MERCURY Prize nominees The Unthanks will open Liverpool’s inaugural folk and roots festival on Saturday.
Organised by local band The Random Family, it will run for eight days and feature other headline performances from Martin Simpson, winner of five BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Roy Bailey, also a Folk Awards winner, former Spinner Hughie Jones and shanty group Stormalong John.
The festival will also feature unsigned and independent folk and roots artists from across the North-West performing in venues across the city.
These genres of music have been an important element of Liverpool’s culture for many years, says Will Hughes, programme director.
“Music has always been at the very centre of the city’s cultural identity, and the city’s rich and varied history has served to add further depth resonance to the music Liverpool has produced,” he says.
“All styles of folk and roots music have made their presence felt in the city’s music scene over the years – and it is this diversity of influence that has enabled the city to create so much and such variety of quality music.”
North East band The Unthinks will be joined by The Random Family and Jonny Kearney and Lucy Farrell at St Percy’s Church on Saturday.
On Sunday, the Bluecoat will be hosting a day of free live music and sea shanty workshops, including Bernie Davis’s Sea Songs and Sailor Town, focusing on those songs inspired by sailors’ visits to 19th-century Liverpool.
In the evening, there will be a sea shanty concert at The Blackie with Hughie Jones, Stormalong John, Trim Rig and a Doxy, Loctup Together, Bernie Davis and Travelling People.
Roy Bailey and Alun Parry will be joined by special guest speakers in Which Side Are You On?, an event about words and music of protest at The Casa on Tuesday.
“For our purposes, we consider folk music to be music that concerns itself with real people’s lives, loves, triumphs and tragedies, music that tells the story of our collective past,” says Hughes.
“Through this year’s festival programme, we have aimed to reflect some proportion of the vibrant diversity of Liverpool’s abundant musical heritage and demonstrate that folk music of all styles and origins are still the heart of Liverpool’s cultural identity.“
Other highlights include Martin Simpson and The Rough Island Band at the Bluecoat on Wednesday, Almanac Folk’s Twilight Garden Party at Sefton Park Palm House and, on Friday, an evening of live music celebrating the influence of American Country Music on Liverpool’s music scene.
LIVERPOOL Folk and Roots Festival takes place from November 21-28. Further details at www.liverpoolfolkandroots.com
