The Gift – Review

  We were delighted to receive a fabulous review of The Gift in the latest editions of The Living Tradition. The review is written by John O’Regan of ARC Music who is based in Limerick. two musical minds entwined creatively, each gifting the other with their presence and personality, producing music that’s at once emotional, beautiful and…


The Lads Like Beer

I am delighted to announce that the foremost authority on James Hill, Tyneside’s fiddling hero, has given me permission to stock his wonderful book and accompanying CD. So, Graham Dixon’s The Lads Like Beer is now for sale in the shop! Many of the tunes performed in Jimmy’s Fiddle can be found in this book, along with…


The Gift Launch Date

Frank and I are very excited about this – our new album, The Gift, will be launched on 3rd April 2018. Keep an eye open for details about pre-ordering the CD, and there might be some special bundles available to those who support us by pre-ordering!   And don’t forget to save the date for the…


Edinburgh Folk Club with Frank

We are delighted to have been invited up to the Edinburgh Folk Club to play on Wednesday 7th February. They have a spectacular line-up of acts scheduled this year and it will be a great gig to kick off 2018. They start at 8pm, and tickets are available online from Brown Paper Tickets. We thought last…


A week with Frank

Looking forward to a week with Frank McLaughlin up in Edinburgh. We’ll be rehearsing lots, but also spending time with the splendid Richard of B & B Studios in Edinburgh, mixing the new album. We’ll be finishing the week back down in the North East and are delighted to be playing a House Concert on…


Sixty Minutes an Hour ~ Album Launch

Excitement levels are rising as we approach the album launch for Maddison’s Thread‘s new album, Sixty Minutes an Hour. Lee has done an amazing job with the songs and lots of fun was had adding the arrangements. Tonight is the first launch concert at Hartlepool Cricket Club and we are looking forward to a very…


Bottle Bank Band in Embleton

On Tuesday 1st November I will be joining Bottle Bank Band in our Autumn Concert. We are looking forward to returning to the lovely Embleton Village Hall for a fun evening, playing sets from our album and some new material too. We were very pleased to have had some recent air time on Radio 3…


Bottle Bank Band CD launched

The Bottle Bank Band CD is now officially launched and what a send off it was given! Chloe, David, Sophy and I would like to say thank you very much to all those people who came along to support the gigs, filling the halls and buying CDs. Thanks as well to Ednie and the team…


Bottle Bank Band CD Launch Tour

Announcing the long-awaited launch of the band’s debut CD “Bottle Bank Band.” Details of the three concerts are on the Events page, starting at St Mary’s Heritage Centre on Thurs 9th June, before heading to Allendale Village Hall on Fri 17th June, and to Felton in Northumberland on Fri 24th June at Gallery 45. Tickets are…


Maddison’s Thread – new album

December’s gigs with Lee Maddison were lots of fun and very satisfying. If you haven’t heard him, Lee is a terrific songwriter from Hartlepool who combines wonderful insight with a great ear for melody. He has been writing some really interesting new material recently and we will play around with some of those songs in…