The latest news from Simpson∙Cutting∙Kerr

Murmurs will be released 8th June "Outrageously great album from Simpson∙Cutting∙Kerr. 'Dark Swift & Bright Swallow' is amazing. It's stunning and beautiful. And timely. All things great folk should be." Rob Cowen, author 'Common Ground'.     The debut album from the wonderful new trio SIMPSON∙CUTTING∙KERR will be released on Monday June 8th on Topic Records. Murmurs was recorded in January this year and captures all the excitement of three master musicians having musical fun together. The album will appear on DL, CD and a limited edition Deluxe CD/DVD set. It’s a collection of songs that communicate to the listener a sense of bonded musicianship, a real feeling and empathy for each others’ playing and a collective love and innate understanding of the music. Recorded with award-winning producer Andy Bell, the combination of traditional songs, such as ‘Fair Rosamund’ and a stunning ‘Plains of Waterloo’, and original compositions, including ‘Dark Swift’ and ‘Not Even The Ground’ makes for a compelling listening experience; stories are told with instruments played by these masters of their respective crafts, but this is no showcase, more an expression of the joy of playing and singing between three absolutely intuitive musicians. “It is so incredibly exciting. Andy and Nancy have been brilliant. The whole project is sheer joy!” An advance single from the sessions – Dark Honey / Ruben – is released as a vinyl 7″ single on Monday 11th May. ‘Dark Honey’ is Nancy Kerr’s reflection on the human influence on our fast-changing ecology, informed by a summer of bee swarms in her inner-city garden, and the story she heard of bees collecting the sweetness from discarded cola cans and subsequently producing the dark honey of the title. ‘Ruben’ is an exclusive non-album track, available only on this single. A spirited and spiritual banjo-led reworking of the American folk standard ‘Reuben’s Train’, it is the lament of a traveller riding the railroad, penniless, longing for a home far out of reach. "We’re not even halfway through the year but we’ve already seen a number of astonishingly high quality records from many quarters; even so, Murmurs stands head and shoulders above much of this extraordinarily stiff competition. By anybody’s standards it’s a top-notch album by three of our best musicians and, if there’s any justice in this world, will soon find its way into the collections of all self-respecting fans of folk music." Folk Radio UK Simpson∙Cutting∙Kerr Murmurs Tour – June 2015 Wednesday 3rd: University Arts, LOUGHBOROUGH Thursday 4th: The Apex, BURY ST EDMUNDS Friday 5th: The Live Room, SALTAIRE Saturday 6th: Gate To Southwell Festival, SOUTHWELL Sunday 7th: St Gregory’s Music Centre, CANTERBURY Monday 8th: Croydon Folk Club, CROYDON Tuesday 9th: The Lantern, Colston Hall, BRISTOL Wednesday 10th: Barnfield Theatre, EXETER Thursday 11th: Robert Ludlam Theatre, DERBY Friday 12th: The Met, BURY Saturday 13th: The Sage, GATESHEAD Sunday 14th: Theatre By The Lake, KESWICK Wednesday 17th: The King’s Place, LONDON Friday 19th: Vivacity Key Theatre, PETERBOROUGH Saturday 20th: Beverley Folk Festival, BEVERLEY Monday 22nd: The Village Hall, NETTLEBED, Nr HENLEY ON THAMES Tuesday 23rd: The Stables Theatre, Wavendon, MILTON KEYNES Wednesday 24th: Wiltshire Music Centre, BRADFORD ON AVON Thursday 25th: Ashcroft Arts Centre, FAREHAM Friday 26th: Forest Arts Centre, NEW MILTON Next week Folk Radio UK and Topic Records will launch a competition to win one of ten signed copies of the deluxe CD/DVD set. Make sure you follow us on FaceBook for all the latest news.

News From Topic Records March 2015

Topic at the London Independent Label Market On Saturday 28th March, Topic will have a stall at the Independent Label Market at Old Spitalfields Market in London, the first time this has been held in the Springtime. There's always a real buzz at this very busy event, with the added attraction of 20 artisan brewers to provide refreshment, so do come and say hello and browse the vinyl and merchandise we will be selling on the day, including some Topic archive bargains!    During 2014 our 75th Anniversary monthly special offers proved to be very popular. Many of you took the opportunity to catch up with albums you were missing from your collection or purchase a gift for a friend. We will be continuing with a series of attractively priced special offers each month throughout 2015. In celebration of Martin & Eliza Carthy's The Moral of the Elephant being nominated for album of the year in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, this month we are offering a superb bundle of FIVE Waterson:Carthy related CDs at the fantastic price of only £15.00: HPO6001  MARTIN CARTHY ~ The Definitive Collection HPO6004  THE WATERSONS ~ The Definitive Collection HPO6005  ELIZA CARTHY ~ The Definitive Collection HPO6012  WATERSON: CARTHY ~ The Definitive CollectionHPO6013  NORMA WATERSON ~ The Definitive Collection To get you in the mood for the upcoming Record Store Day in April (of which more news in the next newsletter), we have a few stocks left of a couple of vinyl singles at the very special price of only £2.00 each. Click on the pictures for more details: Those nice chaps at Fledg'ling continue to celebrate 21 years of the label with their own monthly special offers. The CDs they have chosen for March at the special price of only £21.00 for this bundle of 4 classic albums from their catalogue are: FLED 3020  LINDA THOMPSON  Give Me A Sad Song FLED 3024  HELEN WATSON  doffing FLED 3054  DAVY GRAHAM  Large as life and twice as natural FLED 3075  JOHN KIRKPATRICK  The Dance of the Demon Daffodils            With the recent release of Bob & Ron Copper's Traditional Songs from Rottingdean on CD, it seemed sensible for Topic to stock the superb books produced by The Copper Family, Bob Copper's classic 'A Song For Every Season', his autobiography 'A Man of No Consequence' and 'The Copper Family Song Book', so these are now available to but through our website - click on the picture to see all three:

News From Topic & The Moral of the Elephant

The Moral of the Elephant nominated for Best Album 2014 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Topic is very proud to announce the nomination of Martin & Eliza Carthy's 'The Moral of the Elephant' for best album in the 2015 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. This is splendid recognition for their first album as a duo; the best album award is decided by public vote, every vote counts and you can cast your vote by visiting the Folk Awards website: cast your vote here    A busy 75th anniversary in 2014 meant that we didn't release quite as many of our back-catalogue albums as digital downloads as we would have liked, but February sees a new selection of eleven superb titles, some of which were never released on CD, so this is the best way to get hold of them if you can't find that elusive vinyl version!   Free digital booklets are available to download direct from our website, and you can buy the music from digital retailers such as Apple's itunes store and Amazon; the new titles are: During 2014 our 75th Anniversary monthly special offers proved to be very popular. Many of you took the opportunity to catch up with albums you were missing from your collection or purchase a gift for a friend. We will be continuing with a series of attractively priced special offers each month throughout 2015. The classic TOPIC CDs chosen for February at the special price of only £5.00 each are: TSCD511  SAM LARNER ~ Now Is The Time For Fishing TSCD518D  JOE HEANEY ~ The Road From Connemara     Those nice chaps at Fledg'ling continue to celebrate 21 years of the label with their own monthly special offers. The CDs they have chosen for February at the special price of only £21.00 for this bundle of 4 classic albums from their catalogue are: FLED 3052  SHIRLEY COLLINS & DAVY GRAHAM  Folk Roots, New Routes FLED 3057  SHIRLEY & DOLLY COLLINS  Snapshots FLED 3074  JESSE FULLER  Move on down the line FLED 3086  SNAKEFARM  my halo at half-light        We really are down to the very last sets of our Topic anniversary button badges at only £3.00 - get them while you can!   Many thanks for continuing to support Topic.

New Year Ceillidh with the Little Big Band

Seasonal News and Offers From Topic Records

special offers   Whilst still trying to recover from all the celebrations during Topic's 75th Anniversary Year, we have a very special Prize Giveaway. All orders received before midnight (GMT) on Sunday 14th December will be eligible for a random prize from the Topic Lucky Dip pile of presents. For your chance to receive a gift from our selection of rare signed LPs, CDs, singles, button badges, T-shirts and more - place an order from our online shop.   Until the end of December we have a number of seasonal special offers: the perfect opportunity to fill gaps in your collection or purchase a seasonal present or two for friends.   Next year we will publish two more volumes in the Voice of the People series. Here is a chance to purchase the latest four volumes at a very special price - only £25.00 per set of four   LAL WATERSON ~ teach me to be a summer's morning only £15.00 Limited edition hardback book and rare demo CD set. A fascinating selection of Lal Waterson's drawings, paintings, lyrics, thoughts and poems which showcase her "extraordinary tender, intense, complex but ultimately very human artistic talents". A CD is included inside the book - collecting together 15 songs drawn from her home recordings. Free button badges with every order!   The great traditional ballads are storytelling at its dark, urgent best and the greatest exponent of this folk art was EWAN MacCOLL. The 2CD Ballads : Murder, Intrigue, Love & Dischord set is a comprehensive selection of some of his finest recordings. BALLADS - 2CD set only £6.00 The following CDs are at the special price of only £9.00 each LINDA THOMPSON ~ Won't Be Long Now MARTIN SIMPSON ~ Vagrant Stanzas The FULL ENGLISH ~ The Full English MARTIN & ELIZA CARTHY ~ The Moral of the Elephant     and finally, our award winning history of Topic Records ~ THREE SCORE & TEN a sumptuous seven CD set in a full colour 108 page hardback book special seasonal price of only £25.00 Recent changes to overseas postal charges have made a revision of our shipping charges necessary. We've put this off for as long as possible but have been forced to implement new postal charges from December 1st.                In the meantime, thank you for continuing to support Topic and very best wishes to you all for 2015.