FOLK singer-songwriter Seth Lakeman has released the single Last Rider, taken from his album Word Of Mouth. The album sees the West-country man unearth hidden histories and unsung heroes from in an around his native Devon and Cornwall. He will be playing at London's Albert Hall on June 6th as part of BBC Radio 2's D-Day 70 Years On concert. Of the single Last Rider, he says: "It is a rolling, rhythmic song written about a final journey taken by an old steam engine driver. It features the fabulous banjo playing of Leon Hunt and leads you through the rattling tracks of the railway." Seth will be on the road again in October to play aUKtour with his band playing tracks from the new album
and live favourites. His previous albums include the Mercury Music Prize nominated Kitty Jay and the gold-selling Freedom Fields, which featured the hit
singles Lady of the Sea and The White Hare.
HOCKEYSMITH will release their But Blood EP on May 26th via Double Denim Records. The sisters - Annie and Georgie - spent most of last year living in a caravan on a farm in Cornwall making music. But in recent months they have been creating a buzz among those in the know. And now the shoegaze dance duo are headed out on the road with dates in Cardiff and Nottingham already and gone and others in London on the horizon before playing the Green Man Festival and Bestival this summer. You can listen to new track Hesitate below and for more information visit facebook.com/hockeysmithband, hockeysmith.tumblr.com or twitter.com/hockeysmithuk
THE debut album of indie folkers Winter Mountain is out next week, but their 'story so far' takes some reading. Englishman Joseph Francis, from West Cornwall, and Martin Smyth, from Donegal, Ireland, both stepped onto the same train at Chicago's Union station and met for the first time. Both singers, both songwriters...both broke, but intent on making their way by rail to Memphis, Tennessee, the birthplace of Rock n Roll.
That night, the pair began a conversation that lasted until the early hours. A conversation that centered on their mutual love of the sounds of the 60s and 70s, of great albums and great artists, and great harmony singing: The Band, Simon & Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. By morning they had named themselves Winter Mountain and committed to travel together, swapping stories, exchanging lyrics and singing together in the bars and clubs of the deep south. On their return the guys spent a fortnight songwriting in Ireland, which led to a chance entry in a Battle of the Bands competition. Winter Mountain competed against the best unsigned talent in Northern Ireland, and won! It was enough to capture the heart of a local theatre owner who booked them to open for Irish singing luminary Cara Dillon. After hearing Joseph and Martin’s performance Cara and husband/producer Sam Lakeman immediately signed Winter Mountain to their independent label, Charcoal Records and set about assembling a team of experienced musicians who could help realise the vision that Joseph and Martin had for their music.
With contributions from Robbie McIntosh (guitarist with McCartney, The Pretenders, John Mayer), Audrey Riley (string arranger for Coldplay, Nick Cave) and Leo Abrahams (guitarist for Brian Eno, Florence And The Machine), the songs were recorded in a host of vintage studios and the EP Find, Follow was the result. The final touch to the EP was made when the highly acclaimed Mike Crossey (Ben Howard, Jake Bugg, The Arctic Monkeys) stepped up in the midst of his hectic schedule and mixed all three tracks. Find, Follow is due for release on iTunes and other online outlets on May 20th on Charcoal Records. You can get a taster below...
