The SPEAK UP! exhibition is now over and we move into our bite-size summer break. But not before announcing three gigs to spice up the Autumn, category-defying stuff from three fascinating, incredible artists. Tickets available here, sixteen quid a pop.
Ray Cooper
Formerly cellist and vocalist with the legendary Oysterband (and joining them for some dates of their final tour this year), Ray has just released a superb new album 'Even For a Shadow'. Be prepared for a versatile, compelling multi-instrumentalist with a songbook full of stories.
“There is something in Ray Cooper’s songs reminiscent of singers such as Leonard Cohen and Ralph McTell, yet he also has a unique voice of his own. His lyrical delivery blurs the lines between poetry, spoken word and song, and he uses this multifaceted approach to captivate the listener, whether through songs about social justice or timeless narrative folk tales.” (folk & honey)
Carol Hodge & Julia Othmer
Carol Hodge is a seven-fingered, piano-pounding, Yorkshire-dwelling Singer-Songwriter. Think Regina Spektor meets Billy Bragg, but with fewer digits and a continuous existential crisis, sandwiched between bitter irony and relentless optimism. You won’t know whether to laugh or cry, but will definitely feel something. In case she looks familiar, Carol recently won Classic Rock’s Track Of The Week reader vote, is a long-term collaborator with Crass founder Steve Ignorant, is currently touring on keys and vocals with Ginger Wildheart, and has guested with Headsticks, The Membranes, Joe Solo, Smiley, Dealing With Damage and One Sided Horse.
Julia Othmer’s piano-driven performances are mesmerizing fusions of raw power, vocal artistry and joy. The child of refugees, Othmer draws from a richly cultured palette of experience to inspire her intensely human yet otherworldly songs.
Maddie Morris
Since emerging in 2019 as award winning BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Musician, Maddie has been an artist striving to make a difference in the world. Through their delicately ornamented vocal style, to music that challenges perceptions and aims to shed light.
Maddie’s writing doesn’t come from anger, but hope. Through storytelling, lived experience and the embodiment of second-wave Feminism’s ‘the personal is political’, her new album 'Skin' takes you on a journey. Maddie takes your hand, and walks you through their navigation of the world touching on queer joy, liberation, history, hope and vulnerability.
