Cara Dillon

Winner of 2010 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards - Best Album (Hill of Thieves)

Winner of 2010 Spiral Awards – Best Female Singer and Best Traditional Song (Jimmy Mó Mhile Stór)

Cara Dillon “may well be the world’s most beautiful female voice”. (MOJO)

Born in Dungiven, in County Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1975, Cara was brought up in a close musical family, in an area steeped in traditional music and heritage. She displayed a striking vocal talent at just 14, winning the All Ireland Traditional Singing Trophy, and whilst still a teenager she went on to sing with Oige, De Dannan and the folk ‘supergroup’ Equation, where she met her husband and musical collaborator, Sam Lakeman.

Her first solo album was released in 2001 to wide critical acclaim. The combination of Cara’s expressive vocals with Sam’s rippling piano accompaniment, as well as his somewhat understated album arrangements, was unrivalled in the industry – recognised through the shower of accolades that followed, including BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for Best Traditional Track and the Horizon Award. The self-titled album swiftly placed Cara as one of the leading lights of the worldwide folk scene, where she has remained since.

One of Cara’s most famous tracks is her take on Tommy Sands’ heartbreaking narrative about the Northern Ireland conflict. Originally recorded at the behest of Billy Connolly to accompany his TV series looking at Great Britain, There Were Roses is a rare, overtly political, song in Cara’s repertoire, and one that saw her win the 2004 Irish Meteor Award for Best Female Singer, from a shortlist of nominees including Sinead O’Connor, Enya and Roisin Murphy. She gained further national acclaim when, in 2006, Never in a Million Years, a track penned between herself and Lakeman, featured on BBC Radio 2’s playlist for six weeks.

Cara’s unique ability to find a song’s soul and imbue material with not only a profound sweetness, but also poignancy and depth, has kept her in high demand throughout the last decade. Her touring schedule has seen her sell out auditoriums as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and China, as well as the USA and Europe.

2009 was a particularly successful year for Cara, whose fourth album, Hill of Thieves, was released to the widest acclaim yet – reaffirming her place at the very top of her field. Her gentle charm and natural personality combine with her stunning vocals into a mesmerizing gift of a performance.

We’ve been trying to get her to Orkney for many years now, and are elated to have finally got her here for the festival – not to be missed!

Cara will be accompanied in Orkney by Sam Lakeman, on piano and guitar, and Irish flute and whistle master, Brian Finnegan.



“Cara Dillon is, without exaggeration, amongst the very finest to be heard today.” fRoots

“The Irish, of course, breed prize-winning musicians like racehorses, but even among these Dillon is a wonder – wide-eyed all-Ireland champion…Dillon’s vocals, expressive beyond her years, are right on the money.” Q

“Dillon’s crystalline, angelic voice, is an instrument of rare beauty, capable of melting the sternest of hearts.” BBC

“Her singing is never less than beautiful.” Bright Young Folk

more @ www.caradillon.co.uk
www.myspace.com/caradillon

Tim O'Brien and Kris Drever

Grammy Award-winner O’Brien is a multi-instrumental American country and bluegrass musician. In addition to singing, he plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bouzouki and mandocello.

Originally from Wheeling, West Virginia, but now based in Colorado, O’Brien grew up in the 1960s and 70s with his ears wide open to the melting pot music scene surrounding him, as well as the likes of the Beatles on the radio. As a teenager he taught himself to play the guitar, fiddle and mandolin, and in 1973, at 19, he dropped out of college and moved to Colorado to pursue music professionally.

In Colorado, he met guitarist Charles Sawtelle, banjoist Pete Wernick, and bassist/vocalist Nick Forster, with whom he formed Hot Rize in 1978. Over the next twelve years, the quartet earned recognition as one of America’s most innovative and entertaining bluegrass bands. Never straying too far from a traditional sound, Hot Rize stood out amongst the competition. In 1990 the group won the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Entertainer of the year award, and in 1993, and then again in 2006, O’Brien took the honours of IBMA Male Vocalist of the year.

A worldwide touring artiste, O’Brien is recognized as a pioneer in crossing musical genres. Of his latest album, he said:

“I could have taken all traditional songs, but I love stuff like California Blues and Busted, which are like folk songs to me, and they fit with the others, and it shows that what is called country music is just another footstep down the same path. Rock and roll, a lot of that is the same too.”

To date, Tim has released more than ten studio albums, and has had a top ten hit in the USA Billboard Hot Country Singles – he is literally one of the best in the business!

Tim will perform in alongside Orkney's own Kris Drever - for information on Kris, visit Lau's page.

more @
www.timobrien.net
www.myspace.com/timobrienmusic

www.krisdrever.com
www.myspace.com/krisdrevermusic

Lau

Winner of 2010 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards - Best Group

Returning to Orkney after a four-year absence, Lau is the powerhouse trio of Orcadian Kris Drever (guitar and vocals), Martin Green (accordion) and Aidan O’Rourke (fiddle).

Since last visiting the festival, in 2006, they have released three albums – Lightweights and Gentlemen (2007), Lau Live (2008) and Arc Light (2009). A host of accolades have also been bestowed upon the trio, including the Best Group honours at both the 2008 and 2009 BBC Folk Awards. Lau have been described as a formidable union of three of the fines and most innovative exponents of modern traditional music in Scotland today, and, individually, you can see why:

Kris Drever has been in high demand as a full-time band member, and session musician, since moving to Edinburgh in 1995. Some of the groups and musicians he has worked with include: Eamonn Coyne, Heidi Talbot, Session A9, John McCusker and Roddy Woomble, Fine Friday, The Battlefield Band, Roseanne Cash, Kathie Ryan, Harem Scarem, Clare McLaughlin, Kate Rusby, and his father, Ivan Drever.

Martin Green grew up playing English and Irish traditional music in the south of England. He has played and collaborated with many of the great English singers and musicians including Martin Carthy, Norma Waterson, Kathryn Tickell, Linda Thompson, and Eliza Carthy. A keen composer and experimental performer, Martin can also be seen and heard indulging his musical fantasies heading up his own project – The Green Machine.

Hailing from Oban, on the western coast of Scotland, Aidan O’Rourke is one of the country’s finest modern-day fiddlers. He has been performing constantly since the tender age of 15, and has toured extensively throughout Europe and North America, cementing his reputation as one of the most expressive and dynamic musicians in the country. Audiences will recognise Aidan from Blazin’ Fiddles, however he is also a sought-after session musician, having featured on over 60 albums ranging from Runrig to Michael McGoldrick and Karen Mathieson.

Over the last four years Lau have become one of the most sought-after Scottish acts on the UK and worldwide festival scene – make sure to see them in Orkney and find out why.


more @ www.lau-music.co.uk
www.myspace.com/laumusic

Shee (The)

The Shee are an exceptional all-female band, showcasing powerful vocals and instrumental prowess. Described as “flirtatiously funky” by The Scotsman, as well as “boasting some of folk music’s cutting-edge instrumentalists and singers”, by the Daily Record, their music features original compositions alongside a wealth of traditional material.

Their adventurous brew of Scottish folk, Gaelic song and bluegrass has earned them a fast growing recognition. As well as successful performances at numerous festivals, including Celtic Connections and Sidmouth Folk Week, The Shee demonstrate an impressive array of individual musical achievements, including BBC Radio Scotland's Young Traditional Musician 2006 and a BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician finalist from 2005. The band members’ alter-egos also perform with a number of highly acclaimed traditional music groups, such as the Kathryn Tickell Band, Scandinavian group Frigg, and the Scottish folk big band The Unusual Suspects.

On fiddle are Shona Mooney and Olivia Ross, who also lends her talents to the viola, whilst Rachel Newton and Laura Salter also feature on strings – Rachel on electric harp, and Laura on the mandolin. Olivia, Rachel and Laura also provide the group with stunning vocals. Lillias Kinsman-Blake features on the flute, whilst accordionist Amy Thatcher also plays (wait for it)….the clogs.


“The Shee were a revelation. The real surprise package of the festival. Their music and singing took the place by storm – fabulous stuff!” Eddie Upton – Artistic Director, Sidmouth Folk Week


more @ www.theshee.com
www.myspace.com/theshee

New Rope String Band (The)

“What on earth was that!?”

“It’s cabaret, but it’s folk music…”

Most people struggle to adequately describe the New Rope experience… preferring to drag their friends along to the next gig so that they too can witness the strange spectacle.

The New Rope String Band is made of four talented musicians, playing beautiful and invigorating acoustic music from various traditions around the world. Anyone familiar with the Old Rope String Band will recall experienced old-hands Pete Challoner and Tim Dalling, who have now joined forces with respected old-time musicians Jock Tyldesley and Vera van Heeringen. Between them, the foursome sing, dance and play their hearts out on fiddles, guitar, piano accordion, mandolin, and anything else that comes to hand.

Despite this evident musical prowess and sophistication, most audiences choose to laugh at them! The New Rope’s inimitable show delights all the senses, except, perhaps, smell. Expect gorgeous music, exuberant theatrics and boundless energy – what could possibly go wrong?

Most people enjoy the New Ropes, a lot. Including us - we saw them at the Shetland Folk Festival in 2009, and had to have them entertain Orkney this year!


more @ www.newropestringband.co.uk
www.myspace.com/newropestringband

Blyde Lasses

Blyde Lasses are a dynamic young female duo who perform traditional Shetland and Scottish music on fiddle and concertina. Their timeless renditions of age-old tunes have become popular across North-East Scotland and beyond in recent years.

Claire White is a Shetlander, born and bred. She learned the fiddle with Dr Tom Anderson from the age of seven, and played as a member of Shetland's Young Heritage in Europe, New Zealand, the USA and Canada. She is now based in Aberdeen and plays regularly in popular ceilidh bands Danse McCabre and Jing Bang. In her day job, she brings all sorts of stories to the airwaves as a BBC Producer.

Frances Wilkins first started playing English Concertina in sessions in Shetland before moving to London where she studied music at the School of Oriental and African Studies. She holds a PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of Aberdeen, where she is a researcher and visiting tutor. She also plays with Danse McCabre and in Ellefish, and regularly teaches concertina and mixed instrument classes in traditional music.

Highlights of the ‘Lasses performances include spots at the Scottish Government St Andrew’s Day concert, the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention in Canada in 2008, and a performance aboard the Glenlee tall ship at Partick Folk Festival in 2009.


more @ www.myspace.com/blydelasses

Iain Cathcart Scottish Dance Band

Bandleader Iain Cathcart has an impressive musical pedigree, having previously played with such notable Scottish Dance Bands as those of Marian Anderson, James Coutts, Bill Black, Ian Muir, Gordon Shand and The Glencraig Band. 

His first gig as a bandleader was at Beith Accordion and Fiddle Club in 1990, and since then he and his band have been going from strength to strength. The Iain Cathcart Scottish Dance Band made their first Take the Floor broadcast in February 1993, and have been heard regularly on the programme over the last seventeen years. The band’s debut CD As If By Magic was released to huge acclaim after ten years of the band performing together, with another release on the horizon.

Iain is a member of the Executive Committee of The National Association of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs, and is the organiser of the annual Stanley Ceilidh Weekend that has raised thousands of pounds for charity. Iain also regularly acts as an adjudicator at festivals and competitions, so dancers can rest assured they are in good hands!


more @ www.iaincathcart.com

Foghorn Stringband

Hailing from Portland, Oregon, the Foghorn Stringband produces a collective sound that will transport audiences across to 1950s mid-western America. Their tight instrumental work and line-up - fiddle, banjo, mandolin, bass, guitar and vocals - is reminiscent of early bluegrass, but their powerful approach is whole-heartedly old-time, centered largely by the fiddle. Devoted to the interpretation and performance of American stringband music, their style encompasses early country music, the fiddle repertoire of the Southern Appalachians and the Midwest, and the stringband sounds of the Piedmont region.

They are highly regarded by traditional music lovers, and have recently been tapped by one of the country's most renowned musicians of the genre, Dirk Powell, to perform as the Dirk Powell Band. While they are committed to playing authentic old-time music, the members of Foghorn Stringband are not strict recreationists in costume; yet neither are they experimentalists of the digital age. Whether it's on stage in a rock venue, a bluegrass festival, or at a barndance in a country hall, they further this great tradition through a profound belief that old-time music, played in a traditional way, is still relevant and very much alive in the 21st century.

Together their music has an easy and natural honesty that comes from their stripped-down approach to performing live. Owing their existence to a particularly inspiring jam session on the campground of the National Fiddle Championships in Weiser, Idaho, they seek to retain this refreshing and spontaneous feel on the stage. They play seated, gathered around one microphone, and do not use monitors. This gives all of their live performances a front porch feel that draws in and connects with the audience like family.

In their words – “no matter what the venue, this is what old time music is all about”.


more @ www.foghornstringband.com
www.myspace.com/foghornstringband

Stambordet

Crossing the North Sea to join us in Orkney is Stambordet – an acoustic Norweigan band that fuses their local tunes and songs with new musical concepts and compositions, resulting in an altogether modern Scandinavian, yet bluegrass-tinged, sound.

Using the age-old traditions of their native Bjerkeim as a starting point, Stambordet have placed their own stamp on material to shape it to their own unique sound. In some places they add to the traditional material, in others they simply extract a phrase or pattern and work with it – either way creating new, traditional, Norwegian material. As well as drawing from their rich heritage, all five members are keen composers, and so the group has also built up an impressive repertoire of self-penned tunes and songs.

Originally a trio of guitar, bass and banjo, the threesome soon expanded to its current line-up of five members, including vocals, fiddle and acoustic and resonator guitars.

Stambordet attended the Orkney Folk Festival last year as visitors (sailing from Norway in their own boat, we should add!), and provided us with some fantastic informal performances. It’s only right, then, that we should have them back this year as a billed act, so that many more folk can hear them over the weekend.


more @ www.stambordet.com
www.myspace.com/stambordet

Bella Hardy

Though only 25 years old, Bella has already been nominated three times in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and has been well known on the folk circuit for many years, playing fiddle in a variety of popular line-ups as a teenager and reaching the finals of the BBC Young Folk Awards in 2004.

However, it was following the launch of her debut album Night Visiting in 2007 that she quickly rose to become one of the shining lights of the folk scene, famed for entwining her hypnotic voice with her own fiddle accompaniment to stunning effect. Night Visiting secured Bella a raft of rave reviews, and 2008 saw a packed year of gigs and festival appearances. In July 2008, Bella was invited to perform in two concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall as part of the first ever Folk Prom. The programme was broadcast simultaneously on BBC4 and BBC Radio 3. She also appeared on BBC2 on Christmas Day, singing the Coventry Carol in Howard Goodall’s The Truth about Carols.

Originally from Edale in Derbyshire's Dark Peak, Ella was always singing as a child. Edale was the ideal place to nurture her evident natural ability, with an abundance of communal song. At 18, Bella followed her love of stories and moved to York to study English literature. She spent three years singing with trio Ola, and in 2004 she entered the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards as a solo artist. She got through the semis as an unaccompanied singer and went into the finals as a fiddler/singer. After a few years hibernation, during which time she gained a Masters in Music from Newcastle University, Bella decided the time had come to make singing her main priority.

On her latest album, In The Shadow of Mountains, Bella presents a selection of new works, including Sylvie Sovay, a modern look at the story of traditional song Sovay Sovay. It is a remarkably assured album from an impressive young woman who presents folk songs in the best tradition, not as antiquated museum pieces but as relevant and very human artworks.

Bella will be accompanied in Orkney by Anna Massie.

more @ www.bellahardy.com
www.myspace.com/bellahardymusic  

R Cajun and the Zydeco Brothers

Twenty-six years in the making, R Cajun is Britain’s most widely known Cajun band. Since the early 1980s they have played a major part in creating the UK’s interest in Cajun music, and are commonly acknowledged as a pioneering force that has inspired many other bands in the industry to join the genre.

R Cajun are popular throughout Britain and abroad, having released seven albums, made numerous radio and television appearances, and introduced thousands to the dance music of the Louisiana bayous. As well as the best Cajun music you can hear this side of Lafayette, the band also take influence from Zydeco, Swamp Pop and Louisiana Blues.

The band combine the traditional line-up of accordion, fiddle, guitar and triangle with bass and drums to create a full, rich sound – one we’re sure will fill the dancefloors throughout Orkney.


“Widely regarded as the most authentic and exciting Cajun band in the country” – The Observer

“A Cajun equivalent to the Beatles at the Cavern!” – The Daily Telegraph


more @ www.swampmusic.co.uk/bands/rcajun.html

Face the West

Joining us from the Isle of Lewis, in Scotland’s outer Hebridean islands, are the young, yet well-established, celtic-rock band Face the West. 

Nominees for Live Act of the Year at the 2009 Scots Trad Music Awards, the band have an impressive array of gigging credits to their name - previous appearances have included main stage performances at the Hebridean Celtic Festival in 2009 and Ironworks in Inverness.

We’re delighted to welcome them on their first visit to Orkney, and are sure that their hearty mix of fiddle, accordion, guitar, drums, keys, synths and vocals will be the perfect ingredients for sessions throughout the weekend, as well as Saturday’s Academy Club. With an average age of just 21, we can’t think of anyone more qualified to ensure the party goes with a bang!

“Wow! Face the West were storming!” – Caroline Maclennan, Director, Hebridean Celtic Festival

“…they occupied the stage and spotlight like seasoned professionals…” – Hebridean Celtic Festival Review, 2009

more @ www.facethewest.co.uk

www.myspace.com/facethewest

Scott Gardiner

Scott Gardiner is one of Scotland’s top traditional singers, and has been performing at concerts and festivals across the country since his schooldays. Brought up on a family farm near Forfar, he is best known for singing the bothy ballads and songs of the north-east. As a young singer, his formative influences were Jim Reid, Joe Aitken, and Tam Reid. He has been a guest at festivals in Scotland, England, and the USA. Career highlights include representing Scotland at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in the USA, winning the Bothy Ballad World Championship in Elgin, a nomination for Scots Singer of the year at the 2007 Scots Trad Music Awards and a 20-year run of performances at the Kirrie Pensioners Christmas Party.

Scott is joined by ace guitarist Johnny Kemp, who went through years in the wilderness of rock, blues and funk outfits, before working his way round to bothy. John plays bass with ceilidh band Teannaich, and is involved with various musical projects in his native Anstruther.

Bevvy Sisters

The Bevvy Sisters produce harmonies last heard “when men had shooters under their suits and women on their arms” (Scotland on Sunday).

Combining the vocal styles eminent in swing, Americana, jazz, country and barbershop, Heather Macleod, Lindsey Black and Kaela Rowan are swiftly re-inventing the Scottish vocal trio and becoming a must-see act, earning a host of outstanding reviews and praise on the way. Backed by acoustic guitar, drums and bass guitar, the group produce “the silkiest, sultriest, sauciest harmonies ever likely to caress your ears” (Sue Wilson, folk music critic).

Ahead of releasing their debut album, St James Sessions, at this year’s Celtic Connections, in January, the group had already received a tide of advanced radio airplay within both Scotland and the UK, including airings on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio Scotland, Celtic Music Radio and The Jazz Café. During the week of its launch, St James Sessions was also featured as album of the week on Radio Nan Gaidheal.

Following the release, things are looking very promising for the Sisters’ 2010; four star reviews of both the album and live concert were followed by the Celtic Connections’ artistic director, Donald Shaw, including them in his highlights of the three-week long festival. The Scotsman hailed their live set as one that “started off at excellent, progressed swiftly to stunning, and fetched up as positively spectacular”.

more @  www.myspace.com/thebevvysisters
  

Breabach

Breabach are one of the most inventive and diverse bands to have emerged from the Scottish folk scene in recent years. From their foot-stomping reels to their heartwarming delivery of songs, there can be no doubt why Breabach has become a household name for many on the folk and roots music scene.

Nominated in the Scots Trad Music Awards for ‘Best Up and Coming Artist’ in 2006 and ‘Best Folk Band’ in 2007 and 2008, Breabach’s huge sound is dominated by the twin Bagpipes of Calum MacCrimmon and Donal Brown. This uncompromising force is complemented by the extraordinary fiddle playing of Patsy Reid and is further supported by the charismatic yet propulsive guitar playing of Ewan Robertson, the BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2008. Double bassist James Lindsay has also recently been added to the line-up, contributing towards a punch-packing, yet impeccably tight, overall sound.

As one of the most versatile outfits to grace the folk scene, Breabach never fail to impress their audience with their collective charm and talents. Ewan Roberston and Patsy Reid share the vocal duties whilst multi-instrumentalists Calum MacCrimmon and Donal Brown alternate between pipes, flute, whistle, bouzouki and step-dance. One by one, these musical gems are unleashed like musical artillery, and to breathtaking effect.

As a quartet, Breabach last visited Orkney in 2008 after the release of their debut album The Big Spree. 2008 revealed further success with a bounty of UK festival appearances and tours of England, Wales and Western Europe. Having kicked off 2009 in style at Glagsow’s Celtic Connections, Breabach undertook a nationwide tour last spring, followed by the recording of their hotly anticipated second album, The Desperate Battle of the Birds. The album was released at Celtic Connections 2010, when James joined the line-up, and was followed immediately by a Scottish tour with Canadian group Le Vent du Nord. Further touring and festival appearances are scheduled for 2010, with the year looking to be another very busy one for this leading Scottish act.

"…stirring tunes and top notch songs… there will be few who can sit still when listening to these brilliant tunes, brilliantly played.” (Debbie Koritsas, Living Tradition)

more @ www.breabach.com

www.myspace.com/breabach

Leeshinat

A young dance band from Shetland, Leeshinat formed in 2004. Fronted by the twin of accordions of Darren Stewart and Brenden Scollay, with Dana Stewart on keyboards and John Leask on drums, the group play a modern interpretation of traditional Scottish dance music, with a Shetland twist.

Their name is the Shetland dialect for “going for it”, which is certainly fitting given their approach to their music. Incorporating influences from Shetland, Norsk, Celtic, Irish and Jazz music, the group are proudly taking dance music to new dimensions, having carved out their own distinct sound.

Shetland's Heritage Fiddlers

Never were a group of musicians so aptly named. The Heritage Fiddlers, as they are now known, were brought together under the watchful, and greatly revered, eye of Dr. Tom Anderson MBE; perhaps Shetland’s most prolific fiddler to date. Originally Shetland’s Young Heritage, the group felt they “couldna git awa wi da young bit onymare, so wir noo kent as Shetland’s Heritage Fiddlers”.

Together for almost 30 years, Shetland’s Heritage Fiddlers have performed at almost every Shetland Folk Festival. Album releases together with national and international tours inevitably followed, with the group also making visits abroad, as far afield as New Zealand and the USA – including a performance at the White House, no less.

The group revel in recording, preserving and promoting the unique traditional Shetland style of fiddling – a style regarded, by many, as being single-handedly resurrected by the late Tom Anderson. Following his death, in 1991, the group has endured to keep his substantial legacy alive.

Photo © Craig Chapman

Alasdair White

Alasdair White is a Scottish fiddle player from the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, well known as the Battlefield Band’s virtuoso fiddler since 2001. His playing and self-penned compositions offer a panorama of the exciting traditional music of Scotland as a whole, though is greatly reflective of his upbringing in Scotland’s north-west, where the Hebridean Gaelic and piping traditions are most prominent. In the past decade, his musicianship and writing have had a great influence on Battlefield Band’s repertoire and continuing success, and playing with them has given him the wider audience that his music deserves.

Having been highly regarded since his early teens, Alasdair’s first solo album, An Clàr Geal, was released in 2006 to great critical acclaim, winning an American Independent Music Award for Best World Traditional Album.

Alasdair also plays with Face the West, and will be treating Orkney audiences to a couple of solo performances early in the weekend, ahead of the band’s arrival.


“The best thing to come out of Lewis since Charles Macleod’s black pudding.” Rob Adams

“There is a real grist and texture to Alasdair White’s fiddle playing (the smallest guy in the band comes close to stealing the show at times).” Paul Matheson, Folk Roots

“White comes from Lewis, and plays with a muscular gracefulness that confirms the piping tradition’s strong influence. He recalls the sweet attach of Irish fiddlers like Paddy Glackin…” The Glasgow Herald

more @ www.alasdairwhite.com

www.myspace.com/alasdairwhite

Long Gone Lonesome

The Orkney-based production of Long Gone Lonesome, a collaboration between the Lone Star Swing Band and the National Theatre of Scotland, will be staged in the county again this May, in conjunction with the Orkney Folk Festival.

After a critically acclaimed tour of Scotland last autumn, as well as a sold-out run at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival, in January, the show will play in Orkney over the weekend of May 21-23; the weekend before the main four-days of the folk festival. Performances will take place in Westray, on Friday, May 21, Kirkwall, on Saturday, May 22, and finally in Stromness, on Sunday, May 23.

Long Gone Lonesome, a celebration of the life of Thomas Fraser, is an evening of song and story-telling in the hands of Orcadian western-swingers The Lone Star Swing Band, with novelist, playwright and musician Duncan McLean at the helm. Thomas Fraser (1927 - 1978) was a fisherman and crofter from the remote island of Burra, Shetland - and one of Scotland’s least known but most fascinating musical heroes. Obsessed with country and the blues, Thomas mastered the styles of his idols, such as Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams and Big Bill Broonzy, and made their songs his own. A shy, retiring man, he avoided public performance. Instead, he gave away to family and friends tapes he lovingly recorded in the croft. Thomas laughed at the idea that the wider world might appreciate his talent. But thirty years after his untimely death, those precious, fragile tapes have been reissued on several CDs, and his fame has spread to Nashville…

An evening designed to set your toes tapping, your heart racing and your emotions running high, Long Gone Lonesome “is both a defiant riposte to the cult of celebrity and a yodelling hoedown in its own right” (The Guardian).

This event is kindly sponsored by Talisman Energy

James Grieve Band

James and Ellen Grieve are a son and mother duo from the Orkney island of Rousay. They form the core of the James Grieve Dance Band, playing for traditional Scottish, ceilidh, or mixed dances.

As a duo, their main influences are traditional Scottish and Irish music. Both James and Ellen play accordion, with James alternating between the box and acoustic guitar, and Ellen also providing vocals. For concerts they provide a mixture of songs and tunes, interspersed with plenty humour and banter.