of performance in the Drill Hall, The Old Dance School's subtle soundscapes and sweeps of orchestration matched perfectly the pink and purple washes of light. Taking inspiration from the environment and their travelling adevtures for their compositions and arrangements, their music is perfectly matched with travelogue images and it's hard not to close your eyes and let your mind drift into journeys and scenes of vast landscapes as they play. A mainly instrumental set was topped off with their take on Sydney Carter's 'John Ball' - taken at a more gentle pace than the boisterous version which is belted out by The Young 'Uns, it was a pleasantly gentle way to end their set and give way to the award winning local-ish lad Philip Henry and Hannah Martin. Philip's versatile musicianship and mastery of the lap styled guitar and slide and particularly in his harmonica showcases combined with impressive songs which ranged from light and touching yet with depth and insight in the lyrics sees them comfortably installed as an increasingly confident and compelling act. Opening with the haunting 'Silbury Hill' and delivered a distinctive and unique set which strengthened the claims that Henry & Martin are a duo whose impact on the folk scene may not yet be fully realised.

The final round of gigs in The Met saw the seats pushed back for once for a bunch of vibrant youthful artists to give it their all. Fabian Holland's distinctively smooth playing and rolls of notes and his partnership with percussionist Fred Claridge is an interesting combination. His vocal delivery came across with feeling and genuine sentiment, in contrast to the Cocos Lovers whose bigger band and energetic performance showed what a range of influences they have behind their sound. Described as "Kent coast folk with an African twist" is as accurate a picture as any; some of their subtle rhythms having definite roots and nods to Pauls Simon's pioneering work. As mentioned from the stage, It makes a change from playing in heavy metal bands, and offered up a set which encouraged a swing and a sway if full blown dancing was too much to hope for.

Meanwhile, Nizlopi's notoriety from their 'JCB Song' from almost 10 years ago might have sat awkwardly against their alternative roots, their recent re-appearance in the folk world and on the festival circuit is a welcome sight. While the days of appearances on Top Of The Pops and Ed Sheeran as an intense fan are long gone, the duo of Luke Concannon and the well-travelled and much in demand John Parker seem quite content in their skin. Although their new live album gives a flavour of what they do in the live setting, they are a band to be seen, their full hands on interaction with their audience being legendary.

It was left to the reliable pull of Show Of Hands to close out this year's festival. There's no doubting they're a class act and their instrumental prowess and at times three part harmonies are immediately recognisable in the genre. The inbetween song patter is similarly stuff of which legends are made, revolving around the gentle fun poking variety between mates and the chance to indulge in a little local jest r two - when Steve talked of writing songs with the American theme s start to pervade through and of "a place where sex and death walk the streets" you just knew that one of the local areas was going to come in for some light hearted ribbing. And yes, they do rock and roll in East Devon (rock salmon and roll mop) and whether Elvis did ever visit and help add a spin to a new song which echoed the rock and roll roots, who knows or is bothered. The key moments were their versions of a couple of songs which appeared on the 'Centenary' Great War record to which they made a significant contribution - 'The Lads In Their Hundreds' in particular, the moment where the "we walked towards the waiting guns" rose to a swell; particularly poignant in the Drill Hall where local lads would have made ready for war.

It was a comment made by John Spiers earlier in the day which perhaps reflected what most people in the audience were thinking and showed that the artists even had a similar view - he talked of "a range of talent is on show" and maybe even then we might well be talking of just scratching the surface of the acts who were showcased. For every one of them there will be many who weren't at the event yet have a similarly significant role to play in the development a spread of traditional English music which via happenings like the English Folk Expo and Homegrown, seems to be on a steady path which lures you in via the tried and trusted and takes you an a thrilling journey of discovery.

Words & Photography:Mike Ainscoe