Sneak peek of new album on Mike Harding show

05 September 2010

Did anyone catch the Mike Harding show on Radio 2 last week? If so you would have heard a song played from the new album "Hitting the Ground Running" to be released on 27th September 2010. The song played was 'Rock of Gelt' written by Julie for the 'All Along the Wall' project. You can listen again to the show on bbc iplayer

Albums, tours ... it's all going on!

15 August 2010

Well hello again! Chris and I are finally emerging from what has been a three month stint in the studio recording the new duo album then, with only a week off for good behaviour, the new St Agnes Fountain Album.

The former has now been pressed and packaged and we're so very proud of it. It's titled 'Hitting the Ground Running' and will be released into the shops on the 27th Septmber though we are releasing it for sale to our website followers through our own on-line shop here on the 17th September to coincide with the start of our Autumn tour.

It features 11 songs, some we previewed on last year's tour but with a handful of new songs too. We loved making this album from start to finish and the musicians we worked with are the cream of the crop: Howard Lees on all things stringy and a long time contributer to our music, Neil Fairclough on bass who also was featured on Together Alone, Bryan Hargreaves on Drums, a new band member for us but who Neil introduced to us and huge thanks to him for that as Bryan has brought a fresh and brilliant new feel to our arrangements.

Joe Broughton once again did 4 superb string arrangements and as well as playing himself he enrolled the services of the incredibly talented Paloma Trigas on Violin and Emma Capp on Cello. We also finally realised a long time ambition to work with the wonderful Troy Donockley who gave so generously of his time and talents on Uillean Pipes and Low whistle on a track - simply stunning.

We hope you'll agree this is our best work to date and, to top it off, it looks as good as it sounds with a superb photo shoot from our very own Kirstie Hunt.

The new St Agnes Fountain album is now recorded but is still to be mixed (a couple of weeks of ear and studio rest was very much needed!). We're really pleased and excited with it, again, it feels like the best one yet and is cram packed full of absolute festive gems from classic Aggie arrangements of traditional carols, original material, beautiful ballads, rousing tunes and even a reggae rap!

The Aggie's celebrate our 10th anniversary this year (can you believe it?) and to mark the occasion we are finishing the tour at the incredibly beautiful Birmingham Town Hall. We intend it to be a very special night indeed and hope you'll travel the length and breadth of the country to blow our candles out with us!

The album will be released in December and sold via this website as well as on the tour.

Other news just in, the 'All Along the Wall' project CD has just arrived and is set for release on the 20th September. You'll be able to buy it from us on tour as well as in the shops. There are rumours of a free album launch concert featuring some of the artists at Vindolanda on Hadrians wall which should be very special indeed so watch this space for confirmation and details.

Well the duo tour is just around the corner and so we're gearing ourselves up and raring to go. It seems so long since the last one, we've missed you all! Hope you can all make it to somewhere near you. Again, we're not doing a snail mail-out this year but are posting the flyers of both tours here so you can print them should you wish a paper copy.

So we'll see you hopefully in a few short weeks, but for now, back into the studio for a bit more carolling!

Julie on BBC Radio Cumbria

27 June 2010

Julie was the special guest on BBC Radio Cumbria tonight talking about the 'All Along the Wall' project. If you would like to listen again to the show, it will be available for one week on bbc iplayer. Click here and select the Sally Moon Show - Sunday 27th June. Julie's interview was the first hour of the programme.

Party on the Lawn 2010 - Review

26 June 2010

What a fantastic weekend we all had at Party on the Lawn.

To those of you who missed out on tickets, we're so sorry you couldn't share in what turned out to be a day of world class music, lovely weather and a fantastic atmosphere, we could really do with persuading Jo and Rob to knock down a wall or two and extend their beautiful lawn to seat 1000 instead of 600!!

The line-up was, as I said, fantastic ... read more

Party on the Lawn 2010

03 June 2010

There's only a few tickets left now for Party on the Lawn, so get those tickets booked if you still want to come! Buy online at the POTL website.

Party on the Lawn 2010 - Change to the line-up

30 May 2010

We are sorry to announce that Colvin Quarmby have had to cancel their appearance at Party on the Lawn due to personal reasons.

The good news is that we have booked the amazing Carrivick Sisters. We met them last year when they appeared at a St. Agnes Fountain concert and so they were our first choice as a replacement.

They were BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Musician finalists earlier this year. They are the best bluegrass players to have come from this country without a doubt. Check out their website.

Rejoice the Voice photos

19 March 2010

The Rejoice the Voice workshops are going really well. We've put up group photos from the first four workshops on the Rejoice the Voice photos page. Can you spot yourself?

More will be added as we go along.

Rejoice the Voice Workshops selling fast!

11 March 2010

There are only a few tickets left for the Rejoice the Voice workshops at Birmingham on Sunday 14th March and Eynsham on Saturday 20th March. If you'd like to come and haven't booked your ticket yet, contact Jil on 07973 463767

Julie's solo site

25 February 2010

Julie has had an overhaul of her solo site and has posted her latest news and photos. You can link to it at the bottom of this page. Check out her new, exciting instument on the news page.

BBC 2 Radio Ballad

15 February 2010

A new BBC Radio Ballad that marks the 25th anniversary of the miner's strike has just been completed and is scheduled to be broadcast on Radio 2 on March 2nd. It features songs by John Tams, Ray Hearn, Jez Lowe, Kate Sutcliffe and Julie Matthews.

If you can bear to be reminded of the futility and sadness of it all then please check it out, it's an amazing show and beautifully produced (by Andy Seward). Really emotional stuff.