Alasdair Roberts | Emily Portman | Rachel Newton | Lucy Farrell
NEW ALBUM out 27th November
PREORDER NOW!
BBC Radio 2 Folk award winners of *Best Group* 2017
'A rare band of distinctively individual singers and musicians who knit perfectly' *****fROOTS
‘A bravely sparse and compelling new take on traditional songs... A quietly classy folk band’- The Guardian
PREORDER NOW!
BBC Radio 2 Folk award winners of *Best Group* 2017
'A rare band of distinctively individual singers and musicians who knit perfectly' *****fROOTS
‘A bravely sparse and compelling new take on traditional songs... A quietly classy folk band’- The Guardian
The furrow collective
Halsway manor residential
Page to Performance: Folk Songs with the Furrow Collective Monday 15 Jul 4pm — Friday 19 Jul 10am, 2024
The Furrow Collective invite you to join them for a deep dive into folk songs from England, Scotland and beyond. This course is for people who would like the opportunity to sing together in harmony, both with and without instrumental accompaniment, and who are keen to develop their practical knowledge and repertoire of traditional songs, whether to perform as soloists or in groups.
The band will teach a selection of the songs that they have gathered from their decade of collaboration and four album releases, delving into their history, stories and contemporary relevance. As well as lots of practical singing opportunities, you’ll get an insight into the way they usually work together, from finding and adapting the songs to how they approach the practicalities of playing together.
There will also be some opportunities for instrumental & vocal tuition and guidance along the way. Participants will have the chance to work on songs together in large and small groups, and to engage with repertoire sourced from Halsway’s well-equipped library.
This course will offer you some new repertoire, new insights into old repertoire, and will aim to build on your pre-existing skills and techniques as singers and instrumentalists. You’ll spend the majority of the sessions being guided by the tutors in groups of various sizes, and there’ll be some opportunity for working in small groups on self-led collaborations, plus the chance for one-to-one vocal or instrumental guidance if it’s of interest.
Please note: Rachel Newton is currently on maternity leave and is not able to commit to the course dates at this time, but as Lucy is over from Canada, we couldn’t miss the opportunity for at least 3/4 of the band to share their week with you!
Who is it for?
This course is aimed at all singers and singer-instrumentalists who would like to learn unaccompanied folk songs and harmonies by ear, and learn more about how to put them together in large and small groups. You’ll be interested to find out more about the songs’ histories, relevance, and their place within the modern folk canon, and you’ll have the chance to explore the library in search of material that you’d like to bring to life through performance.
As long as you’re happy to learn songs by ear and sing them unaccompanied in a group, you’ll be very welcome. You don’t need to be able to read music. If you’re bringing an instrument in addition to your voice along, as you’re not a complete beginner, including those working on diatonic instruments. You’ll get a timetable in advance and further course materials once you arrive.
There will be an informal sharing event during the course to give you the chance to show off your collaborative creations, plus informal sessions in the bar each evening, so bring your best chorus songs, session-friendly tunes, and proudest party pieces!
The band will teach a selection of the songs that they have gathered from their decade of collaboration and four album releases, delving into their history, stories and contemporary relevance. As well as lots of practical singing opportunities, you’ll get an insight into the way they usually work together, from finding and adapting the songs to how they approach the practicalities of playing together.
There will also be some opportunities for instrumental & vocal tuition and guidance along the way. Participants will have the chance to work on songs together in large and small groups, and to engage with repertoire sourced from Halsway’s well-equipped library.
This course will offer you some new repertoire, new insights into old repertoire, and will aim to build on your pre-existing skills and techniques as singers and instrumentalists. You’ll spend the majority of the sessions being guided by the tutors in groups of various sizes, and there’ll be some opportunity for working in small groups on self-led collaborations, plus the chance for one-to-one vocal or instrumental guidance if it’s of interest.
Please note: Rachel Newton is currently on maternity leave and is not able to commit to the course dates at this time, but as Lucy is over from Canada, we couldn’t miss the opportunity for at least 3/4 of the band to share their week with you!
Who is it for?
This course is aimed at all singers and singer-instrumentalists who would like to learn unaccompanied folk songs and harmonies by ear, and learn more about how to put them together in large and small groups. You’ll be interested to find out more about the songs’ histories, relevance, and their place within the modern folk canon, and you’ll have the chance to explore the library in search of material that you’d like to bring to life through performance.
As long as you’re happy to learn songs by ear and sing them unaccompanied in a group, you’ll be very welcome. You don’t need to be able to read music. If you’re bringing an instrument in addition to your voice along, as you’re not a complete beginner, including those working on diatonic instruments. You’ll get a timetable in advance and further course materials once you arrive.
There will be an informal sharing event during the course to give you the chance to show off your collaborative creations, plus informal sessions in the bar each evening, so bring your best chorus songs, session-friendly tunes, and proudest party pieces!
We know by the moon Out on November 27th Critically acclaimed, award-winning English/Scottish folk group The Furrow Collective are heading out on tour in the UK in December 2023, in support of their fourth full-length album out on Hudson Records. Usually a quartet, they will tour as a trio due to the happy news that Rachel is expecting a baby at the end of November. ".....They are simply one of the most formidable combinations of musicians in today’s folk music scene, and in We Know by the Moon, they have created one of the year’s outstanding albums."
Thomas Blake folk radio UK |
We Know by the Moon is the latest album from award-winning English/Scottish group The Furrow Collective (Lucy Farrell, Rachel Newton, Emily Portman and Alasdair Roberts). Recorded with long-time producer Andy Bell between Glasgow and Sheffield in early 2023, ten years after the band’s formation, the album has a lunar theme:
"The moon, the stars, darkness and night are threads woven through these songs. Songs to be listened to after dark, by candlelight, firelight, or under the cold, steady light of our constant lunar companion." The Furrow Collective
A wintry album of moonlit serenades and starlit balladry, We Know by the Moon showcases the group’s characteristic array of musical talents and ability to source and transform the quirkiest of folk songs, honed over a full decade of playing and singing together. The band’s voices blend in harmony singing at its rawest, with understated and sensitive instrumental accompaniment, featuring harp, guitars, piano and viola.
The 11 tracks feature songs from England, Scotland and beyond; from 's Fhada Leam an Oidhche Gheamhraidh’, the homesick Gaelic lament of an Isle of Lewis emigrant, to Robert Burns’ ‘O, Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast’, as well as a foray into the German language with Schubert’s ‘Der Leiermann (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man)‘ and an unaccompanied vocal version of ‘Oh Watch the Stars’, learnt from a record by The Seeger Sisters. The record features spellbinding illustrations by May Farrell (Lucy’s mum) to accompany each song.
The Furrow Collective formed in 2013, its four individually distinctive members drawn together by a shared love of traditional song and balladry of England, Scotland and beyond and an open, intuitive approach to collaboration. In recognition of their innovative approach, The Furrow Collective were awarded the accolade of 'Best Group' at the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, hot on the heels of the release in late 2016 of their second album, Wild Hog. Their fourth album, We Know by the Moon is the follow up to Fathoms (2018) and was sparked as an idea after their 2022 winter EP The Longest Night.
We Know By The Moon pre-order is launched and first single ‘The Moon Shines Bright’ is released on the October full moon (28.10.23) with the complete album released not on a Friday as normal, but on the November full moon (28.11.23). The Furrow Collective are the first artists Hudson Records worked with and we are really excited, in the group’s tenth anniversary year, to be continuing this journey together.
Pre Order now
There are various ways to support us and this new release and we are so grateful to everyone who everyone who shares our music with friends, pre orders, buys tickets in advance - it helps so much, so thankyou!
If you are able to preorder you can head over to Hudson records! Thankyou so much x There is also a SUPER FAN bundle and included in that is a limited edition print of May Farrells supreme artwork for this release.... we are all in awe of every single illustration she created for every song on the album. Thankyou May! you can go give her a follow on Instagram if you are so inclined. x |
'If the future of folk music sounds like Fathoms we are in safe hands indeed.'
FRUK 'Something of a delicacy to be savoured' **** Northern Sky 'Like The Unthanks, The Furrow Collective are adventurous in their interpretation of the traditional songbook of the British Isles' Scotsman 'Innovative arrangements, yet never losing the essence of their roots' FATEA |
'One of the most refreshing interpreters of traditional song in the UK**** Songlines |
Excited to share this beautiful new video for 'Down by the Greenwoodside' by the amazing Maud Hewlings! Thanks to Folk Radio for the premier!
News
New album | Fathoms | out now
The Furrow Collective
Fathoms November 2018 sees the release of the third album Fathoms by award-winning and acclaimed folk group The Furrow Collective. Produced in Powys and Oxfordshire by honorary fifth-Furrow Andy Bell Fathoms sees the group build further on their substantial reputation for breathing new life into traditional songs. Fathoms captures typically innovative arrangements and sets the four distinctive voices in a magical, captivating sound-world. As with their previous collections, the impression is by turns ancient, evoking the lines back to the earliest source, and then altogether unknown; fresh as tomorrow morning. The Furrow Collective is an English/Scottish band consisting of four talented and individually prominent performers: Lucy Farrell (viola, voice & saw), Rachel Newton (harp, fiddle, voice), Emily Portman (banjo, concertina, voice) and Alasdair Roberts (guitars, voice). The group formed in 2013, drawn together by a shared love of traditional song and balladry of the England, Scotland and beyond and an open, intuitive approach to collaboration. In recognition of their innovative approach, The Furrow Collective were awarded the accolade of 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 'Best Group', hot on the heels of the release in late 2016 of their second album, Wild Hog (also on Hudson Records). |
WILD HOG
WILD HOG | 4.11.16
order Here!
CD . LP . DL
November 2016 sees the release of the group's second album, Wild Hog, on new imprint Hudson Records. Again produced by Andy Bell and building on the success of its predecessor, Wild Hog shows a marked development in the group's sound and approach, featuring guest musicians Alex Neilson (Trembling Bells) on drums and Stevie Jones (Sound of Yell) on double bass. The Furrow Collective has toured extensively throughout the UK as well as in mainland Europe. Lucy, Rachel, Emily and Alasdair will continue to tour around the release of Wild Hog and into the future, delighting audiences far and near with their uniquely beguiling approach to traditional song.