Mar 25 2009 Louis Killen + Sharron Krauss
Apr 08  2009 Danny the Champion of the World + Shona Foster Apr 23  2009 fRoots & EFDSS St George's Day Special
Apr 24  2009 Long Notes & Mawkin:Causley
Apr 29  2009 London Lasses + Pete Quinn

Louis Killen
Sharron Krauss (with Specila Guest)
25th March 2009 Folklahoma Launch + 3rd Birthday
The Old Queens Head - 44 Essex Road
£6 advance £7 on door 7.30pm, music after 8pm

Louis Killen is one of the most widely influential musicians of the folk revival and a key voice of English traditional song. He is a hard-core, unadulterated folksinger whose passionate delivery is matched by a deep and wide-ranging knowledge of the songs and the working people who made them.
In a career spanning over forty years, with more than thirty-five albums/CDs to his credit, Louis Killen's influence as a performer, teacher and inspiration to others is unparalleled. Over forty recordings spanning most of the latter part of the 20th Century. Louis is a living folk legend and still at the peak of his powers.

Sharron Kraus is a singer/musician/songwriter who creates music rooted in the folk traditions of England and Appalachia. Her work is characterized by soil-rich vocals, haunting banjo, fine acoustic guitar and visionary wordcraft. Her songs are populated by a carnival array of fatally charismatic characters, telling tales of enslavement, perversion, incest, obsession, love and death. Sharron's live performances are stark, compelling, and delicate. As with her music, her performance continues the tradition of the balladeer. She is like the roving storyteller, bringing tales of terror, sadness and joy to a stranger's hearth on a dark and stormy night.

Danny the Champion of the World + Shona Foster
Apr 8 2009 7.30pm £6
Old Queen's Head - 44 Essex Road

 It's with great pleasure we host a show for Danny and the Champions of the World – Mojo rave about them, we think they're fab, they have an excellent album out, released around this time last year - so without too much fanfare, come and check them out for yourself! Danny will be performing as a duo for this show, cosy and acoustic.

Also on the bill, Shona Foster, soon to be releasing her debut single and EP (a wee bit too late for this show unfortunately), playing with her full band. We reckon you'll be hearing a lot more about her over the summer, so come hear her now!

St George's Day Special
Ian King, Nancy Wallace, Mary Epworth and Olivia Chaney
Thursday 23rd April 2009 £10
Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regents Park Road, Camden, NW1 7AY

Folklahoma, The EFDSS and fRoots presents a celebratory gig at Cecil Sharp House on St George's Day, 23rd April. It showcases some of the great English folk artists now emerging from outside the established folk scene - Ian King, Nancy Wallace, Mary Epworth and Olivia Chaney – all of whom will be amongst the subjects of a cover feature on the May issue of fRoots magazine published on the same day.

Headliner Ian King, looked after by Bobby Marshall (manager of Asian Dub Foundation), produced by Adrian Sherwood and has Little Axe's Skip McDonald in his sometime band, plays English traditional songs with a reggae music hall infused brass section - Shirley Collins is a confessed big fan. Nancy Wallace with her new solo CD and is on leave from being singer with The Memory Band. Mary Epworth was considered by many to have been one of the hits of the South Bank's Sandy Denny tribute last December and her single "Saddle Song" caused quite a stir. Olivia Chaney is a songstress of great power and magnitude, having crossed the bridge from classical music to traditional song leaves all the affectations of that idiom behind and incorporates a stylish and inventive blend of folk and new world – old world.
London’s most enigmatic and playful storyteller Debs Newbold will shake down the evening with a journey into the world of St George and his many adventures, and the Suffolk Howler Mummers will provide crazed, fearsome and mythic ritual mayhem performing the perennial and seasonal mummers play for health and prosperity
Rising choruses will be delivered by the resident Cecil Sharp House Singers joining up with Hackney’s very own Wing It Singers for English and Georgian ‘calls to order’

Apr 24 2009
Mawkin:Causley + The Long Notes

Launch of FRIDAY FOLK: Live Bands and DJs at the Stoke Newington International Airport - a hidden art space in the heart of Stoke Newington. Rowdy, Quirky, Sublime and Ridiculous.

Mawkin:Causley - Essex rascals Mawkin team up with honey-voiced Jim Causley for an energetic performance of rowdy English tunes.
The Long Notes - blazing Celtic tunes and songs to stomp your heart and warm your cockles.

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