Ballads with Paul and Liz Davenport

Paul and Liz are experienced hands at running Ballad sessions at festivals such as Whitby and Sidmouth so what’s good enough for them it’s good enough for us. Joining Paul and Liz will be Chris Coe, Jeff Warner and David Hague and this is what Paul says you can expect from the session.

"Our take on ballad sessions is just that, they are sessions. This means that we want to encourage the public to contribute. Our ground rule is, 'If it is a song that you could use as a film script…characters, scene, and action… then it'll fit the notion of a ballad.' We do not go round the room by the way. The sessions we run allow for both artists and audience to contribute as and when they see fit (although that doesn't prevent us from calling on individuals who are being 'shy') sometimes they follow a thread and at other times the whole thing will shoot off at a tangent. We are also very tolerant of multiple versions of the same ballad which is a rare but very interesting occurrence."

Saturday afternoon 2.00 - 4.00 @ Old Bridge Function Room

Spoken Word with Ray Bower

'The song and the story' - an eclectic mixture of poems, stories and the occasional song with an invitation to everyone to come along and help make an enjoyable evening.

Saturday evening 6.00 - 8.00 @ Sid's Cafe

Barnsley Folk Club on Tour

The chaps at Barnsley Folk Club forgot that May 7th – 9th was Holmfirth Festival of Folk weekend and went and booked Wizz Jones for the club! Barnsley’s loss is Holmfirth’s gain as they are all here and they are holding the gig on Saturday night upstairs in the White Hart. This gig reunites Dave Bottomley, Richard Kitson, Tom Attah and Wizz from a great gig in 2009.

Saturday night 8.00 - 11.00 @ The White Hart (upstairs)

Holmfirth Parish Church

From 10.00 – 12.00 on Saturday we will be learning about Sacred Harp Singing with Muldoon's Picnic. They take a different approach to the standard singings so this will be very suitable for those who are interested in this music but haven't experienced it before.

From 12.00 – 3.30 there will be concert featuring some of the best local musicians. Owen Philips is a folk musician who performs regularly and he is well known by the Holmfirth community. Roger Davis is not quite so local, coming from Brighouse but he is a regular visitor to the town and is making a name for himself as one of today's most entertaining acoustic Folk Singer Songwriters. Harry Rowland is a young man who is exceedingly talented and recently won the Holmfirth High School Young Musician of the Year award. The final act will be Alex Quinn who has been making a name for himself as a vibrant, charismatic and much sought after solo artist. He is now joined by three exceptional musicians to form The Man in the Street.

On Saturday evening The Predators will entertain from 7.30.

On Sunday a very special Festival of Folk Church Service led by the Upper Holme Valley Team will be celebrating faith and the festival of folk.  There will be music from Outcry, a Sheffield worship group, Hissyfit a duo based in Beverley and American guest Jeff Warner. The Jig Crew will perform a dance or two before the service which will start at 10.00 and everyone from every tradition and persuasion is welcome.

From 12.30 – 2.00 Choir Samzeo will amaze us with their beautiful costumes and arrangements of a variety of Georgian Eastern European vocal music. Samzeo are a six piece choir based in West Yorkshire who share a passion for singing and the repertoire includes celebratory (birthday, weddings and seasonal songs), laments and ancient ritual songs. Samzeo have recently returned back from their first trip to Georgia filled with even more enthusiasm to learn and spread the love of this fascinating music. They will be joined by boyle tyrrall boyle, whose individual members are well known and respected by the folk fraternity, and Gerry McNeice with Niamh Boadle, an award winning member of his band.