Boo Hewerdine & Brooks Williams - 'State of the Union' Autumn Tour 2017

BOO HEWERDINE & BROOKS WILLIAMS - 'State of the Union' Autumn Tour 2017 - More dates added (October) Boo & Brooks "Beautiful, classy playing and great songs" - Acoustic Magazine “Americana at its finest!” - fRoots STATE OF THE UNION will return with their third album for Reveal Records in Autumn 2017 and a concert tour with selected Summer Festival dates. Combining the mercurial talents of English songwriting legend Boo Hewerdine and acclaimed American Blues guitarist and songwriter Brooks Williams, State of the Union create a magical, stripped back and enthralling musical atmosphere, their performances consistently brilliant, equal parts emotive and entertaining. The original songs Hewerdine and Williams play are infused by a multitude of influences, from Willie Nelson to Johnny Cash, from the wide open Fenlands to the frenetic buzz of the city. Their recordings are made quickly, in most instances first take, live in the studio, but the sound this amazing acoustic duo capture is rich and expertly executed. About Boo Hewerdine & Brooks Williams Boo is perhaps best known from his years fronting much loved English rock band The Bible but he has since enjoyed a solo career spanning over two decades and written thousands of published songs including those for Eddi Reader, Sia, Chris Difford, Kris Drever and KD Lang. His most recent album “Swimming In Mercury” is due out in February 2017 on Reveal Records. Brooks Williams got his start in the clubs and bars in Boston USA (the same music scene that years earlier sparked the careers of Bonnie Raitt and Chris Smither) and from there he has toured in ever-widening circles for nearly three decades. In 2013 Williams was nominated best male vocalist by the UK’s foremost roots-music mavens, Spiral Earth. AmericanaUK says, “he has a beautiful voice that you just melt into.” He’s also ranked in the Top 100 Acoustic Guitarists. Over the years he has picked alongside Taj Mahal, John Hammond, Paul Jones, Little Feat, Maria Muldaur, Shawn Colvin and Leo Kottke, to name but a few. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO Boo & Brooks More about State of the Union, In conversation: How did you meet and when did you start playing music together? Brooks: “Boo invited me to step in last minute to play at his annual Christmas concert. I played a solo set and then sat in with Boo for a few songs. Even though we had never played together before it had a real magic feel to it. I think both of us knew there was something unique happening and worth exploring”. Boo: “Brooks came and played at one of my Christmas shows when there was so much snow my other guests couldn’t make it! It was magic and we decided to do more. We had actually met once before when Brooks interviewed me for a guitar magazine. Which is a bit like Muhammad Ali interviewing Eddie The Eagle….He is a guitar master!”. What are the main differences in your guitar styles / playing and approach to songwriting? Brooks: “On paper our two worlds are pretty far apart, but somehow we’re able to bring them together. It’s an overused phrase but I believe there is some real musical magic in State Of The Union. I like to think it gives us both the opportunity to showcase our ‘expected’ strengths, but also to explore and dig in to the other aspects of our music. In a way SOTU is an alter-ego”. Boo: “Brooks is a bluesman (of great subtlety) from Georgia and I was in an 80’s indie band….and yet it worked right away. I think the route of why it works musically is both of us have a love of good time… a sense of rhythm. And we both love the craft of writing”. What do you enjoy most about the duo’s live performances? Brooks: “It’s the whole package - getting to create a pretty big sound with just two guitars and two voices. Audiences from our earlier tours know what I mean. It’s fun. It’s big. And I’m not aware of anyone else doing it exactly like SOTU”. Boo: “It feels so much more than the sum of the parts…whenever we revisit SOTU it kicks into gear with ease, in a spooky way!”. What does State of The Union mean / why did you pick this band name ? Brooks: “Boo came up with the name. It represents us pretty well, I think. Two distinctly different musicians from different parts of the world with two different sets of influences coming together and making music. And even though on paper it shouldn’t work, there’s so much shared inspiration that it takes on a pretty cool life of its own”. Boo & Brooks MORE DATES ADDED FOR SELECTED SUMMER FESTIVALS & AUTUMN DATES: Friday 13 October Sun 15 October Mon 16 October Tues 17 October Weds 18 October Thurs 19 October Friday 20 October For selected Summer festival dates available please enquire. For all booking enquiries and details on availability please contact: GAIL COOKE LAUGHING DOG MUSIC 07905 952374 Click here for LAUGHING DOG MUSIC Click here for BROOKS WILLIAMS Click here for BOO HEWERDINE Click here for REVEAL RECORDS ©2017 Laughing Dog Music | Laughing Dog Music I I tel : + 44 (0) 7905 952374

Boo Hewerdine Dates Available in 2017

Band & solo dates for 2017 (April / May / June / Oct & Nov) "One of the country’s most consistently admired songwriters" - Folk Radio UK "Simple, po Band & solo dates for 2017 (April / May / June / Oct & Nov) Boo Hewerdine "One of the country’s most consistently admired songwriters" - Folk Radio UK "Simple, poetic reflections on life and love" - The Guardian Boo is well known as one of the greatest songwriter performers in the business, but incredibly, its been 7 years since Boo released his last studio album of original material 'God Bless The Pretty Things'. Not that he's been inactive, far from it, the period has been the most productive of his career. Boo wrote Radio Ballads for the BBC's Olympic and recent Child Migration series. There has been a huge array of writing and producing with both established and upcoming artists and passing something on to budding writers via his much loved song-writing workshops. Boo spent three years writing a daily blog which lead to podcast fun with that staff of The WORD (RIP) and invitations to join Radio broadcasts such as The Verb (BBC Radio 3) and a moment of personal satisfaction when his work was included in the radio round up Pick Of The Week on BBC Radio 4. Boo formed the duo State Of The Union with American guitarist Brooks Williams and recorded and released two albums and an EP, live in the studio with engineer Mark Freegard, the duo appeared on BBC1 TV Andrew Marr show performing their cover of Pet Shop Boys Rent. Boo has written lyrics and played on over 30 new recordings by and with other artists during the period including the acclaimed 2014 album (Vagabond) and 2015 EP (Back The Dogs) with Scottish singer Eddi Reader, Last Man Standing Ep (2015) with Kris Drever of Lau and Duke Special. Reveal Records compiled the first document of his career to date with a fine Best of compilation My Name In Brackets and swiftly followed that with an album of lost recordings found in a box! This album was Open which received five star reviews and was number 5 in the Telegraph Albums of The Year 2015. His new album Swimming in Mercury will be released in 2017. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO Boo Hewerdine Hewerdine says... “I felt like I had to wait for the right time to tell some old stories, working on the Best of compilation My Name In Brackets and finding the Open recordings took me back a little, each song a placed me in a memory. I soon realised I had to go further and revisit the time when I was first making music. Taking the bus down to Rough Trade in London with my demo tape Julia, playing cheap guitars with broken strings. For Swimming In Mercury and Born I have used instruments I’ve not used for years. The process has been more akin to when I was starting out in an indie band. I used my father’s old beat up piano and I wrote some songs with my son, Ben which was great. The lyrics came fast, I trusting my pen. Boo will also be touring with his band, here is the line-up: Boo - vocals and guitar Chris Pepper - drums Chris Bradbury - guitar and keyboards Mark Ellis - Bass CLICK HERE FOR BOO'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL Boo Hewerdine AVAILABILITY FOR 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 APRIL 2017 + 10 - 20 MAY + 25 - 30 JUNE + NOV 24 - 30 AND GENERAL ENQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT: gail@laughingdogmusic.co.uk ------MAY TOUR DATES WILL FEATURE FINDLAY NAPIER as SUPPORT------ Click here to go to LAUGHING DOG MUSIC Click here to go to BOO HEWERDINE Click here to go to REVEAL RECORDS

BOO HEWERDINE & BROOKS WILLIAMS - 'State of the Union' Autumn Tour 2017

BOO HEWERDINE & BROOKS WILLIAMS - 'State of the Union' Autumn Tour 2017 - Only a few dates remaining "Beautiful, classy playing and great songs" - Ac BOO HEWERDINE & BROOKS WILLIAMS - 'State of the Union' Autumn Tour 2017 - Only a few dates remaining Boo & Brooks "Beautiful, classy playing and great songs" - Acoustic Magazine “Americana at its finest!” - fRoots STATE OF THE UNION will return with their third album for Reveal Records in Autumn 2017 and a concert tour with selected Summer Festival dates. Combining the mercurial talents of English songwriting legend Boo Hewerdine and acclaimed American Blues guitarist and songwriter Brooks Williams, State of the Union create a magical, stripped back and enthralling musical atmosphere, their performances consistently brilliant, equal parts emotive and entertaining. The original songs Hewerdine and Williams play are infused by a multitude of influences, from Willie Nelson to Johnny Cash, from the wide open Fenlands to the frenetic buzz of the city. Their recordings are made quickly, in most instances first take, live in the studio, but the sound this amazing acoustic duo capture is rich and expertly executed. About Boo Hewerdine & Brooks Williams Boo is perhaps best known from his years fronting much loved English rock band The Bible but he has since enjoyed a solo career spanning over two decades and written thousands of published songs including those for Eddi Reader, Sia, Chris Difford, Kris Drever and KD Lang. His most recent album “Swimming In Mercury” is due out in February 2017 on Reveal Records. Brooks Williams got his start in the clubs and bars in Boston USA (the same music scene that years earlier sparked the careers of Bonnie Raitt and Chris Smither) and from there he has toured in ever-widening circles for nearly three decades. In 2013 Williams was nominated best male vocalist by the UK’s foremost roots-music mavens, Spiral Earth. AmericanaUK says, “he has a beautiful voice that you just melt into.” He’s also ranked in the Top 100 Acoustic Guitarists. Over the years he has picked alongside Taj Mahal, John Hammond, Paul Jones, Little Feat, Maria Muldaur, Shawn Colvin and Leo Kottke, to name but a few. Boo & Brooks More about State of the Union, In conversation: How did you meet and when did you start playing music together? Brooks: “Boo invited me to step in last minute to play at his annual Christmas concert. I played a solo set and then sat in with Boo for a few songs. Even though we had never played together before it had a real magic feel to it. I think both of us knew there was something unique happening and worth exploring”. Boo: “Brooks came and played at one of my Christmas shows when there was so much snow my other guests couldn’t make it! It was magic and we decided to do more. We had actually met once before when Brooks interviewed me for a guitar magazine. Which is a bit like Muhammad Ali interviewing Eddie The Eagle….He is a guitar master!”. What are the main differences in your guitar styles / playing and approach to songwriting? Brooks: “On paper our two worlds are pretty far apart, but somehow we’re able to bring them together. It’s an overused phrase but I believe there is some real musical magic in State Of The Union. I like to think it gives us both the opportunity to showcase our ‘expected’ strengths, but also to explore and dig in to the other aspects of our music. In a way SOTU is an alter-ego”. Boo: “Brooks is a bluesman (of great subtlety) from Georgia and I was in an 80’s indie band….and yet it worked right away. I think the route of why it works musically is both of us have a love of good time… a sense of rhythm. And we both love the craft of writing”. What do you enjoy most about the duo’s live performances? Brooks: “It’s the whole package - getting to create a pretty big sound with just two guitars and two voices. Audiences from our earlier tours know what I mean. It’s fun. It’s big. And I’m not aware of anyone else doing it exactly like SOTU”. Boo: “It feels so much more than the sum of the parts…whenever we revisit SOTU it kicks into gear with ease, in a spooky way!”. What does State of The Union mean / why did you pick this band name ? Brooks: “Boo came up with the name. It represents us pretty well, I think. Two distinctly different musicians from different parts of the world with two different sets of influences coming together and making music. And even though on paper it shouldn’t work, there’s so much shared inspiration that it takes on a pretty cool life of its own”. Boo & Brooks BOOKING NOW FOR SELECTED SUMMER FESTIVALS 2017 & AUTUMN DATES: Monday 18 September Tues 19 September Weds 20 September Sat 23 September Sun 01 October Monday 02 October Sunday 08 October For all booking enquiries and details on availability please contact: GAIL COOKE LAUGHING DOG MUSIC gail@laughingdogmusic.co.uk   Click here for LAUGHING DOG MUSIC Click here for BROOKS WILLIAMS Click here for BOO HEWERDINE Click here for REVEAL RECORDS

A Happy New Year From Topic Records

‘AND WE WISH YOU, SEND YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR.' The New Year starts with 2 nights of wonderful music from the first family of English folk music, as The Scarborough Spa Theatre plays host to NORMAFEST - a celebration of Norma Waterson featuring the great lady herself, with The Gift Band (Norma, Eliza Carthy, Martin Carthy, Neil MacColl and Kate St. John), Eddi Reader, The Waterson Family, Boo Hewerdine, and the Marry Waterson Band. This splendid event takes place on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th January, with tickets available for one or both nights, and is a rare opportunity to experience the power and beauty of a live performance by Norma Waterson. January special offers To celebrate NORMAFEST, Topic is offering a selection of seminal albums by Norma, Eliza Carthy and Waterson:Carthy at the very special price of only £6 each:   TSCD 475 ~ WATERSON:CARTHY  Waterson:Carthy TSCD 488 ~ WATERSON:CARTHY  Common Tongue TSCD 489 ~ ELIZA CARTHY  & The Kings of Calicutt TSCD 520 ~ NORMA WATERSON  Bright Shiny Morning TSCD 536 ~ WATERSON:CARTHY  A Dark Light TSCD 542 ~ WATERSON:CARTHY  Fishes & Fine Yellow Sand          Our good friends at Fledg’ling Records are marking the recent anniversary of CHRIS McGREGOR’s birth (on Christmas Eve, 1936), with a special offer on four stunning albums of his music for just £21 the set:      FLED 3059 ~ The CHRIS McGREGOR GROUP  Very Urgent FLED 3069 ~ The CHRIS McGREGOR SEPTET  Up to Earth FLED 3070 ~ The CHRIS McGREGOR TRIO  Our Prayer FLED 3081 ~ CHRIS McGREGOR  Sea Breezes    Celtic Connections 2016 Throughout the second half of January, Glasgow becomes a magnet for music fans, with over 2000 artists performing in 300 events across 20 venues during Celtic Connections 2016. Martin Simpson is one of the headline acts on the bill of  a concert taking place on 2 nights in tribute to Bert Jansch. Entitled ‘Bert Inspired: A Concert for Bert Jansch’, these take place on Sunday 31st January and Monday 1st February. More details on this and many other events can be found by following the link: Celtic Connections As part of the Bert Inspired strand at Celtic Connections 2016, Anne Briggs will make a very rare personal appearance in conversation with Pete Paphides, following a screening of the 1992 documentary film ‘Acoustic Routes’ at The Glasgow Film Theatre on Sunday 31st January. Anne will talk about life in the Scottish and London folk scenes with Bert Jansch in the 1960s. Tickets for this unmissable event are available by clicking this link: Anne Briggs   With all best wishes for 2016 from all at Topic