| Newsletter 20th May 2009 | 
 | Contact 
      details | |||||
| Folk 
      Roots & Acoustic programme this 
      Wednesday on 
      MeridianFM  | 
 | ||||||
| A 
      reminder of our upcoming events: |  | 
 | |||||
| Ø     
      Thursday 21 May | Cara Dillon 
       | Chequer 
      Mead |  |  | |||
| Ø     
      Monday 8 June | Dick 
      GaughanSupport: 
      Mary Hampton | Ravenswood, 
      Sharpthorne |  |  | |||
| Ø     
      Friday 19 June | Show of Hands 
      SOLD 
      OUTWith 
      Miranda Sykes | Chequer 
      Mead |  |  | |||
| Ø     
      Monday 6 July | 
 | Chequer 
      Mead |  |  | |||
| Ø     
      Monday 20 July | Iain 
      MatthewsSupport: 
      Mary Leahy | Ravenswood, 
      Sharpthorne |  |  | |||
| Thursday Support: Horses Brawl 
       Click 
      here for News Release (PDF file) | “One 
      of  “A 
      musical tour de force to be reckoned with” Telegraph Irish 
      songstress Cara Dillon has a rare talent that you only come across a 
      handful times in your whole life. Her staggeringly beautiful voice has the 
      ability to reach inside the soul of a song and imbue material with not 
      only profound sweetness but also poignancy and depth. 
       Born in 
      Dungiven in 1975, Cara was brought up in a close musical family immersed 
      in the rich cultural heritage of her native Co. Derry. Having won the All 
      Ireland Traditional Singing Trophy aged only 14 she went on to sing with 
      Oige, De Dannan and then Equation. It was in this band that she met her 
      husband and musical collaborator Sam Lakeman. The combination of Cara's 
      expressive vocals and Lakeman's rippling piano and fresh production 
      squeezed new life into ancient material. Their original songs sit happily 
      alongside the traditional, reinforcing the debt they owe, whilst pointing 
      to a distinct and distinguished musical identity all of their own. 
       It was 
      Cara's unrivalled vocal talent and Sam's musical and arranging skills that 
      have seen them signed to major record labels since they were 19. First, 
      Blanco Y Negro (Warners) and then the enviably hip Rough Trade Records who 
      released her 3 solo albums to date, which have earned astonishing critical 
      success and showered her with countless awards and accolades. During the 
      course of their careers they've performed to appreciative audiences the 
      world over and have featured in some of the most exciting projects and 
      events around. Apart from giving birth to premature twins, 2008 saw the 
      release of Cara's first live DVD called " The Redcastle Sessions" and in 
      February 2009, she released her acclaimed 4th album " Hill Of Thieves". 
      The album immediately went to No 7 in the official UK Indie album 
      charts. Whether 
      she's singing her native traditional songs of lost love and emigration, or 
      their original compositions, you will be hard pressed to find a more 
      emotive and captivating performer. Cara Dillon is at the very top of her 
      field and one has the feeling she'll be there for a very long 
      time. "What 
      may well be the world's most beautiful female voice..." 
      Mojo "Dillon's 
      crystalline, angelic voice is an instrument of rare beauty capable of 
      melting the sternest of hearts" BBC Support: Innovative 
      instrumental duo from  |  | 
 | ||||
| Monday at 
      The 
      Ravenswood with special 
      support: Tickets are 
      also available at Hobgoblin in Crawley and Bullfrog in  
 | Scottish singer and guitarist 
      Dick Gaughan is just as strong and inspirational as when he started out, 
      over 30 years ago.  He grew up steeped in the music of the Gaels with 
      his Scottish and Irish ancestry. Both parents were musicians - his mother 
      a singer and his father a fiddle player - and he started playing an 
      instrument when he was seven years old.  His first solo album won him a 
      Folk Album of the Year award, and almost twenty years later in 1989, Folk 
      Roots Magazine voted his album, A Handful of Earth, Album of the Decade. 
      In 2005, Gaughan was nominated for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer of the Year 
      Award.  Restlessly imaginative, 
      passionate in his beliefs, Gaughan remains a commanding presence on the 
      musical scene. You go home from a Dick Gaughan session feeling 
      exhilarated, not just at the wonderful skills of the most potent singer 
      ever to emerge from the Scottish folk-music revival, not just at the 
      astonishingly fluent and explosively eloquent guitar playing, but by the 
      sense of the stark exposition of wrong and the tremulously argued 
      legitimacy of right.  "There 
      are very few singers who can inspire audiences with the commitment, 
      passion, emotion and downright understanding that Gaughan has consistently 
      achieved over the last 30 years or so.  A truly masterful performer." 
      Folk 
      Roots "Commitment. 
      Passion. Honesty. You'll rarely find a review of a Dick Gaughan recording 
      or concert that doesn't come up with one of these terms" 
      Living 
      Tradition Special guest support for this 
      show is Mary Hampton, whose 2008 release, My Mother's Children, was Mojo's 
      Folk Album of the month in August 2008.  "My Mother's Children' is an album I know I am 
      going to love for life." Eliza 
      Carthy "Songs 
      that recline with shimmering sensuality in various shady cloaks of 
      weirdness...fragility, desolation and humour...scurrying around  “Coffee-table-shattering 
      purity...these are songs of unnerving delicacy, elemental and acoustic 
      simplicity...potent and enchanting" **** Uncut |  |  | ||||
| Monday at 
      Chequer 
      Mead Support: Alex Hall 
       | With a gravity-defying voice 
      and impressive live performances, Christine Collister (singer of the theme 
      song of the popular BBC Television series The Life and Loves of a She 
      Devil) is one of the most respected female vocalists in the contemporary 
      music scene. Although she first attracted 
      attention as a member of Richard Thompson's band in the late 1980s and 
      then in a duo that she shared with Clive Gregson, she's continued to make 
      her presence felt since embarking on a solo career in 
      1992. Over the course of her career 
      Christine has become a familiar name on the  "..boundary 
      breaking is routine for Collister and makes her one of the finest grown-up 
      vocalists on the planet.   ...so much soul you think she’d been 
      signed by Motown" Q 
      Magazine “Christine 
      Collister can sing the birds down off the trees and send them back with a 
      tiny flick of her vocal chords.”   Mojo "Christine 
      Collister has a killer voice. As full as Dusty  "Forget 
      your Katie Meluas. If you want a real voice try Christine Collister"  
      Alan 
      Clifford,   BBC website Support for this show is from 
      Alex Hall, a young singer songwriter from  |  |  | ||||
| Monday at 
      The 
      Ravenswood Support: Mary Leay Tickets are 
      also available at Hobgoblin in Crawley and Bullfrog in  
 | When some artists are referred 
      to as “legends” it is usually measured in years, or based on the quality 
      of their music. Few are measured in both time and quality. One artist that 
      has been judged by both is Iain 
      Matthews. As a founding member of 
      Fairport Convention back in ’67, Matthews appeared on the bands’ first 
      three recordings (Fairport Convention, What We did on our Holidays and 
      Unhalfbricking) until musical differences caused him to leave in ’69 
      during the recording of their third album. In order to facilitate and 
      develop his growing fascination with American singer/songwriters, in 1969 
      he formed his own band, Matthews Southern Comfort, This group spawned a 
      massive European hit with the Joni Mitchell song " Within a year Matthews was 
      again on the move, this time changing continents in a move to  Intending to make the one 
      album, stay for a year and return to  In 2000 he returned to Europe 
      and for the next 4 years worked closely with Dutch singer/songwriter, Ad 
      Vanderveen and together with Eliza Gilkyson, they formed the trio More 
      Than a Song, recording and releasing 2 albums. 
       3 years ago Matthews released 
      his 11th solo work, Zumbach's coat. On his latest album, Joy Mining 
      (with the Searing Quartet), Matthews says:”It’s the best work I have ever 
      done, without a doubt. It took me forty years to find this place and now 
      I’m here, I wonder where the hell I’ve been looking all those 
      years.” |  |  | ||||
| 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     
      7 September – Sam Baker 
      (band) + The Haley 
      Sisters Ø     
      21 September – Corinne 
      West + Tinderbox Ø     
      12 October – Uiscedwr + 
      Luke Sital 
      Singh Ø     
      9 November – Chris & 
      Kellie While + Joseph 
      Topping Ø     
      23 November – Jez Lowe and the Bad 
      Pennies Ø     
      11 December – Rachel Unthank & The 
      Winterset 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 | ||||