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19 Feb 2014, Royal Albert Hall
The Full English
The Full English
Wed 19 Feb 2014 Royal Albert Hall
Breathing New Life Into Folk's Archives

Representing much of the cream of the crop in the modern explosion of interest in folk song, Seth Lakeman, Nancy Kerr, Martin Simpson, Fay Hield, Sam Sweeney, Rob Harbron and Ben Nicholls are not names to be bandied round lightly. All have formidable reputations in their own right as singers and musicians. Put them all together, call them The Full English and you have a mouth-watering line-up … dare we call them a SUPERGROUP?

Curated by Fay Hield and sponsored by the English Folk Dance & Song Society, The Full English project celebrates the establishment of the online database that unites and makes an exhaustive archive of the most important folk song collections of the 20th Century widely available for the first time. As a music resource it is invaluable and purely as music, Hield and her disparate band of comrades have forged enough common ground to breathe fresh life into some very old and in some cases obscure and long-forgotten material.

It has all resulted in their appearance at this year's awards, nominated not only for best album but, following a successful maiden tour last year, the best band category. Fay Hield’s work on The Full English is further rewarded by her nomination as best singer.

Representing much of the cream of the crop in the modern explosion of interest in folk song, Seth Lakeman, Nancy Kerr, Martin Simpson, Fay Hield, Sam Sweeney, Rob Harbron and Ben Nicholls are not names to be bandied round lightly. All have formidable reputations in their own right as singers and musicians. Put them all together, call them The Full English and you have a mouth-watering line-up … dare we call them a SUPERGROUP?

Curated by Fay Hield and sponsored by the English Folk Dance & Song Society, The Full English project celebrates the establishment of the online database that unites and makes an exhaustive archive of the most important folk song collections of the 20th Century widely available for the first time. As a music resource it is invaluable and purely as music, Hield and her disparate band of comrades have forged enough common ground to breathe fresh life into some very old and in some cases obscure and long-forgotten material.

It has all resulted in their appearance at this year's awards, nominated not only for best album but, following a successful maiden tour last year, the best band category. Fay Hield’s work on The Full English is further rewarded by her nomination as best singer.