CHRIS SEARLE recommends a work of love and deep admiration for a great musician
I’m in the studio at the moment with my band Barnstormer, recording our new album Restoration Tragedy, which you can check out here.
We aim to bring not just ancient instruments to life but also a number of characters from that tumultuous period in our history when “the world turned upside down” after the execution of Charles I in January 1649 and, for a time, real fundamental social change looked on the cards until Cromwell’s Grandees, who had taken power for their own ends, suppressed the radical elements in the New Model Army.
Instrument-wise, we have a fine selection — crumhorn, cornamuse, bombarde, shawm, rauschpfeife (a really loud bastard) mandocello and a host of more modern stuff like fiddle, viola, mandola, and, of course, a rock n roll backline.
New releases from Kneecap, Sam Blasucci, and Juni Habel
STEVE JOHNSON relishes a celebration of the commonality of folk music and its links with the struggles of working people the world over
The Bard commutes to work for the first time in 45 years
Fiery words from the Bard in Blackpool and Edinburgh, and Evidence Based Punk Rock from The Protest Family


