While and Matthews Duo

They are two of my favorite singer songwriters in the whole wide world.
Beth Nielsen Chapman

Winners in the Best Duo category at the 2009 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and nine times nominated since 2001 in the Best Duo, Best Song & Best Live Act categories.

Chris While and Julie Matthews’ musical partnership began in 1993 when they were key members of the legendary folk super-group The Albion Band. In 1997 they left the band to concentrate on their work as a duo which has seen them tour throughout the world and gain an ever growing devoted fan-base. Their songs have been covered by a range of artists including Mary Black, Barbara Dickson, Christine Collister and Fairport Convention.

Both multi-instrumentalists, Julie plays guitar, piano, ukulele, bouzouki, mandolin, harmonica and accordion while Chris plays guitar, bodhran, banjo, dulcimer and percussion. Their musical careers have produced successful solo albums and a variety of projects away from the duo including the Christmas band ‘St Agnes Fountain’ with David Hughes and Fairport Convention’s Chris Leslie.

Eight studio and two live albums later their partnership flourishes...

Discography (click thumbnails for more information)

Blue Moon on the Rise (EP), 1996 Piecework, 1997 The Ballads (single), 1998 Higher Potential, 1999 Stages (Double CD), 2000 Quest, 2001 Shadow of My Former Self (single), 2001 Perfect Mistake, 2003 Here and Now, 2005 Best of While and Matthews, 2006 Stage 2 Live at the Firehouse, Germany, 2007 Together Alone, 2008 Hitting the Ground Running, 2010 Infinite Sky, 2012
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Julie Matthews

Vocals, piano, Guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, accordian and ukulele.

Awesomely talented
Folk Roots

Described by Folk Roots as "awesomely talented" Julie is a key songwriter for the Sony Award winning series of Radio Ballads, made for BBC Radio 2 in 2006 and 2012. In early 2010 she joined Rory McLeod, Boo Hewerdine, Jez Lowe and Ruth Notman in the song-writing project "All Along the Wall", celebrating the history of Hadrian’s Wall in music and poetry.

Discography (click thumbnails for more information)

Lies and Alibis - Pat Shaw & Julie Matthews, 1993 Such Is Life, 1996 Slow, 2004
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Chris While

Vocals, Guitar, Banjo, Dulcimer, Bodhran and Percussion.

She rises like an angel from the ashes with a voice to match
The Guardian

Chris’s long-time association with legendary folk-rock band Fairport Convention saw her take the place of the late Sandy Denny as the band’s original 1969 line-up and performed the groundbreaking album Liege and Lief at the 2007 Cropredy Festival , an event later broadcast on BBC Radio 2. Chris also records and tours with her daughter Kellie While, ex lead singer with the Albion Band and E2k. Of Chris the Guardian wrote “She rises like an angel from the ashes with a voice to match”, and fan Eddi Reader describes her simply as ‘the best singer in England’.

Discography (click thumbnails for more information)

Still on Fire/By Request, 1993 Look At Me Now, 1993 In The Big Room, 1997 Rosella Red, 2007 Chris and Kellie While, 2004 Too Few Songs, 2006 The first two Chris & Kellie While CDs in a double pack, 2011
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St Agnes Fountain

Chris and Julie joined forces with David Hughes and Fairport Covention's Chris Leslie in December 2001 to form the Christmas project St Agnes Fountain. Since then they have toured every December and have made several albums.

Discography (click thumbnails for more information)

Acoustic Carols for Christmas, 2001 Comfort & Joy, 2002 The Show, 2003 Three Ships, 2005 The White Xmas Album, 2006 Soal Cake, 2008 Spirit of Christmas, 2010 Best of St Agnes Fountain (Double CD), 2011 Twelve Years of Christmas, 2012

Blue Tapestry

2002 saw the birth of Blue Tapestry, where Chris and Julie began their collaboration 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.

Discography (click thumbnails for more information)

Blue Tapestry Live, 2002

Daphne's Flight

1996 saw the start of several projects involving Chris and Julie. First came Daphne's Flight, an all female group featuring Chris, Julie, Christine Collister, Helen Watson and Melanie Harrold.

Discography (click thumbnails for more information)

Daphne's Flight, 1996

Rejoice the Voice

Chris and Julie, together with Helen Watson, have been running sing-out vocal workshops for women since 1999. In 2009 they got together to record their first Rejoice the Voice album, Bare Bones. In keeping with the tradition of the workshops the album features only their unaccompanied voices.

Discography (click thumbnails for more information)

Bare Bones, 2009
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Album Reviews

Infinite Sky

What is there to say? I long ago exhausted my thesaurus of superlatives when it comes to reviewing the duo’s albums, leaving me struggling to find the words to do them justice. ...

Mike Davies

Net Rhythms

Best of While & Matthews

The best of these two is of course excellent and the only decision can have been what to leave out. 15 great tracks

Graham Radley

Maverick Magazine

Here & Now

With its sensitive ballads, stripped down production & instrumentation along with clever harmonies throughtout, this new release is set to expose them to a wider audience

Acoustic Magazine

Quest

This is the third album from Chris and Julie as a duo and what a fine piece of work it is. They decided to involve the acclaimed Ghanaian musician Kwame Yeboah as producer and multi-instrumentalist on this current work and what an inspiration he is to this Quest. ...

Tony Kendall

Living tradition

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