Sub-Tropical Festival – Bridport Radio

Show of Hands hugely popular annual signature festival on the Dorset heritage coast celebrates its 15th year next month – fielding some of the hottest young acoustic roots acts in England, Wales and Germany in one of its best ever line-ups.

Just three months after another celebration – the duo’s 20th year “Big Gig” at the Royal Albert Hall – Show of Hands will mark 15 years of their unique family festival at Abbotsbury’s glorious Sub Tropical Gardens near Weymouth on Saturday, July 7, close to the Jurassic coast’s Chesil Beach.

Together with regular guest Miranda Sykes on double bass and vocals, singer songwriter Steve Knightley and his multi instrumental partner Phil Beer will spearhead over six hours of non-stop open-air entertainment on Abbotsbury’s West Lawn.

Jim Moray

Joining the outdoor party this year will be a raft of special guests topped by the innovative, sometimes controversial, always electrifying Jim Moray – one of the most exciting talents to hit the English folk scene.

Moray has turned the folk world on its head with his inimitable, boundary-blitzing brand of “nu-folk” and is credited with bringing about “the greatest leap forward in folk for 30 years”. Ever the experimentalist the BBC Radio 2 award-winning multi-instrumentalist and singer is known for shaking traditional English ballads back to life in striking modern arrangements. At the 2004 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards he won both the Best Newcomer and Best Album titles – the latter for his stand out debut album, Sweet England, which featured radical takes on some of our best-known traditional ballads.

Jim, who has played key festivals including Glastonbury, WOMAD and Cambridge, went on to make albums including MOJO’s 2008 Folk Album of the Year (the exquisite Low Culture) and caused more surprises with his BBC award-winning XTC cover All You Pretty Girls. www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1ftNqpxn-Y

His new album – the soulful Skulk, due out in April (and featuring the “acting fox” Sorrel on the cover!) has been described as his best yet with an emphasis on his unique treatments of traditional numbers but also including a stand-out take on Fleetwood Mac’s Big Love.

Lucy Ward

Hoping the rain clouds won’t be gathering over Abbotsbury will be the newly-crowned winner of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Horizon award for the Best Newcomer – Derbyshire singer-songwriter Lucy Ward.

She was also nominated for Best Traditional Track for her Maids When You’re Young – see her performing it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayMS7wOBJmw

At just 21 she is developing into a fine songwriter and has been busy wowing folk club and festivals audiences up and down the country with her pure, captivating voice, unpretentious banter and sparkling stage presence.

Her set is an eclectic mix of modern and trad folk interpretations and her own songs and last year her debut album Adelphi Has to Fly drew praise from many corners.

Jamie Smith’s Mabon

Also joining the impressive line-up will be another award-winning young act -the high energy, much feted Welsh band Jamie Smith’s Mabon.

“A top band led by one hell of an accordion player and arranger”- Mike Harding, BBC Radio 2

The prodigiously talented JSM are fast making their unique and vibrant mark on the roots scene, led by tunesmeister and accordionist extraordinaire Jamie Smith. Last year saw the all-male line up make a triumphant first appearance at the world’s largest winter music festival – Celtic Connections – as well as their WOMAD debut on the BBC Radio 3 stage, and many other memorable festival performances including Priddy Festival:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWnDjPLEbd4

Mabon scooped the Best Instrumental Album title (for their Porthcawl-recorded Live at the Grand Pavilion) in the 2011 Spiral Awards -an album that captures all the energy and pizzazz of their acclaimed live show.

A new diversion has seen JSM weave some songsinto the set -including the aptly named Yes We Sing Now (!) as well as some exciting shifts in style and sound. But it is Smith’s inspired, eclectic tunes that continue to dominate the material that delves into every Celtic corner – from their native Wales to Brittany, Scotland, Ireland, Galicia and beyond. His prolific and imaginative compositions take audiences on a magical whistle-stop Euro tour with jigs and reels jostling for space alongside other dance-related forms including Breton an dro, French mazurka, Galician muinera and even shades of klezmer in an exuberant, feelgood show.

Fellow Devon musicians Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin, rapidly making waves on the roots scene, will also be heading to Abbotsbury, following their tour with Steve Knightley this spring.

Steve first saw the duo busking on the seafront during the 2009 Sidmouth Festival and a year later they were firmly on the festival’s bill. Henry and Martin went on to join Show of Hands for some dates on their 2010 “Spires and Beams” tour.

They combine influences as diverse as English folk music, Indian classical and American blues using slide guitar, fiddle, harmonica, banjo and beatbox. Their debut album, Singing The Bones, has won praise from the likes of Radio 2’s Mike Harding and Radio 3’s Fiona Talkington and their festival circuit appearances include Glastonbury. See them performing Death and the Lady at Barnsley Acoustic Festival http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4XznfS7mHM

Broom Bezzums

Completing the line up will be the Germany-based acoustic duo Broom Bezzums (Andrew Cadie and Mark Bloomer) who Steve Knightley describes as “just about the best young duo on the circuit”. Songwriters, vocalists and multi instrumentalists, between them they play fiddle, guitar, mandola and Northumbrian pipes and have supported Show of Hands on German tours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mh8hTRRKc4&feature=related

Tickets

The event starts at 3pm. Tickets are available on 01305-871130, price £25 (adults); £15 (children) or a great value family ticket for two adults and up to three children for £55. The Abbotsbury Tourism box office is open 9am-1pm and 2-5pm Mondays to Fridays Further information on www.abbotsbury-tourism.co.uk

Concertgoers are invited to bring low-backed seating, rugs and picnics into the grounds – entry to the West Lawn area is from 1.30pm. The grounds open at 10am for those interested in looking round the magnificent 20-acre gardens (admission included in ticket price) with one trail taking visitors to a viewpoint overlooking the Jurassic coast and Chesil Beach. For the youngsters, children’s entertainer Rob Pudner will be on hand with his circus skills and storytelling and face painters will also be at the ready.