Bella Hardy writes:
I've just spent the weekend plotting Cambridge Folk Festival plans.
It's a combination of concocting song lists and practise times and creating a set which utilises all the fantastic musicians that'll be on stage, but there's also one very important factor to be decided on - what shoes!
One of the things a love about the nature of a musician's work is its variety, and the changeable nature of day to day life.
For a girl who's always looking for a new adventure it's the perfect job.
Bella Hardy writes:
I've spent most of my life running from the idea of eating anything that a) has a rock solid outer, b) crawls, or c) is a prawn, and I've managed to blame this for a long time on the fact that there ain't much sea in Derbyshire.
However, seeing as one of my sisters would, given half the chance, survive only on crab sticks (or seafood sticks as they're now called due to lack of provable crab content) it's a fairly flawed theory.
writes:
I can't decide whether you've caught me at a good or a bad juncture for blog writing.
With my new album (In The Shadow of Mountains) just back from the press, I'm wellies on and knee deep in admin, marketing, and general word spreading. Which basically means my days run just about as follows...
writes:
Tuesday night's gig was at the Admiral Nelson, a historic canal-side pub in Braunston, Northamptonshire.
We walked 15 miles from Priors Marston and up to Knapton Locks, then veered away from canal and passed Lower and Upper Shuckburgh.
It's been beautiful. Something we couldn't help noticing, though, is the number of village pubs that are closed, or partially open, or only open for food in evening.
A few years back I wrote a book called 'Walking The Dales'.
Long out of print now, it was a lot more than a walking book, it was an homage to a place that I've loved since I first cycled there from Manchester as a kid of 14.
Some of the photographs in the book showed gypsies at .
I've been going there for years to watch them trade their horses and to see all the stalls and the blacksmiths, the fortune tellers and the lads playing what we called 'pitch and toss' back in Manchester when I was a lad.
writes:
I've stopped to post a quick blog from Elkingtons Lock on the Oxford Canal.
We're just about to go up onto the Claydon flight of locks, climbing up into the north Oxfordshire/Warwickshire hills - it's a beautiful walk. We've just passed through and paid our respects to the site.
It's time to get the boots out again and let the walking do the talking.
I remember what it was I so enjoyed on the first part of the tour, as well as the company and the landscape...that feeling of being free of anxiety. No computer breakdowns, interviews, logistics, or worst of all, WAITING.
My guest blogger this week is , singer with legendary folk rock group .
He is currently on a solo tour called 'Feet Don't Fail Me Now Tour' on which he is walking from gig to gig.
I'll let him tell you a bit more..
writes:
Well, this has been a pretty incredible journey so far - thanks for joining me for the second half!
The tour, on which I'm walking to all of the venues, started back on the 21May in Herefordshire.
We (and I mean we, because I was joined at various stages of the journey by old friends and new ones) walked 133 miles in 10 days through 6 counties with 8 gigs.
We finished up at Nettlebed on 1 June (not before playing a couple of superb gigs at Wychwood Festival).
I don't know what kind of an idiot I am - certainly a pretty serious and committed one with a long pedigree of bloopers.
All that stuff about in my last blog and somehow I hadn't realised that Feargal is the same Feargal Scahill who made a brilliant CD called 'A Flying Start' with ace harmonica player Paul Moran a few years back.
I was lucky enough to be in Ireland recently for the hottest long spell of glorious weather that I can remember.
Clear blue sky day followed clear blue sky day; people starting taking off their overcoats and the Rain Museum in Letterfrack closed down for the duration.
Walking round the streets of one afternoon I hear a fine class of music coming from somewhere in the region of E. J. King's pub.
Coming round the corner I saw a four-piece band: fiddle, melodeon, beatbox and bouzouki lashing into a rake of fine tunes in world class style.
writes:
In this final blog, I would firstly like to take this opportunity to thank every single person who was involved with the Young Folk Award.
writes:
"Forget about Genres, there's just good songs and bad songs" -
What makes a song memorable? What makes a musician inspirational? And who decides which genre is which?
For me a good musician finds the balance between technicality and creativity. One of the masters at finding this balance is who wrote beautiful technical melody lines that are both catchy and delivered with great emotion.
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