Kris Drever & Chris Stout

Kris Drever and Chris Stout are icons of the Scottish roots culture and two of the most powerful contemporary voices to sing out of it in the last quarter century.

Both come from the Northern Isles (Kris from Orkney and Chris from Shetland) and represent the strength of those identities in the music they inhabit. Inherited through childhood, family and osmosis, you can hear the wind whistling through the strings, the rhythms washing against your animal self and the old stories whispering out from the ingleneuk.

In Glasgow in 2019 the two found themselves to be neighbours in the West End and began meeting up and playing music together. Both musicians found a sound of great interest and emotional power in these little get-togethers, and it soon became a more regular happening.

Now they’ve decided to share the experience with a wider audience. Come and hear songs and tunes you know and some you don’t, shining through the unique prism of these two ‘one of a kind’ musicians.

Kris is a guitarist, singer and founder member of the trio Lau. He’s a multi award winning singer songwriter and has played and written with a galaxy of stars (Eddi Reader, Roddy Woomble, Mark Knopfler, Kate Rusby, Jack Bruce, Karine Polwart…).

 

Chris is a virtuoso violinist, viola player and composer, founder member of the legendary Shetland band ‘Fiddlers Bid’ and long time collaborator of the genius harpist Catriona McKay.  He has performed in venues as storied as the Sydney Opera House and has composed for and performed with The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, The Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, The Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and a great many more.

Don’t miss Kris & Chris in the intimate atmosphere of The Old Malthouse, Chidham.

Doors open 7.30pm for an 8pm show.

Licensed Bar helps support WemsFest – As always, we’ll have our licensed bar serving delicious beers from Langham Brewery 🍻 as well as wines, local cider, nonalcoholic beers, and soft drinks.  All profits from bar and ticket sales are reinvested in the local community.

Tickets available now (and selling fast already!!) at Bookends and Harbour Records and online here

If you require special assistance or have mobility difficulties, please contact us in advance and we will do our very best to accommodate you so that you are comfortable.

The Barleycorn Tavern, which is a stone’s throw from the Village Hall, are very kindly offering ticket holders 2 for 1 meals before the concert.  You’ll need to call them and book at least 3 days before the event, and will need to show either your ticket or your WeGotTickets.com email.

McGoldrick, McCusker & Doyle

If you somehow still don’t know that these guys are worth buying your ticket for now…. 🤷‍♀️  could you just please take our word for it and get yourself that seat at The Lens for March 4th.

They’ve been called ‘the legendary triumvirate‘.

They’ve been founding, former, and current members of bands such as Solas, The Battlefield Band, Flook, Lunasa & Capercaillie.

They’ve worked with musical pioneers including Joan Baez, Linda Thompson, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mark Knopfler, Bob Dylan, Paul Weller, Eddi Reader, Heidi Talbot, Kris Drever & John Cale.

You like The Transatlantic Sessions?  Then you’ve seen these guys already!

Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker & John Doyle are simply brilliant at what they do!  All three musicians have won global acclaim for being the absolute top shelf of trad Celtic music.  This will be their 7th WemsFest appearance (including several special online shows during the pandemic) and we are thrilled to have them back!

Michael McGoldrick – (Manchester) flute, whistles, Uileann pipes, bodhran, clarinet, conga

John McCusker – (Glasgow) fiddle, whistles, harmonium

John Doyle – (Dublin) vocals, guitar, bouzouki, mandola

“The Wishing Tree is exceptional and has to be a front-runner for album of the year” – Folk Radio

“A sparklingly tight programme… an excellent sound balance… never tiresome” – The Scotsman

“It takes a lifetime of playing to sound as effortless as these guys” – The Herald

“What an absolute pleasure to share in their warmth, intimacy and richly talented company” – Folking.com

Doors 7.30 for an 8pm show

Tickets available directly from Portsmouth Guildhall at the link here.

Oysterband – A Long, Long Goodbye Tour! (SOLD OUT)

 

Going out on a high!

Since they started as a noisy, politicised ceilidh band in the late Seventies, Oysterband have remained true to their beliefs and never wavered as they’ve worn their hearts on their sleeves whilst delivering a plethora of acclaimed albums, winning multiple awards, and travelling the world.  Now they’re taking the tour bus out for it’s last ride – and stopping in Emsworth on the way!

John Jones (vocals & melodeon), Alan Prosser (guitar), and Ian Telfer (violin) are joined by longtime producer Al Scott (bass), Adrian Oxaal (cello & guitar) and Sean Randle (drums)

Let’s give them the send-off they deserve !

“We’re hanging up our travelling shoes, but we’re taking a year or so to say goodbye to our lovely live audience.  And we mean to enjoy every minute!”

Emerging in the early 80s from their folk club and ceilidh band days, Oysterband infused both the tradition and their own songs with a passion and energy that was electrifying for the time. Polkas, politics and a heaving dance floor seemed just right for Thatcher’s Britain. Signing to new roots label Cooking Vinyl, headlining English Roots Against Apartheid, playing Glastonbury and the Fleadh several times each, touring with The Pogues in Europe and Billy Bragg in North America, hosting the Big Session Festival….. all gained them a large and loyal international following.

Their collaboration with June Tabor in 1990 produced the cult-classic album Freedom & Rain, and it was renewed 21 years later for Ragged Kingdom, one of the best-selling folk-rock albums of the new millennium.

Winners of several BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, including Best Band twice, Oysterband’s song-writing has never stood still, and classics such as The Oxford Girl, When I’m Up (I Can’t Get Down), Everywhere I Go and Put Out The Lights have entered the folk canon.

“It’s been a long, tough, joyful journey, but the time has come.  In the words of our own song Granite Years, we’re waving you a long, long goodbye…..come help us celebrate!”

Licensed bar helps support WemsFest – As always, we’ll have our licensed bar serving delicious beers from Langham Brewery 🍻 as well as wines, local cider, nonalcoholic beers, and soft drinks.  All profits from bar and ticket sales are reinvested in the local community.

Tickets available now (well – there are about 5 left at the time of posting!) at Bookends and Harbour Records and online here

Doors open 7.30 for an 8pm start

Please don’t try to park on Church Path or other local roads – there is plenty of free car parking in local car parks.  Better yet, take the bus or train!  St James Church is less than 5 minutes’ walk from either.

If you require special assistance or have mobility difficulties, please contact us in advance and we will do our very best to accommodate you so that you are comfortable.

Justin Adams & Mauro Durante

An acclaimed collaboration between Robert Plant‘s former guitarist Justin Adams, and Italian fiddle, guitar, and percussion player Mauro Durante.  Their music is rooted in the fascinating tradition of Taranta – the healing rituals of Southern Italy. It’s atmospheric and hugely danceable.

Justin Adams, guitarist, producer and composer, has been a chief collaborator with Robert Plant in his band, the Sensational Spaceshifters, co-writing a series of 4 albums and touring the world.  His production on landmark albums by Tinariwen and Rachid Taha highlight his feel for North African groove, while his award-winning project with Gambian maestro Juldeh Camara, ‘JUJU’, linked griot tradition with raw blues spirit.  His recent solo album of guitar atmospherics, ‘Ribbons’, was cited amongst the top 50 albums of the past decade by Songlines magazine.

Mauro Durante toured the world for many years with Ludovico Einaudi playing violin and frame drums.  He is one of the leading players in the pizzica style of Southern Italy and leads Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, who have played great festivals all over the world. Last year CSG were featured in their own concert at the BBC Proms (where Justin Adams guested with them) and they won Best Group in the Songlines Music Awards.

This new collaboration stems from a concert led by Ludovico Einaudi, the Notte della Taranta in Puglia, where the two first played together, recognising kindred spirits in the trance rhythms of Taranta which transcend “melancolia” or the blues. Together they create a raw, stripped-back sound that moves and mesmerises.

Licensed bar helps support WemsFest – As always, we’ll have our licensed bar serving delicious beers from Langham Brewery 🍻 as well as wines, local cider, nonalcoholic beers, and soft drinks.  All profits from bar and ticket sales are reinvested in the local community.

Tickets available now at Bookends and Harbour Records and online here

Doors open 7.30 for an 8pm start

If you require special assistance or have mobility difficulties, please contact us in advance and we will do our very best to accommodate you so that you are comfortable.

The Barleycorn Tavern, which is a stone’s throw from the Village Hall, are very kindly offering ticket holders 2 for 1 meals before the concert.  You’ll need to call them and book at least 3 days before the event, and will need to show either your ticket or your WeGotTickets.com email.

The Magpies

Bella Gaffney (guitar, banjo, vocals), Holly Brandon (fiddle, vocals), and Ellie Gowers (guitar, vocals) combine to take you on a journey to distant lands with their ethereal voices and glistening instrumentals.  They come to us off the back of a hugely busy summer playing at many of the major festivals.

It has only been a short space of time since The Magpies burst onto the UK folk scene, but they have already made a huge impression with their fresh brand of transatlantic neo-folk and have been ‘making waves wherever they play’ – Phil Beer, Show of Hands.

Based on a deeply felt musical friendship, The Magpies work collaboratively, arranging material led by powerful vocals and glittering instrumental ornamentation. They each draw on their wide-ranging influences to create a unique blend of transatlantic folk, transporting audiences to distant lands and capturing imaginations with their enthralling live show.

Accomplished musicians in their own right, founding members Bella Gaffney (award winning singer-songwriter, guitarist and banjoist) and Holly Brandon (acclaimed fiddle player and tunesmith) perform alongside gifted singer-songwriter and guitarist Ellie Gowers. These talented young musicians work collaboratively to create their fresh brand of transatlantic folk and champion gender equality in the music industry, with a fervent thread of feminism running through their music.

In their live performances The Magpies have been exceptionally well-received. Their first year as a band in 2018 saw them perform at festivals such as Cambridge Folk Festival and on main stages at Wickham Festival, Towersey Festival and Deer Shed Festival. 2019 saw their first international shows, with showcases at Folk Alliance International in Montreal, a successful tour in Ireland and performances at Costa del Folk in Portugal. And the summer saw many more festival performances including Glastonbury, Larmer Tree, Warwick and Shambala.

Their debut album – Tidings – was released in June 2020 to critical acclaim. A rich and varied showcase of their live sound, the album draws on a range of influences and delivers a sound that can only be described as contemporary. A huge range of exquisite instrumentation on mandolin, guitar, fiddle, cello, bouzouki and banjo provide a thrilling canvas on which they paint their stories. The album is full of songs which explore uniquely female experiences in unpredictable and surprising ways. From the transformation and sorcery of the traditional ballad The Two Magicians, to lost love, murder and suicide in the original Run River Run, The Magpies bring a fresh voice to the current milieu. As well as drawing on their experiences as women, the material is also deeply rooted in the traditions of their native Yorkshire.

‘One of those effervescent albums you’d be happy to recommend to people who might not consider themselves folk fans’ – The Sunday Times

‘Folk with finesse’ – The Daily Mail

‘Check their album ‘Undertow’ out! Really good mix of songs and instrumentals’ – Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio2

Licensed bar helps support WemsFest – As always, we’ll have our licensed bar serving delicious beers from Langham Brewery 🍻 as well as wines, local cider, nonalcoholic beers, and soft drinks.  All profits from bar and ticket sales are reinvested in the local community.

Tickets available now at Bookends and Harbour Records and online here

Doors open 7.30 for an 8pm start

If you require special assistance or have mobility difficulties, please contact us in advance and we will do our very best to accommodate you so that you are comfortable.

The Barleycorn Tavern, which is a stone’s throw from the Village Hall, are very kindly offering ticket holders 2 for 1 meals before the concert.  You’ll need to call them and book at least 3 days before the event, and will need to show either your ticket or your WeGotTickets.com email.