| Newsletter 15th February 2009 | 
 | Contact 
      details | |||||
| Upcoming shows 23 February – 4 May 
      2009: |  | 
 | |||||
| Ø     
      Monday 23 February | Martin Harley 
      BandSupport 
      Jemima Price | Ravenswood, 
      Sharpthorne |  |  | |||
| Ø     
      Monday 23 March | Mark 
      ErelliSupport: 
      Cate Ferris | Ravenswood, 
      Sharpthorne |  |  | |||
| Ø     
      Wednesday 1 April | Eliza 
      CarthySupport: 
      Robert Brown | Chequer 
      Mead |  |  | |||
| Ø     
      Monday 13 April | A very rare appearance 
      by | Ravenswood, 
      Sharpthorne |  |  | |||
| Ø     
      Monday 4 May | Karine 
      PolwartSupport: 
      Dan Reed | Ravenswood, 
      Sharpthorne |  |  | |||
| Monday at 
      The 
      Ravenswood Support: Jemima Price Tickets are also 
      available at Hobgoblin in Crawley and Bullfrog in  Click 
      here for News Release (PDF file) | Surrey-born Martin Harley is a mesmerising 
      singer/songwriter whose original sound draws on influences from old time 
      blues and folk to world music to create songs that sound so familiar you 
      think you’ve grown up with them. Songs about living in cars, worn out 
      shoes, girls lost in the carnival lights, satellite hunting in car parks 
      and a constant sense wondering are recurring themes. His original approach 
      to playing slide guitar across his lap and his accomplished finger style 
      playing are the cornerstone of the music along with his whiskey soaked 
      northern breeze vocals.  Martin 
      has appeared on compilations with J.J. Cale, P.J. Harvey and Eric Clapton, 
      Paul Weller and The Who. He has played with the likes of Bo Diddley, Omar 
      and the Howlers, Joe Bonamassa, Lisa Mils, Dr Feelgood, Newton Faulkner, 
      Scott Mattews, James Blunt, Martin Simpson, Chas n Dave, Happy Mondays, 
      Magic Numbers, The Hat, The Beautiful Girls, Peter Bruntnall, Kate Walsh 
      and many more. The band has recently completed a run of tour dates 
      supporting James Morrison. Voted 
      by Digital blues as one of the best solo performers of 2006 and voted best 
      solo acoustic act by London Acoustic in 2005 this slide guitar virtuoso in 
      not to be missed. “an 
      understated, mature and intelligent masterpiece of American roots music” 
      Maverick 
      Magazine. Support for the show is 
      provided by Sussex singer-songwriter, Jemima Price, who was compared by 
      Time Out to Kate Bush and hailed as a “talent to watch” by Cosmopolitan. 
      She has recently supported Jools Holland and Deacon 
      Blue. “Sensual 
      and psychedelic….she has the potential to outperform any of the season's 
      crop of female singer-songwriters.” Q Magazine |  | 
 
 "No 
      one is making music like it" For more reviews, 
      click 
      here | ||||
| Monday at 
      The 
      Ravenswood Support: Cate Ferris Tickets are also 
      available at Hobgoblin in Crawley and Bullfrog in  | Over 
      the past 9 years, New-Englander Mark 
      Erelli has been steadily gaining the reputation of one of the 
      most talented writers and gifted musicians on the American folk scene, 
      settling into a timeless, classic folk singer-songwriter groove where 
      gritty, honest songs reflect the world around us. Erelli’s lyrical and 
      musical intelligence marks him out as one of the finest storytellers in 
      contemporary folk and he deservedly won the International Songwriting 
      Contest in 2005. Erelli’s songwriting talent is 
      the reason he’s been chosen to join 7 other top international songwriters 
      in the Darwin 
      Song Project, one of a number of events 
      taking place in 2009 to mark the bi-centennial of the birth of Charles 
      Darwin. With a Masters Degree in Evolutionary Biology, Erelli is uniquely 
      qualified to take part. The Project takes place in  Erelli 
      released his self-titled debut at 24, exhibiting an uncommon musical 
      maturity. Now 34, with an assured and varied back-catalogue, multiple 
      awards and growing notoriety as an accompanist, he has one of the most 
      impressive and varied reputations in modern roots music 
       “(Delivered 
      is) darkly magnificent...Mark Erelli (has) something to say and a unique, 
      poetic, compelling way of saying it.” Vintage 
      Guitar 
       “When 
      it comes to providing thoughtful, compelling folk-rock and  “Erelli 
      addresses tough issues (war, development, love, post-9/11) with the grit 
      of John Hiatt and the melancholy beauty of Ron Sexsmith.”  
       |  | |||||
| Wednesday Support: Robert Brown 
       Click 
      here for News Release (PDF file) | Twice-nominated for a 
      prestigious Nationwide Mercury Prize, Eliza Carthy is also the winner of 
      more than 7 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. This year, she is nominated in 3 
      categories in the 2009 awards (Best Singer, Best Album and best Orginal 
      Track), to be announced in  Eliza 
      has been a regular guest-presenter on the BBC Radio 2 Mark Radcliffe Show 
      and has made several appearances on BBC TV’s Later with Jools. In 
      addition, she has presented her own four part series on the history of 
      English Folk on BBC Radio 2 and was recently the subject of the ITV 
      documentary, Heaven & Earth.  She also featured prominently in 
      the acclaimed BBC Four Folk Britannia season. Eliza was the first 
      traditional English musician to be nominated a BBC Radio 3 Award for World 
      Music (for 'Anglicana'). In March 2005, Eliza co-presented the awards with 
      Benjamin Zephaniah - an event that was broadcast on BBC 
      Four. A truly 
      inventive and innovative singer and fiddle-player, Eliza is a gifted 
      musical conceptualist confirming her position as, arguably, the most 
      impressive and engaging performer of a generation. Touring on and off 
      since the age of 14, Eliza has performed and recorded with a diverse array 
      of artists from Paul Weller to The Wainwrights,  Yorkshire-born and now 
      Edinburgh-based, Eliza Carthy grew up immersed in the world of traditional 
      music. She divides her time between touring and recording with her 
      legendary parents, Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson and numerous 
      pioneering solo and band projects. Describing herself simply as a ‘modern 
      British musician’, Eliza is only just beginning to reach the height of her 
      musical powers. Though she’s only just turned 30, Eliza has revitalised 
      and made folk music relevant to new audiences and captured the most 
      hardened of dissenters with intelligent, charismatic and boundary-crossing 
      performances. Accompanied by Willie Molleson 
      on drums, Emma Smith on double bass and  Phil Alexander on keyboards 
      / piano accordion, Eliza will showcase original material from her 
      acclaimed new album, 'Dreams of Breathing Underwater'  
       “Seriously 
      impressive”  Daily  
      Telegraph "Bewitching 
      and original"  **** Q "Magnificent"  
      **** The Guardian “Eliza 
      Carthy is one of the figureheads of the English folk revival … 
      compelling”  Evening 
      Standard “A 
      gloriously natural singer”' Q 
      magazine |  | |||||
| Monday at 
      The 
      Ravenswood with 
      special guest: Tickets are also 
      available at Hobgoblin in Crawley and Bullfrog in  Click 
      here for News Release (PDF file) | A very 
      rare performance by the late John Peel’s favourite singer-songwriter from 
      the 70s, Bridget St John. 
       London-born,  Her 
      popularity peaked in 1974 when she was voted among the top 10 most popular 
      female singer in that year's Melody Maker readers poll, alongside Sandy 
      Denny. A highly-accomplished guitar player,  Commercial success did not 
      follow the critical acclaim that  Joining 
       |  | 
 
 | ||||
| Monday at 
      The 
      Ravenswood Support: Dan Reed Tickets are also 
      available at Hobgoblin in Crawley and Bullfrog in  Click 
      here for News Release (PDF file) | Award-winning Scots songwriter 
      Karine Polwart combines sharp observations, expressive vocals and 
      pop-inflected melodies with a probing intellect and compassionate 
      lyricism. Possessed of a tender heart, the emotional depth of her lyrics 
      effortlessly incorporate both contemporary and traditional folk 
      influences. Twice 
      winner of Best Original Song at the BBC Folk Awards and nominated for two 
      2009 awards (Best artist, Best Album), she’s collaborated with alt folk 
      balladeer King Creosote, Idlewild front man Roddy Woomble, the 
      intellectual maverick of English folk song Chris Wood, bluegrass ace Tim 
      O’Brien and even the BBC Scottish Symphony 
      Orchestra. A 
      former children's rights worker, and driven by a strong sense of social 
      justice, Karine allows images, narratives, questions and wry comic asides 
      do much of her work.  She tries never to say too much. And whether 
      it's the dilemmas of modern parenthood, the unsettling kindness of lies, 
      or the resilience of hope, she admits most of her songs are an attempt to 
      make sense of the fact that “there are people in this world who don't 
      think like you do” (as she sings in her 2006 song, Daisy).  All of 
      which is precisely the kind of sideways, allegorical approach to 
      contemporary living that you might expect from someone with a Masters 
      degree in philosophy. Following the breakthrough of 
      her debut album Faultlines, which won Best Album at the 2005 Awards, and 
      its more lush and polished 2006 successor Scribbled in Chalk, Karine took 
      time out to give birth to her son in 2007. In an extraordinarily creative 
      and productive maternity leave, she recorded not one but two albums, 
      including Fairest Floo'er, a collection of Scottish traditional songs. 
      This return to her origins had a profound influence on her current 
      bittersweet collection of original songs, This Earthly Spell. Indeed all 
      four of her solo CD releases prove she's a writer able to combine ancient 
      traditions with sharp contemporary observations and an independent 
      sensibility. “She 
      weaves a deliciously thought-provoking magic that draws you back, time and 
      again, for more.”  “a 
      passionate, perceptive songwriter” 
      Uncut magazine “exceptionally 
      subtle and melodic” Q 
      magazine “takes 
      the heart to places few singers even know exist” 
      WORD 
      magazine |  | |||||
| Don’t 
      forget that as well as our own shows, the Acoustic Sussex website has a 
      Regional Gig 
      Guide and links to 
      venues and clubs in the South East that offer folk, roots and acoustic 
      music – and our MySpace site 
      contains over 500 links to a variety of other MySpace ‘friends’ sites, 
      including musicians, venues, magazines and lots 
      more. |  | ||||||
| For 
      your 
      future diaries... | Future 2009 dates in the 
      Acoustic Sussex programme include: Ø    
      21 May – Cara 
      Dillon + Horses 
      Brawl Ø    
      8 June – Dick 
      Gaughan + Mary 
      Hampton Ø     
      19 June – Show of 
      Hands with Miranda 
      Sykes Ø     
      26-28 June – Crawley Folk 
      Festival Ø     
      20 July - Iain 
      Matthews + Mary 
      Leay Ø     
      7 September – Sam Baker 
      (band) More information 
      on all up-and-coming artists can be found on our website: www.acousticsussex.org.uk. You 
      can also find us on MySpace (with samples from some of the artists 
      appearing) at: www.myspace.com/acoustic_sussex. If 
      you know anyone who you think may enjoy our events, please forward this 
      email to them. |  |  UNSUBSCRIBE | ||||