The Latest News From Fledg'ling Records November 2016

"our nearest star" Shirley Collins has been one of our dearest friends and loyal supporters ever since Fledg'ling Records began in 1994. We are thrilled beyond words that she has returned to recording after 38 years. Lodestar is released today, Friday 4th November, on the Domino label. It is an absolutely wonderful album - austere, full of foreboding and stunningly beautiful. Undoubtedly one of the finest recordings of the year. “… picking her way back across almost a century, finding for herself the traditional heart of each song… What comes through is sincerity, purity of instinct, and a tremendous depth of feeling.” Alan Lomax Fledg'ling has helped to keep much of Shirley's back catalogue in print over the past twenty years. During November we are celebrating the release of Lodestar with some special offers. The perfect opportunity to fill the gaps in your music collection, or to give as splendid gifts for friends:  During November these early Shirley albums are priced at only £6.00 each:         FLED 3029  SHIRLEY COLLINS ~ False True Lovers FLED 3080  SHIRLEY COLLINS ~ Sweet England FLED 3028  SHIRLEY COLLINS ~ The Power Of The True Love Knot FLED 3023  SHIRLEY COLLINS ~ Adieu To Old England FLED 3019  SHIRLEY & DOLLY COLLINS ~ For as Many As Will FLED 3057  SHIRLEY & DOLLY COLLINS ~ Snapshots We have a very limited stock of the souvenir programme from Shirley's 80th Birthday event at the Southbank in July 2015. Special November price only £12.00: SHIRLEY COLLINS ~ All In The Downs with 7" single     WING 1001  SHIRLEY COLLINS ~ The Foggy Dew WING 1002  SHIRLEY COLLINS ~ English Songs WING 1004  SHIRLEY COLLINS ~ English Songs volume 2 MARTIN SIMPSON & DOM FLEMONS ~ Ever Popular Favourites Stocks of the vinyl LP are disappearing fast! We are currently preparing some exciting new releases for early next year. The first is a previously unreleased 1993 recording of the JOHN SURMAN / JOHN WARREN BRASS BAND with a specially composed suite by John Warren. DAPHNE'S FLIGHT have just finished recording a second album Knows Place, Knows Time which is stunningly beautiful. The album will be released in time for their 21st Anniversary Spring tour. Watch this space. N E W   W E B S I T E We have a shiny new home on the Internet: www.fledglingrecords.co.uk

The Latest News from Fledg'ling Records October 2016

Dear Keith Martin Simpson & Dom Flemons release their splendid new album today! Resulting from an EFDSS commission in 2014 these two maestros explore the common threads of their folk and early blues repertoire. Ever Popular Favourites is now available  on CD / LP / DL. Dom ~ “We explored how folk songs travelled between England and North America. Martin and I have a shared interest in the early American Songsters. He told me that even though he doesn’t generally play their songs he is a fan of people like Henry Thomas and Peg Leg Howell. We also spoke of our mutual admiration of revivalists and folksingers like Mike Seeger and UK collectors like Peter Kennedy and Seamus Ennis.” Martin ~ “It was so easy to find a repertoire in common with Dom, I immediately felt at ease and at home with all the music we discovered we shared. I was overjoyed when the quills and bones and banjo and Dom’s wonderful energy emerged on the first rehearsal, it reinvigorated songs and styles for me.” "That Flemons and Simpson can rework and revive the tensions and turmoils that fester in blues and folk music is the deepest tribute a musician can pay to their forebears, as well as the only way to bring those ghosts back to life." FRUK   "The musicianship is exemplary, with each performer supporting and enhancing each other's songs - Simpson with guitar and banjo, Flemons with those plus bones, quills and harmonicas. Even on an audio recording there's a real sense of joy taken in each other's company and performance styles." fROOTS You can follow this link to preview John Hardy Track list: 1 My Money Never Runs Out, 2 John Hardy, 3 If I Lose, 4 Little Sadie, 5 Pay Day, 6 Short Times Come Again No More, 7 Too Long (I’ve Been Gone), 8 Bulldoze Blues, 9 Stealin’, 10 Champagne Charlie, 11 Coalman Blues, 12 Buckeye Jim. MARTIN SIMPSON ~ vocals, guitar, banjo DOM FLEMONS ~ vocals, bones, banjo, quills, harmonica, electric kettle ALL orders received before midnight on Monday 10th October will receive a FREE set of SIMPSON & FLEMONS button badges: Ever Popular Favourites pinned insignia. During October we have a special offer on these two fabulous early Martin Simpson albums at only £6.00 each:   FLED 3021  MARTIN SIMPSON ~ Grinning In Your Face FLED 3022  MARTIN SIMPSON ~ Sad Or High Kicking   Back in 1996, when Fledg'ling was barely fledged, five wonderful singers - Christine Collister, Melanie Harrold, Julie Matthews, Helen Watson and Chris While - were kind enough to trust us with their debut Daphne's Flight album. Fast forward twenty years and we're going to do it all over again. They have just finished recording a second album which is stunningly beautiful. More news in the next newsletter. Best wishes and many thanks for continuing to support Fledg'ling. N E W   W E B S I T E We have a shiny new home on the Internet: www.fledglingrecords.co.uk

Lots of news from Topic Records

the sun he is a-drawing to the west, to the west After a summer full of festivals in the sun, Topic looks forward to more great music, recorded and live, along with some very special offers from our back-catalogue. MARTIN SIMPSON ~ Photo by Sandy McGhie After a very busy summer touring solo and with Dom Flemons (The American Songster), Martin Simpson already has a pretty full touring schedule planned, beginning in September with the following dates: Friday 16th September – GUILDFORD – The Electric Theatre Saturday 17th September – SUDBURY – Quay Theatre Friday 23rd September – ST HELENS – The Citadel Arts Centre Saturday 24th September – KIRKGATE, Cockermouth – The Kirkgate Centre Sunday 25th September – LANGHOLM, Dumfriesshire – The Buccleuch Centre Monday 26th September – EDINBURGH – Traverse Theatre Friday 30th September – HEBDEN BRIDGE – Wadsworth Community Centre Also, as part of Nancy Kerr’s ‘Words and Music’ events at Kings Place, on Friday 2nd December, SimpsonŸCuttingŸKerr join forces with author Rob Cowen, exploring different ways of writing about nature and wildlife: Words & Music at King's Place  Our monthly special offers are a great way of filling the gaps in your music collection, or to give as splendid gifts for friends. Topic’s special offers for September are seven classic albums by Martin Simpson at the very special price of only £6 each:           SIMPCD001   BOOTLEG USA TSCD 513   THE BRAMBLE BRIAR TSCD 540   RIGHTEOUSNESS & HUMIDITY TSCD 567   PRODIGAL SON TSCD 578   TRUE STORIES TSCD 584   PURPOSE & GRACE TSCD 589   VAGRANT STANZAS Eliza Carthy & The Wayward Band have been playing stunning live sets at festivals during the summer months, and have a fabulous new album ‘Big Machine’, coming soon. Eliza appears with dad Martin Carthy and The Gift Band at the Lyme Regis Folk Weekend on Sunday 11th September, then has the following Wayward Band dates booked: Thursday 3rd November – BURY ST EDMUNDS – The Apex Friday 4th November – HASTINGS – St Mary in the Castle Saturday 5th November – LONDON – Islington Assembly Hall Sunday 6th November – WARWICK – Arts Centre Friday 11th November – SALISBURY – City Hall Saturday 12th November – MANCHESTER – Royal Northern College of Music Sunday 13th November – SCUNTHORPE – Baths Hall Saturday 26th November – BASINGSTOKE – Anvil Arts Sunday 27th November – NOTTINGHAM – Glee Club “…of course, we already know the band is great. So what follows may not be a surprise – but it is completely thrilling… with Carthy dancing about at the centre of a joyful musical whirlwind, thrilling in the moment."  folkwitness.co.uk Eliza’s finest work so far is showcased on the Topic double CD set Wayward Daughter, available throughout September at the very special price of only £9.00! TSCD772D  ELIZA CARTHY ~ WAYWARD DAUGHTER   Finale : an evening with PENTANGLE Pentangle at the Royal Festival Hall June 2008 ~ photograph by Chris Bates In 2007 the original five members of PENTANGLE - Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Jacqui McShee, Danny Thompson & Terry Cox - reconvened to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from Sir David Attenborough at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. In 2008 they began a UK tour at the Royal Festival Hall, exactly 40 years to the day since they recorded their classic 'Sweet Child' at the venue. Emotions and memories ran high in the packed house. The evening was a musical triumph, as were the subsequent dates. Topic is very proud to be releasing Pentangle’s final live recordings on 7th October on  ‘Finale’, a double CD set with some of their classic material, beautifully played and recorded, a fine testament to the majesty of a mercurial band, whose substantial individual talents came together to create magic in their music.    The Guitar Player and The American Songster Our very good friends at Fledg’ling Records also have a very exciting release on CD, DL and vinyl LP due on 7th October, Ever Popular Favourites by Martin Simpson and Dom Flemons, a collection of recordings made out on the road, capturing the infectious joy of a shared transatlantic musical heritage. Seasons of Song      The passing of the seasons feature prominently in the canon of songs sung by The Copper Family of Rottingdean, and Topic has two beautiful books available with the words and music to many of these songs included, plus a superb memoir of his life by Bob Copper, ‘A Man of No Consequence’ Now since we have brought this so cheerfully round We will send for the ploughman who ploughs up and down. See the boy with his whip and the man to his plough Here's a health to the jolly ploughman who ploughs up the ground.

The latest news from Fledg'ling Records.

"Essential Autumn listening!" Our newly-released Anne Briggs - Four Songs EP has received very positive responses throughout the press. Last month Folk Radio UK published a lengthy new interview with Anne that focused on her early years as a travelling musician and the time around Four Songs. Earlier this week BBC Radio4 broadcast a wonderful half-hour interview with Anne - The Voices of Annie Briggs. A further feature is due to be published in the next issue of fROOTS. Four Songs, as the title suggests, collects together four previously unreleased recordings - three BBC recordings from the radio series ‘Folk-Song Cellar’, plus one song privately recorded by one of Anne’s oldest friends - on a beautifully presented vinyl 7" EP. These rare, simple, unadorned and intimate performances, aching with poignancy, make their first appearance on record, fifty years after recording and capture Anne Briggs singing at just the right time in her brief singing career. Anne herself has been very excited about the project: “…the results couldn't have been better. Nice the way it came about too, with lost recordings and old friends caring for them for decades.” Track list: 1 The Recruited Collier, 2 My Bonny Boy (A Bower In My Breast), 3 Polly Vaughan, 4 The Verdant Braes Of Skreen. You can follow this link to preview: The Verdant Braes Of Skreen MARTIN SIMPSON and DOM FLEMONS proudly present a selection of Ever Popular Favourites will be released on Friday October 7th on CD / LP / DL. Track list: 1 My Money Never Runs Out, 2 John Hardy, 3 If I Lose, 4 Little Sadie, 5 Pay Day, 6 Short Times Come Again No More, 7 Too Long (I’ve Been Gone), 8 Bulldoze Blues, 9 Stealin’, 10 Champagne Charlie, 11 Coalman Blues, 12 Buckeye Jim. MARTIN SIMPSON ~ vocals, guitar, banjo DOM FLEMONS ~ vocals, bones, banjo, quills, harmonica, electric kettle You can follow this link to preview John Hardy You might care to purchase an exclusive set of four Ever Popular Favourites pinned insignia. During September we have a special offer on these three fabulous albums from the Fledg'ling catalogue at only £6.00 each:       FLED 3008  ANNE BRIGGS ~ Sing A Song For You FLED 3064  ANDY ROBERTS & The Great Stampede FLED 3088  ANDY ROBERTS ~ Urban Cowboy Early in 2017 we will release The Traveller's Tale a previously unreleased suite of tunes composed by from JOHN WARREN and recorded live in June 1993 by the  JOHN SURMAN / JOHN WARREN BRASS PROJECT. Best wishes and many thanks for continuing to support Fledg'ling. N E W   W E B S I T E We have a shiny new home on the Internet: www.fledglingrecords.co.uk