In demand Pilgrims Way to support June Tabor and Oysterband
First UK music awards win and BBC Radio 3 guest slot
2012 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Nominee: The Horizon Award (Most Promising Emerging Act)Spiral awards 2012 Nominee: Best Debut
FATEA WINNER: “Tradition” Award – 2011 FATEA Music Awards
“PILGRIMS” TO STAR ALONGSIDE JUNE TABOR AND OYSTERBAND IN SPECIAL BRITFOLK SHOW At the end of last year, the Performing Right Society announced that North West trio Pilgrims’ Way were one of the busiest British festival acts of 2011.
That enterprise has evidently paid off with the fast-rising young band (Lucy Wright ,Tom Kitching and Edwin Beasant) getting off to a flying start in 2012.
On February 8, the eve of the 2012 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in their home town of Manchester (where they are nominated for the Horizon Award for Best Emerging Act) the Pilgrims have been invited to appear in a special concert showcasing some of the cream of British folk artists at the famous Chichester Festival Theatre in West Sussex. (Tickets: 01243 781312) www.cft.org.uk/
The Britfolk Footprint will see the trio appearing alongside headliners June Tabor and Oysterband (left) - brilliant collaborators and British folk icons whose album Ragged Kingdom is nominated for Best Album at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
This week Pilgrims’ Way clinched their first UK music award when they were announced as winners of the “Tradition” award in the 2011 FATEA awards, run by the website of the same name. One of three special awards it is presented to “the act that has traditional folk at the root of their sound and uses it to inspire new songs, tunes and arrangements.”
They have also been nominated for a second 2012 award to crown their rapid rise on the folk roots circuit. Vocalist and Jews’ harp exponent Lucy, fiddler Tom and multi-instrumentalist Edwin have been short-listed for the “Best Debut” title in the 2012 Spiral Awards run by popular music website Spiral Earth
The Spiral Awards celebrate folk and roots-grounded music and feature 10 different categories which are open to public voting until March 15.
Later this month (Friday, January 27) Pilgrims Way will be “live” in session on BBC Radio 3’s World on 3, performing several songs and interviewed by presenter Lopa Kothari.
Brimming over with vitality, few bands have made such an instant impact on the acoustic scene as Pilgrims’ Way with a mix of material ranging from “devil may care” tunes to poignant ballads and original compositions.
“Pilgrims’ Way have been a revelation to me- they are the real deal” - Mike Harding, BBC Radio 2
“The stunning voice of Lucy Wright” - Fiona Talkington, BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction
“Grand stuff – built on the beautifully understated fiddle and melodeon work of Kitching and Beasant and the bell clear voice of Lucy Wright”- Acoustic Magazine
“Kipling fans make exceedingly good album” - Songlines 4*“I really can’t underplay the impact of their debut album-Pilgrims’ Way have everything on their side- fRoots
“Very traditional, very English, very current and very, very good!”- The Living Tradition
“An instant success. Lucy’s singing is gorgeous, the fiddle drives the songs along and the trio hypnotically draw me into their musical world” - Folkworld
At the end of 2011 they released a surprise Christmas EP which received widespread seasonal airplay on national and regional radio. Shining Gently All Around, a digital download release on the Fellside label, featured their intriguing take on The Incredible String Band’s ethereal Chinese White, which they retitled Magic Christmas Tree.
The EP follows on from their hugely acclaimed debut album Wayside Courtesies last summer and also offers a sneak preview of two tracks destined for their next album, due out later in 2012. With the upbeat Light Dragoon and Howden Town (aka The White Hare) they demonstrate their trademark brisk and buoyant treatments of English folk songs- feisty, feelgood arrangements full of verve and vigour.
Listing influences from Shirley Collins to The Albion Band, they take both their name and debut album title from the Rudyard Kipling poem “A Pilgrim’s Way”, a life creed set to music by the late, great Peter Bellamy.
• See Pilgrims’ Way performing The Handweaver and the Factory Maid www.youtube.com/watch?v=STeG5VTxP-U , as featured on the Wayside Courtesies album.
• The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards will be broadcast live from The Lowry, Salford on BBC Radio 2 and red button TV on Weds, February 8.
PILGRIMS’ WAY 2012 GIGS AND FESTIVALS
January 6 Red Lion Folk Club, Shirley, Solihull
January 7: Folk in the Fold, Bransford
January 26: Topic Folk Club, Bradford
January 27: Bollington Folk Club
February 7: Chichester Festival Theatre (supporting June Tabor and Oysterband)
February 12: Abbots Langley
Feb 17: Bromley Cross Folk Clu
Feb 18-19 Frome Folk Festival, Somerset
Feb 24: Grove Folk Club, Leeds
Feb 25: Ashover Parish Hall
March 2 Black Diamond Folk Club, Aston, Birmingham
March 3: Newhampton Folk Club, Wolverhampton
April 13: Guildford Folk Club, Surrey
April 17: Winchester Folk Club
April 18: Llantrisant Folk Club
April 21: Square and Compass, Worth Matravers
April 22: Halfpenny Folk Club, Llanrhidian
May 5: Haddenham Ceilidhs Concert Room
May 6: Green Note Café, London
May 7: The Bell, Bath
May 9: Carrington Triangle Folk Club, Nottingham
May 12: Bollington Arts Centre
June 2: Chester Folk Festival
July 4: Biddulph Up in Arms with Gren Bartley
July 15: Ely Folk Festival
July 21: High Lane Gathering, Stockport
Oct 3: Spalding Folk Club
Oct 4: The Musician, Leicester
Oct 5: Norwich Folk Club
Oct 7: Twickfolk- The Cabbage Patch, Twickenham
Nov 1: St Andrew’s in the Square, Glasgow
Nov 4: Wee Folk Club, The Royal Oak, Edinburgh
