Rejoice the Voice Workshops - March 2010

07 February 2010

There are still some spaces available for Chris, Julie and Helen's vocal workshops for women, particularly at Bristol and Hitchin. If you'd like to find out more details or book a place, please check out the Rejoice the Voice page

The 11th BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards - Monday 1st February 2010

07 February 2010

Chris attended the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards this year and here's her account of the night.

"I’ve attended nine of the eleven Folk Awards so far and at each one Julie and I have been nominees so having got our prize last year it was lovely to just go and enjoy the evening without any expectations apart from having a lovely time and seeing friends, some of whom I only see at this event. My main reasons for going this year, apart from aforementioned friends was to see the Transatlantic Session Band and in particular to hear for the first time, Dan Tyminski, the singing voice of George Clooney’s character in the film ‘Oh Brother Where Art Thou’ and singer/guitarist in Alison Krauss’s Union Station, Tim O’Brien, simply one of the best voices in the universe and Gerry Douglas, the greatest dobro player on earth.

Last year I went down to the venue in the afternoon to get a sneaky look at James Taylor’s sound check and it was so rewarding to see the man at work, the way he interacted with people and to hear him sing like that with no-one but me and Kellie and the crew around that I decided to do it again this year.

Well it wasn’t a disappointment. The Transatlantic Session Band all sat in place and patiently waited for their turn to sound check their instruments, all in a really relaxed and friendly way, just a band of good friends who love to play together. As well as the three men I’ve mentioned, there was also John McCusker, Mike McGoldrick, Aly Bain, Cara Dillon, Donald Shaw and Andy Seward, quite a line-up eh? They struck up with Man Of Constant Sorrow, Fantastic! Next Cara sang Spencer the Rover with Dan Tyminski on harmonies. Just brilliant to watch them rehearse the finer points and hearing them play.

I went back to the hotel later on to get ready and the lounge was full of lovely friends, David Hughes, Simon Nicol, The Tams family, Brian Ledgard (who is the photographer on most of our albums) among dozens of others.

The event was held at the Brewery Centre, Barbican. It’s a huge conference centre big enough to accommodate all 450 of us comfortably. First is the Champagne reception with a new way of eating called ‘bowl food', waiters come round with little tiny bowls full of food like lamb stew and mash or cous cous, very nice but since there are no tables, you have to have a food buddy on hand to hold your drink if you want to eat the food! Still we all seemed to manage.

There are always loads of celebs there, this year I saw Bob Hoskins, a regular now, Zoe Wannamaker, Chris Evans and a whole crew of Radio 2 presenters showing their support, I never knew there were so many folkies at the network.

Sometimes there’s a band to entertain at the reception but this year Simon Care lead his morris team in dance, lovely...I mean it, I love morris dancing!

It was soon time to go into the big room, it’s vast room full of round tables with a stage at the far end. I was sitting with Al Booth, Pat Howard, Bernard and Mary Wrigley, Ralph and Nana McTell and Tim Van Eyken, very good company too.

I had a great time as did everyone and in the end I got to meet some of my favourite musicians. Roll on next year....."

You can see all the nominees and winners here.

Tales from the 'Song House'

27 January 2010

Well Julie arrived at the 'Song House' on Monday evening and by Tuesday morning the songs were already flowing! She is writing a daily diary which will be entered onto the Tour Diary page so if you'd like to keep up with news and gossip from the house, check it out! The first entry is available now.

Don't forget that if you want to see the results of this very special project, get down to The Wave Centre, Maryport on Sunday 31st January where the piece will be performed for the first time.

Party on the Lawn 2010 - Tickets now on sale

15 January 2010

Tickets are now available from the Party on the Lawn website. You can order online or download an order form.

All Along The Wall

06 January 2010

Well the year has got off to a flying start already for Julie. Under the initiation and direction of Brampton Live Festival 2010 Julie has been invited to be one of five songwriters involved in an exciting new project called "All Along The Wall" and will be based on the experiences of life around Hadrian’s Wall both ancient and modern.

It will comprise of eight internationally known performers (five songwriters and three performance poets) who will stay together in a 'song house' for a week near to the wall where they will write a 75 minute piece of new work. This will happen between the 26th and the 31st January and on the evening of the 31st January they will perform the piece for the first time to a live audience at The Wave Centre, Maryport. This performance will be recorded by Fellside Recordings and subsequently released as an album. The piece will be performed again at Brampton Live Festival in July and for a third time towards the end of the year at The Sage, Gateshead.

Besides Julie, the songwriters are:

Rory McLeod - Modern day travelling troubadour, one man band, poet, story teller and multi instrumentalist.

Boo Hewerdine - Ivor Novello award nominee. Has written songs for Eddi Reader, KD Lang, Natalie Imbruglia and many others.

Jez Lowe - Singer songwriter from the north east. Tours all over the world with his band the Bad Pennies.

Ruth Notman....up and coming singer from Nottingham. Recently nominated as "Best Newcomer" at BBC Folk Awards

The three poets will be:

Kate Fox - Recently commissioned to write and perform a poem about the first hundred days of Gordon Brown's premiership for BBC1's "The Daily Politics ".

Matt Harvey - BBC Radio 4 favourite from "Start the Week" "Saturday Live"

Elvis McGonnagall - Stand up poet, armchair revolutionary and recumbent rocker....also 2006 "world poetry slam champion".

If you’re around at the end of January and would like to give Julie your support, Tickets for the premiere of “All Along The Wall” are available from The Wave Centre, Maryport. The box office number is 01900 811450.

That's it for another year!

30 December 2009

Well that's St Agnes done and dusted for another year, you can now see the final entry of the tour diary here. Next year promises to be bigger and better than ever with a brand new album and a tour which includes lots of new venues, culminating at the very splendid Birmingham Town Hall for our 10th birthday party to which you're all invited! We're hoping you'll travel the length and breadth of the country for this very special event to help us celebrate 10 glorious years of the Fountain. Happy Holidays everybody.

St Agnes Fountain Tour

08 December 2009

The tour is underway and the Aggies are having a great time on the road. You can keep up to date with the latest news and gossip by checking out the tour diary.

Party on the Lawn 2010

11 November 2009

As you may already know Party on the Lawn, the one-day festival organised by Chris and Julie, will be taking place again on 19 June 2010.

Check out the line-up of top artists and find out what it's all about on the new Party on the Lawn website.

Tickets go on sale in January and you will be able to order them online.

Julie's selling her guitar!

10 November 2009

Four years ago, Julie had a Fylde Guitar custom built which she is now selling. Before advertising to the general public she thought she would post it on the site in case anyone who is a follower of Chris and Julie's music and therefore knows the quality of the instruments they play, is interested in buying it.

Although as a custom guitar it has some modifications, it is based on a Falstaff model with a cut-away added. It has a three-piece back which is made from Rosewood, as are the sides. Standard Sitka spruce top with black scratch plate. It features a beautiful inlay with the word 'Jewel' - Julie's name for the guitar. It is fitted with a high-end LR Baggs mic/pick-up system which cost £300 to buy and fit. It also comes with a Hiscock hard case.

This guitar to buy from Fylde would cost you upwards of £2,700. Julie is selling hers (four years matured) with the Baggs system already fitted for £2,250. If you would like to see some more images of the guitar, please follow this link.

Anyone interested should email bluemoonmusic@kirstiehunt.co.uk with your name and number and Julie will contact you straight away.

She's a beauty!

St Agnes Fountain 2009

27 October 2009

The clocks have gone back, the nights are drawing in and there's a chill in the air. Looking on the bright side that must mean it's nearly time for the annual festive extravaganza that is St Agnes Fountain.

In preparation we have a new St Agnes Fountain section on this website.

Also look out for suitably seasonal tour diary entries during December.