What a month April has been, ending with four Brookfield-Knights acts featured in the hugely-influential Roots Music Report compiled from radio airplay feedback submitted by enlightened presenters all over USA.

The Stray Birds are sitting pretty on perch Number 4 with Cahalen Morrison & Eli West close behind them, then The Bills and Pharis & Jason Romero too.

Yes, we’re all beaming from ear to ear!

https://www.rootsmusicreport.com

There’s a superb two-page feature on the recently-staged Folk Alliance International event in Toronto, by deputy editor Sarah Coxson in this month’s fRoots magazine that made us very pleased indeed. Following an overview of the event, when focussing on her chosen highlights, she said:

“Elsewhere, I am won over by Pharis & Jason Romero’s down-home intimacy with their close, pining harmonies and sweet-toned guitar and banjo picking; by the truly wonderful blast of Petunia & The Vipers’ high, lonesome crooning and driving rootsy rockabilly; …the explosive instrumental energy of Québécois trio, De Temps Antan (all former members of La Bottine Souriante); the warm bluegrass harmonies of The Stray Birds and the precociously and prodigiously talented playing of siblings Qristina and Quinn Bachand.

“The moment I would most like to distil and savour is provided in the form of a wondrous late-night set from old-time stylists Sheesham & Lotus & Son – a modern-day Mississippi Sheiks – who filter voices through their Sepia-Phonic Monophone to create a uniquely vintage-tinged sound.”

And, guess who’s just about to be added to the Brookfield-Knights roster…?  

So proud to have four acts all featuring in the latest North American FOLK DJ Charts, compiled from returns sent in from 146 different radio presenters. With Pharis & Jason Romero riding high at the Number 2 slot thanks to the amount of airplay they have been getting for their “Long Gone Out West Blues” album, The Stray Birds at Number 32, Dubl Handi at 34 (they topped last month’s chart), and Cahalen Morrison & Eli West hanging in there at Number 50 (they were at 19 last month), there’s much reason to be cheerful…: http://www.folkradio.org/

There was some great exposure for two great Brookfield-Knights acts on Frank Hennessy’s Celtic Heartbeat programme at BBC Radio Wales when he featured two tracks from Woody Pines’ brand new release, Rabbits Motel and said: “Wonderful – I’m in awe of this guy,” as well as a track from The Stray Birds, praising their album as "very impressive."

Mr finger-on-the-pulse, Barry Marshall-Everitt, has been bowled over by Cam Penner’s mighty new release, To Build A Fire, and made it Record of The Week on his House of Mercy radio show, featuring no fewer than FIVE tracks on this splendid edition of the programme.

Barry, who is hugely influential on both sides of the Atlantic, says: “Record of the week is by a man who is no stranger to this accolade. Cam Penner has given us a record of the week with every release so far and this is no exception, in fact ‘To Build A Fire’ offers some of the most diverse music he has ever recorded. Produced by Cam & Jon Wood, they have created mood swings that others should take note of...a rare mix that works so well.”

Jenny Ritter’s debut solo album, Bright Mainland has been attracting a lot of media attention since it was released here last month.

“Wonderful,” said top BBC Radio Scotland presenter Iain Anderson when he made it his Album of The Week in order to play a track each night on his hugely popular show.

It's great to see The Stray Birds making such a big impact in mainland Europe and Scandinavia as well as the UK. When the April Euro Americana Chart was published it showed them at the No 3 slot. Of course, they've been getting rave reviews in the UK and Ireland too as well as huge amounts of radio exposure. Now all we need to do is get them over here! http://euroamericanachart.eu/

Pharis and Jason Romero are getting a lot of well-deserved attention from the BBC after releasing their superb new album, Long Gone Out West Blues.

Frank Hennessy at BBC Radio Wales told listeners he thought it was ‘wonderful’ while Iain Anderson at BBC Radio Scotland and Cerys Matthews at BBC Radio 6 are also featuring tracks with strong personal recommendations.

The couple’s last release, A Passing Glimpse earned them New/Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2012 Canadian Folk Music Awards and carried off Americana Album of the Year at the 2012 Independent Music Awards. Looks like they know how to follow that!

The Stray Birds continue to make an impact as more and more people get switched on to their music, the latest reviewer, Alan Harrison, telling the world via No Depression that they have produced "one of the best albums I’ve heard in years - from a band destined for Global success."

Within just days of sending out promo copies of The Stray Birds' amazing new album, there was a huge amount of reaction in the UK.

Cherrie McIlwaine played a track on her BBC Radio Ulster show and told listeners she would be re-visiting the CD in the coming weeks, then Barry Marshall-Everitt included a track on his latest hot show.

T'was also great to hear Bruce MacGregor paying the band so many compliments on his Travelling Folk pprogramme on BBC Radio Scotland. "Reminiscent of Alison Krauss but with a bit more punch," he said.

Now, that's a knockout quote!

As Dr John would say…

what a night!

It’s great to hear one of your favourite acts played on national radio but we scored a hat trick on March 12 when Verity Sharp played a track from The Locust Honey String Band on BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction, Iain Anderson featured music from Pharis and Jason Romero’s latest release on BBC Radio Scotland and Cherrie McIlwaine played the same Romeros track on BBC Radio Ulster as well as some great material from The Henry Girls’ superb December Moon CD.

The Locust Honey String Band emerged triumphant from the prestigious Chattanooga Fiddlers’ Convention in Tennessee, winning the “Best Band” title and sweeping the competition aside, thanks to their vibrantly earthy spirit that sparkles with feelgood freshness.

The UK and Ireland will get an introduction to the girls when they arrive here for their first ever tour later in the year.

This is great - two of our favourite Brookfield-Knights acts have come out extremely well placed on the latest US Roots Music Report for 2012 - a chart that is based entirely on the number of plays a CD has received from radio stations across America.

Cahalen Morrison & Eli West ended the year at the Number 10 slot due to the poularity of their Our Lady of The Tall Trees release and Pharis & Jason Romero are sitting pretty at 42 in the Top 100 due to the amount of exposure their album, A Passing Glimpse received...

Link: http://rootsmusicreport.com

Those good folks at Country Music People keep warming our hearts with the latest issue awarding The Henry Girls a top-scoring 5-star review for their December Moon album and this feel-good quote: “The potential to be as big as Alison Krauss.” The mag has love to share for The Locust Honey String Band too, enjoying the “effervescent and fun-loving” feel of their album enough to give them some great exposure too.

PS: We all think The Henry Girls are far more entertaining and enjoyable than Alison Krauss! Of course they are going to be as big – and bigger!

Petunia & The Vipers continue to impress on their first ever UK and Ireland tour and after their triumph at Celtic Connections festival have been winning rave reviews as they travel around the country.

Mike Morrison, the man behind the impressive American Roots UK website, posted this comment after seeing them perform in Chichester: "Last night I saw one of the best bands I’ve ever seen in close to 50 years of attending gigs...if you get the chance to see this amazing band, take it. You won’t be sorry."

Then Bob Harris played another track on his BBC Radio 2 show and told listeners he admires the band's "hybrid" take on "a whole range of musical styles", adding: "It's an amazing album."

Petunia & the Vipers are taking the UK by storm with big attendances turning out despite the winter weather – and some shows sold out events. No wonder with the kind of buzz that is being generated.

The band won a glowing review in Scotland’s biggest-circulation broadsheet, The Herald, and were described as “brilliant” by Alan Harrison when he posted a review of the Newcastle gig at No Depression.

The icing on the cake came when The BBC’s top man - Bob Harris - urged followers on Twitter to be sure to catch them during their first every tour of UK and Ireland.

It was great to hear the mighty master, Bob Harris playing a track from Petunia & The Vipers on his BBC Radio 2 Country show. It was great to learn that he gets it too!

"Incredibly entertaining," he said.
You betcha, Bob!

Watch out for the band at Celtic Connections with Woody Pines at the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow on Saturday, January 19, then unleashed on tour in England/Wales/Ireland.

What a great way to kick off 2013. We will be busier than ever at Celtic Connections, having been involved in helping to provide class acts for the following shows. This is going to be an amazing year and, of course, we recommend each one of these…:

Petunia & The Vipers + Woody Pines: The Old Fruitmarket on Saturday, January 19th

Fidil (Bringing The Highland Home): The Piping Centre on Tuesday 22nd

The Leon Hunt n-Tet: St Andrews in the Square supporting Sarah Jarosz on Saturday 26th

The Dardanelles: Tron Theatre on Saturday 26th with Halton Quartet and Sunday 27th at Glasgow Art Club

The Two Man Gentlemen Band with The Kilcawley Family: The Piping Centre on Saturday 26th

The Henry Girls: special guests for the Altan & Friends show in the Royal Concert Hall on the Wednesday 23rd

The Heritage Blues Orchestra (with Eric Bibb): Thursday 31st – Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Book online:

http://www.celticconnections.com or by calling 0141 353 8000

It is always satisfying when your acts feature strongly on important end-of-the-year lists and even better when the selection is question is a recommendation from someone whose taste you also admire.

How great, then, to find Mike Morrison of the influential AmericanRootsUK website placing Petunia & The Vipers right at the top of his Best of 2012 list, and to find that he has also included The Heritage Blues Orchestra and Hillfolk Noir, both of whom we are delighted to be working with in the New Year...

http://www.americanrootsuk.com/2012-albums-of-the-year.html

What a great way to end the year!

The AmericanaUK “Best of 2012” list has just been published and one of the acts we have been most proud to work with - Cahalen Morrison & Eli West - find themselves at the Number 3 slot on the Staff Top Ten selection.

It should come as no surprise as the duo’s stunning follow-up to The Holy Coming of The Storm, Our Lady of The Tall Trees, has been winning widespread acclaim and loads of radio exposure.

AmericanaUK contributors Paul Kerr, Jonathan Aird and John Hawes all voted for the album, the former stating it featured “songs carved from old wood and turned into objects of beauty,”while Mr Hawes said: “They may be tagged as old-time but this is the freshest thing you’ll hear on clawhammer.” Johanthan Aird described the record as “an album of contrasts and mystery”.

Petunia & The Vipers picked up an honourable mention from Paul Kerr too, ending up at Number 8 on his Top Ten selection.

http://www.americana-uk.com/freature-articles/best-of-2012/staff-writers-best-of-2012

We are delighted to announce that three of the great acts we are proud to be working with at Celtic Connections in 2013 – The Heritage Blues Orchestra, Fidil and The Henry Girls - have been nominated in forthcoming awards ceremonies.

The HBO are in with a shout for a Grammy for their fine album, 'And Still I Rise', while Fidil and The Henry Girls have nominations in the Top Traditional Performance Show category of The Irish Music Awards. Good luck to them all.

Now that the official 2013 Celtic Connections programme has been printed we are delighted to confirm involvement in several shows, and hoping to repeat some of the successes of previous years (The Wilders/Furnace Mountain/The Wiyos/The Hot Seats/Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three/Cahalen Morrison & Eli West/The Fox Hunt/The Henry Girls/Fidil/Bard etc).

Our first show is at The Old Fruitmarket on Saturday, January 19 when two great Brookfield-Knights bands – Petunia & The Vipers and Woody Pines – share the bill.

After that, we have Fidil at The National Piping Centre on January 22, The Henry Girls with Altan & Friends at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on January 23, The Two Man Gentlemen Band and The Kilcawley Family at The National Piping Centre on January 26, The Dardanelles at Glasgow Art Club on January 27 and The Heritage Blues Orchestra (with Eric Bibb) at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on January 31. Book online at www.celticconnections.com or by phone (0141 353 8000).

The latest Roots Music Report in USA, compiled from data submitted by independent radio stations coast-to-coast, from presenters and producers who determine what gets programmed, shows Cahalen Morrison & Eli West hitting the Number 2 position on the Top Fifty list “with a bullet” from nowhere, indicating a collective appreciation that the latest record, Our Lady of The Tall Trees, is pretty damned special!

That all mirrors what is happening in the UK too.

They’re back over here in April next year and the tour schedule is just about full.

link

Cahalen Morrison & Eli West’s stunning new album, Our Lady of The Tall Trees, has been attracting a huge amount of praise ever since its release as a follow-up to their hugely successful The Holy Coming of The Storm, with loads of radio exposure from BBC Radio Scotland (Iain Anderson and Bruce MacGregor) and BBC Radio 2 (Mike Harding), the latter telling his listeners: “It’s really, really terrific stuff and I love it to bits.”

They’ll be touring in the UK again in April. Only one or two dates left to fill.

Sandy Semeonoff, formerly with BBC Radio Scotland and now undoubtedly recognised as one of the best-informed presenters on Celtic Music Radio, has confirmed himself as a big fan of Cahalen Morrison and Eli West after seeing them perform on the final night of their recent UK tour:

Afterwards, he said: “Cahalen and Eli are just terrific - the balance between discipline and freedom in their instrumental work, the beautiful vocal blend, the wit in the song-writing. At times it feels like fretted instruments have been waiting just for them to come along.

“I've been trying to label them to tell friends about how good they are, but they're not really bluegrass or country and they're not really folk, even. Then it came to me: ‘A two-man 21st Century acoustic Grateful Dead!’”

Recently added to The Listening Station library: Doc Watson, The Fox Hunt, Uncle Earl, Gordon Duncan, Louis Jordan, The Long Winters, The Get-Rites, Peatbog Faeries, Devendra Banhart, The Lost Brothers, Darrell Scott, Seelyhoo, The Henry Girls, Arthur Alligood, Bob Crosby, Fiddlers’ Bid, David Grisman Quintet, Sam Bush, Charles Sawtelle, Shooglenifty and Sandy Brechin.

Happy Listening, everyone...:

www.thelisteningstation.co.uk

It’s always so much more rewarding when someone with solid pedigree gives an act you are working with some high praise.

Barry Marshall-Everitt is recognised as a solid platinum specimen for all the joy he spreads with his House of Mercy broadcasts, and he had this to say:

“Record of the week jumped out of its jiffy bag straight to top of the pile - it's gotta be an award winning Canadian record this year. Petunia & The Vipers is one of the strongest records I've heard for a while. Petunia yodels with the best of them, growls like Tom and croons like Bing, then he whips a rock-a-billy tune on ya. Simply called Petunia & The Vipers, the House of Mercy Record Of The Week.”

www.houseofmercy.tv

Just like that man from the BBC said, we think they’re the “best thing to happen to contemporary English folk song in a very long time.”

Now, the UK’s leading world music mag - Songlines – is telling the world that they too, believe Bard are “hot”, awarding the band’s debut album, The Springtime Fool, a Top of The World recommendation in the latest issue where they say: "Their catchy folk-pop choruses and carefree vagabond spirit recall The Levellers at their best…there is a timelessness to the highlights on this album that places it among the company of the best folk music…an exciting new band.”

If you don’t subscribe to the publication, you may wish to consider doing so. Apart from the superb content, there is always a fabulous compilation cover-mount CD with each issue and guess who gets a track on the latest one…

http://www.songlines.co.uk/

Cahalen Morrison and Eli West created a huge impact as they kicked off their latest UK tour, with great reaction from promoters in the south of England.

Gerry Evans, the main man at Twickenham Folk Club said they were “simply STUNNING,” and added: “If you get the chance to see them on their UK tour we strongly suggest you grab it with both hands.” Meanwhile, after recording a session for the mighty Barry Marshall-Everitt’s House of Mercy internet radio show, he said: "How good are they?...bloody marvellously good that's how good!! The new songs are superb...they’re the next Everly Brothers / Simon & Garfunkel of the roots world."

Top roots music promoter, Mark Ringwood, another leading authority, commented: "They started their UK tour in Chichester and despite Cahalen's jet-lag were totally amazing.”

Then, Ian Hudson, who booked the duo to play The Bicycle Shop in Norwich commented: “They were brilliant - I'd really like to have them play again.”

The Two Man Gentlemen Band's latest release, Two At A Time, has been picking up loads of radio exposure and complimentary reviews, the latest of which appeared at the AmericanaUK website where Hazel Davis told readers: "It is one of my favourite releases of the year"

Bard stromed their way around Scotland during their biggest ever tour north of the Border, winning praise wherever they went. The Glasgow Evening Times ran a big feature on the band and said they were “the next Mumford & Sons” while feedback from venues from Kirkcaldy to Hawick and Glasgow was the kind we like to hear. BBC Radio Scotland’s Bruce MacGregor had already nailed his colours to the mast and said he thought the band would be “one of the hottest tickets this year”. After their show in Moniaive, folk festival organiser Hugh Taylor posted this comment on the footsompin website:

“Went to see this band in Moniaive last night. Bruce MacGregor is right - they were awesome. In fact I'd go as far as to say that this is one of the best bands I have heard. Ever! Contemplating heading to Glasgow tonight just to hear them again.”