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Ding Dong Merrily On High! |
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December started well for B-K acts, with Bob Harris giving Woody Pines’ terrific new album, Counting Alligators, a spin on his BBC Radio 2 show, Rob Adams telling readers of The Herald newspaper that Gurf Morlix was “a delight worth savouring” in a centre spread preview of his Scottish dates, and the news coming in that The Wilders’ ace fiddler, Betse Ellis had been nominated in the Best Americana Album category of the 9th Independent Music Awards in USA for her stunning solo release, Don’t You Want To Go? To top that off nicely, a review of Lizzie and Baba’s Chariots Rise EP in Maverick magazine described the release as “beautiful”, R2 magazine recommended The Samsonites as a band to “raise the spirits” AND described The Wiyos’ Broken Land Bell as “a dish fit to sit alongside the best”.
Then, Gurf was invited into the BBC’s Glasgow studios for a session on the one and only Archie Fisher’s Travelling Folk programme.
Suddenly if feels as if Christmas just came early! |
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…And Another Pre-Christmas Cracker! |
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The good cheer keeps on rolling in for B-K acts with the news that The Wiyos’ Broken Land Bell has leapt to the No 6 slot on the Euro Americana Chart, compiled from monthly returns sent in by music journalists, radio presenters and other influential characters on the scene.
And, Bob Harris continues to admire our taste, advising listeners to his BBC Radio 2 Saturday Show to get out and see Gurf Morlix as he was “absolutely fantastic ‘live’.”
Mr Harris is also very impressed with the latest offering from Furnace Mountain, describing the track ‘Ooh, Belle’ from the band’s FIELDS OF FESCUE album as “gorgeous”. |
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Furnace Mountain: It’s Getting Even Hotter Up There! |
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Furnace Mountain’s FIELDS OF FESCUE album is attracting a huge amount of interest and has won the band on-air exposure from Bob Harris (three times), Frank Hennessey (BBC Radio Wales), Gideon Coe (BBC 6), Iain Anderson and Archie Fisher (BBC Radio Scotland) and a host of other radio presenters, Bob Harris describing the band as “wonderful”.
Meanwhile, the reviews are beginning to appear and first to sing their praises is David Harry, writing for Americana UK and awarding the CD an 8-out-of-10 rating and calling the release “blisteringly good - the closest you'll get to pop roots music”.
He said: “Fields of Fescue is a bold and energetic album featuring some stunning performances and catchy melodies that deserves to be heard by anyone with even a passing interest in traditional, roots or folk music - a genuine aural treat.
“The instrumental tracks, especially the eponymous 'Fields of Fescue' really demonstrate the talent of the musicians involved. David van Deventer's fiddle playing is practically flawless throughout and Danny Knicely's mandolin work has to be heard to be believed - some of the runs on 'Turbo Dog' would make Yngwie Malmsteen sweat. There are lots of talented roots acts out there, however, and what makes Furnace Mountain stand out are the twin vocals of Aimee Curl and Morgan Morrison.” |
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Gurf number one! |
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The House of Mercy Radio show, presented each week by the one-and-only Barry Marshall-Everitt and broadcast in London, Berkshire, North Carolina, Arizona, Alabama and Holland, asked listeners to send in their Top Ten favourite releases of 2009 and when the feedback was collated, Gurf Morlix hit the Number One spot when his “Last Exit To Happyland” album was the most popular album from the 3000 responses sent in.
Gurf pipped some pretty big names to snatch the prime position, with Tom Russell in 2nd place, Sam Baker 3rd, Buddy & Julie Miller at No 4, Brigitte de Meyer at 5 and Levon Helm in 6th place.
We asked Mr Morlix to comment and in typical fashion, he was speechless, even though we could tell he was pretty damned pleased about the result.
Gurf only last month enjoyed playing to big crowds when he toured both here and in Germany and The Netherlands.
We have already announced that he will be returning in October, 2010 for dates in England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.
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