Julie Matthews
"Awesomly talented" Folk Roots
Vocals, piano, Guitar, mandolin and Bouzouki. Julie Matthews is recognised
as one of the most talented songwriters to have come
out of the British Isles.
She has been compared to Richard Thompson and Mary Chapin Carpenter but Julie's
powerful style puts her in a class of her own. Her songs have been covered
by: Fairport Convention, Kellie While, Mary Duff and Mary Black (Thorn upon
the rose was a top 10 hit in both Ireland and Japan!) to name but a few. Described
by Folk Roots as "awesomely talented" She's a dynamic
performer and a multi instrumentalist. In 1994 she opened for Mary Chapin
Carpenter at Her Majesty's Theatre in London.
From 1990 to 1997 Julie was a leading member of the legendary Albion Band,
her songs becoming an intrinsic part of the bands repertoire. The last couple
of years have seen Julie producing albums as well as recording many, notably,
Helen Watson's 'Somersault' and Lifesize' and Kellie While's 'Tenacious'.
Julie has two major albums of her own 'Lies and Alibis' with Pat Shaw and
her debut solo album 'Such is life'.
In June 2005 Julie wrote and produced the new Album 'Slow' her best solo work
to date. She subsequently toured with her trio in the summer of 2005.
In 2006 Julie's song were an important imput to the acclaimed 'Radio 2 New
Radio Ballads' when she contributed eleven brilliant songs.
Chris While
"Chris While is the best singer in the
UK" Barbara Dickson.
Vocals, Guitar, Banjo, Dulcimer, Bodhran and Percussion.
People will try to compare Chris While's voice to others but as Folk
Roots wrote of her, "She learns from many, takes
from few and comes away her own woman".She is described as a singers
singer and a great guitarist and although her songs have been covered by many
other artists, she is the definitive interpreter of her own extremely personal
songs.
In 1993 she joined The Albion Band as lead singer and the following years brought
her voice and songs to a much wider audience both in the U.K. and on the international
arena.
Chris has two solo albums, 'Look at me now' 1993, the beautiful 'In the Big
Room' 1997 and the long awaited 'Still on fire / By Request' (Chris's early
acoustic tapes re-mastered and put on to CD format). In 1999 at the first BBC
Radio 2's prestigious Folk Music Awards, Chris's song 'The Light in my Mothers
Eye' was nominated in the best song category.
Her new long awaited album ' Rosella Red' is due for release in the summer.
"She rises like an angel from the ashes with a voice
to match" The Guardian
And together
"They are two of my favorite singer songwriters in the
whole wide world" Beth Nielsen Chapman
1997 saw Chris and Julie depart the Albion Band . The
move came about as a result of the
escalation and increasing success of the duo on the international stage.
Chris and Julie's duo career began in 1995 when they toured Canada as The Women
of Albion, initially as a one off project, but the impact was so great on both
the audience and themselves that the act became established. Since then they
have toured solidly as a duo throughout the UK, Europe, Africa, North America
and - Australia where they have been thoroughly adopted and are held in the
highest esteem, packing out concert halls and festival stages
1996 saw the start of several amazing projects involving Chris and Julie. First
came 'Daphne's Flight', an all female super group featuring Chris, Julie, Christine
Collister, Helen Watson
and Melanie Harrold. As one can imagine, staggering.
Chris and Julie's song writing partnership is now well established with a string
of covers under their belts; Barbara
Dickson, Christine Collister
and Frances Black to name a few and
they are frequently commissioned to write for various radio and television projects.
To launch their full time duo career, the long awaited 'Piecework' was released
in early 1998, followed by 'Higher Potential' in October '99. The much anticipated
double live album 'Stages' was released in Autumn
2000, followed closely in 2001 by their highly acclaimed new studio album 'Quest'
produced by Kwame Yeboah of e2K, Miss Dynamite and Craig David's
band.
Ever eager to broaden their musical horizons, Chris and Julie joined
forces with Chris Leslie and David Hughes in December 2001 to form the Christmas
project 'St Agnes Fountain', releasing an album of the same title to great critical
acclaim. The ensuing two years saw two tours and another Album released 'Comfort
and Joy'. "2005 Sees the release of their new Album 'Here and Now'.
2002 saw the birth of 'Blue Tapestry'.
Chris and Julie with Maartin Allcock,
Pete Zorn and Neil
Marshall. The show features the music of Carole King and Joni Mitchell -
Chris and Julie's two main influences. The live shows are electrifying and their
finest hour was last year at Cropredy festival where they sang their way into
the hearts of 20,000 people with these most precious songs. Chris sings the
Joni stuff and Julie, Carole's. As you can imagine the
'Live' Album is fantastic!
Finally a Songbook has been released including 29 of their most loved songs.
While and Matthews now have an annual festival
'Party on the Lawn' which takes place at:
Prebendal Farm - Bishopstone - Wiltshire every June.
They have been nominated no less than seven times in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Chris and Julie along with fellow Daphne's Flight member and close friend also
tour the country with their womans vocal workshop 'Rejoice the Voice' bring
a voice to many women desperate to sing, have a look at the workshop page here.