21.04.10 Kerfuffle 2010 Statement
ROOTBEAT RECORDS LTD
21-4-2010
As those of you who have seen the band in
recent months will already have heard,
Kerfuffle
is coming to an end this year. After nine years of working
together, the time has come for us to dedicate ourselves to
other projects.
We have every intention of going out on a
high and have a busy summer including gigs in France and Italy
as well as UK festivals including Priddy and Sidmouth,
culminating in a farewell set at our home away from home,
Shrewsbury Folk Festival. We look forward to seeing you out
there in the coming months!
Sam, Hannah and Jamie will tour the Lighten
the Dark material in December 2010 with a yet-to-be announced
fourth musician in Tom's stead.
2010 will be our ninth and final year as a
band, nine years in which we have been privileged to have some
of the most dedicated fans anywhere, fans who have time and time
again amazed us with their kindness, generosity and passion for
music. You know who you are, and you have our gratitude.
Fans of the band will be able to follow our
other work:
Sam
remains busy with
Bellowhead (whose as-yet-untitled new album will emerge in
the autumn),
Jon Boden and the Remnant Kings (who are
on tour in May) and
Fay Hield (whose album Looking Glass will be released
on Topic later this year). Information about all these gigs and
more can be found at his
personal website.
Hannah
has a new vocal trio,
Lady Maisery (featuring Hazel Askew and Rowan Rheingans) and
an accordion group featuring Karen Tweed and Becky Price as well
as continuing with the
Demon Barber Roadshow, whose new stage show Time Gentlemen
Please opens in Leeds on Saturday 15th May.
Hannah and Sam will continue their work as a duo; expect a
follow-up to Catches and Glees in 2011.
Jamie
is currently on tour in his Horizon-nominated duo with Katriona
Gilmore, whose debut Shadows and Half Light will be followed by
a second album later this year; more details on
their website.
Tom
will be appearing (along with original Kerfuffle member Chris
Thornton-Smith) on Sheffield singer Charlie Barker's new album
Ghosts and Heroes, scheduled for release in July. He also
maintains an active online voice at
twitter.com/tom_s252 and
pourdownlikesilver.wordpress.com, where he has been known to
ramble incessantly about travel, photography, books and,
occasionally, music.
Goodbye and thanks for all the fish!
Sam, Hannah, Jamie and Tom
ENDS
20.11.09 Lighten The Dark press
Bright Young Folk call Lighten the Dark "undeniably excellent" and "a really wonderful Christmas collection...an album I shall be happy to listen to in season, year after year. Gentle but lively and uplifting, what better for a Christmas album of really first class traditional folk music?"
Isaac Ashe at the Loughborough Echo enjoyed the "evocative accordion drones and crisp vocals" in his review.
08.02.09 Yule Tour - A note from Sam
Hello all,
We have got a long string of gigs for 2009 now, but we are still looking for dates in September and November!
Also, exciting stuff... We are planning a Yule Tour. We have put together an album of Christmas material, and we shall be gigging it this Christmas. We have a few xmas gigs booked in, but if you would like us in your village hall, venue, club, garden, front room...... Please get in touch. We would like as many Christmas gigs as possible to promote the festive CD!
Much love,
Sam
26.01.09 To The Ground reviewed in Dirty Linen (USA); appears on Editor's Choice covermount CD
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US folk and world magazine Dirty Linen reviews To The Ground in their upcoming , and include a track from the album on their Editor's Choice covermount CD. Here's what they had to say about the album:
Click here to order your copy now! US readers are reminded that we ship CDs anywhere in the world at no extra cost. |
8.12.08 To The Ground hits Folk Alley's 2008 Top Ten
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US folk radio station and online mag Folk Alley places To The Ground at number four in its top ten releases of the year, reports NPR.
"When they got together six years ago, Kerfuffle's members were only 14. But the group carries on England's formidable folk tradition with a powerful album of Playford dance tunes, child ballads and other traditional classics. Kerfuffle hearkens back to the days of Pentangle and Fairport Convention with youthful energy." To The Ground is in illustrious company in the countdown, and comes in ahead of albums by Crooked Still and Abigail Washburn. To order your copy, make your way to the Kerfuffle shop. |
5.9.08 To The Ground reviews and press
Reviews for the new album are arriving; this list will be amended as more arrive:
13.6.08 To The Ground release and gigs
Activity surrounding the release of To The Ground continues, pending an official release date of 23rd June. Pre-release copies have been available at recent gigs, and reviews are beginning to appear, including this one at FolkRadio.co.uk. Lots of play on Folk Alley in the USA, too. Both of these sites use rating systems, so feel free to pop along and be liberal with your five-star ratings! Sam recently did an interview on Dave Eyre's "Thank Goodness It's Folk" programme on Sheffield Live, which you should be able to listen to here; the archive is a little temperemental (this morning at least!) but bear with it.
Upcoming radio appearances will include Folkwaves on BBC Radio Derby and a slot on BBC Radio Leeds.
Lots of new video on YouTube lately, courtesy of the ubiquitious Simmo. Six clips from Off The Tracks Festival here:
Bold
Maggot
Dr Letcher's Favourite
Bourees
Down By The Greenwood Side
Arise Arise
The band made its second trip abroad in May, to a gig in Sassari, on the northern tip of Sardinia. We had a great time, entertained a crowd of 220 in the evening, having appeared and indeed sung on Sardinian TV earlier that day. Many thanks to Gianluca Dessi for looking after us so well, and all at the (really rather beautiful, see pic below) Teatro Civico for conducting an efficient show despite practically no common vocabulary!
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Hannah's photo from the stage of the Teatro Civico in Sassari, Sardinia
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16.8.07 Shrewsbury Report
Opening the evening concert on the main stage on Sunday night, Kerfuffle played to a packed house of 2,500 at Shrewsbury Folk Festival. The concert featured Richard Shindell, Kate Rusby and Bellowhead, who Sam was guesting with. A highly successful CD signing session followed the band's performance, along with a live interview on Genevieve Tudor's BBC Radio Shropshire programme.
Special thanks to Graham Bradshaw for the immaculate concert sound, to Nicola Lyons for dancing, and to all at SFF (particularly artist liason) for an immaculately organised festival.
Photos will follow.
Youtube videos:
Falmouth Packet with clogging (main stage)
16.8.07 Cropredy Report
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Kerfuffle opened Fairport's Cropredy Convention 2007 on the afternoon of Thursday 9th August, in front of a crowd of over 10,000. Beginning a Thursday lineup that included Wishbone Ash, Seth Lakeman and the Jools Holland Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, Kerfuffle took the mid-afternoon crowd by storm. |
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Below is a list of links which will be updated as more come in Videos on Youtube here |
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A massive thankyou to all who organised this year's festival, the sound, lighting and stage crews, stewards, but in particular Festival Co-Ordinator Gareth Williams and Simon Care at Artist Liason. |
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30.7.07 Folk Rising Released Today
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Folk Rising, a compilation of young artists in the folk genre, is released today by Proper Records, and features a track by Kerfuffle. Alongside Kerfuffle it features such artists as Jackie Oates, The Devil's Interval, Megson and Tim Van Eyken. For more information, check out the links below. Folk Rising on Amazon.co.uk |
20.7.07 Kerfuffle track on Saddleworth compilation
To commemorate the tenth anniversary of their first festival, Saddleworth Folk Festival have released a CD entitled Ten Years On [SAFCD01]; a compilation featuring artists who have appeared at the festival. It includes one Kerfuffle track, "Bold" taken from Links, as well as tracks by artists including Jez Lowe, Last Night's Fun, Show of Hands, Wartson:Carthy, Clive Gregson and John Tams.
18.7.07 New website launched
Just in time for the 2007 festival season, Kerfuffle have a new website.