Evening all! Firstly, our apologies for not doing this last night. We were just too busy having a good old time of it at Bristol Folk Festival. Really, you ought to go next year. Put it in your diary this instant. It’s one of the best we’ve been to in a while. We hope you can forgive us a sneaky night off.

We’ll get fRoots Live up and running at 8pm. In the meantime…

Here’s how this works.

  1. You write a Tweet, post an Instagram or even a Facebook thingumy that you want us to share. Use the hashtag above and tag Jon Wilks, as he’s writing the blog post. You can find him here (on Facebook), here (on Twitter) or here (on Instagram).
  2. Your message should be a normal Tweet, Insta or Facebook thingumy. Jon just takes it and embeds it on this blog. He doesn’t have time to decipher your press releases or your gig lists. We get a lot of people writing in, so make it chatty, noticeable and fun. Video yourself! Whatever it takes!
  3. The session runs this evening between 8pm and 10pm. Be there or… don’t.
  4. Your news can be anything providing it’s trad folk or world music news, and providing it’s happening in May. You can be an artist, a researcher, a promoter, a record company. Just make sure you’re doing something in those genres, or heavily inspired by those genres.
  5. Please, please, please share this blog on your own socials. We do this to help spread the word about the traditional music scene we all love, but it goes nowhere unless you play your part and get sharing!

And remember, if you like what we’re doing, please consider donating to fRoots or taking out a subscription. Every little helps!

10pm – And we’ll leave it to those weary Askew Sisters to sign off for this month. Enjoy the Maying, you lovely lot!

9:50pm – And more from Bodmin Folk Club…

9:45 – News in via coach and horses from Croydon…

9:30pm – Just scanning back over fRoots week on Facebook to see if there’s anything of interest that you might’ve missed. Did you see this bit of wonderment from Boss Morris?

…or this rather groovy front cover, marking the forthcoming 40th anniversary of fRoots? Wouldja look at that? I’ll be ordering one for my bedroom wall.

Oh, and if you fancy a little more fRootsing, here’s an updated and re-released tribute video from Folk Alliance.

9:21pm – It must feel a bit schizophrenic being in Paul Sartin‘s head these days. If he’s not at the Feast he’s with the Faustus. I wonder how songs of the Lancashire Cotton Famine would go down at a Belshazzar’s Feast knees-up…

9:20pm – And here’s something fresh from everyone’s favourite “Trad Dad”…

9:15pm – Whisper the words “Belshazzar’s Feast” quietly on an early May eve and they appear before you on Twitter, as if by magic…

9:12pm – There are words in this tweet that I can’t claim to fully understand. “Spitroast”, anyone? “Hornpipe”? I must be too young and innocent.

9:08pm – The summer is acumen in in North Hampshire, apparently, with Belshazzar’s Feast and The Dovetail Trio in close attendance.

8:58pm – Good ol’ Jim Moray has been in touch in the past few minutes, with the following felicitations…

It’s the final three shows of my trio tour with Matt Downer and Tom Moore, starting off in Exeter a week today, then Weds 15th at Bristol St Georges and ending on the 24th at the Old Bell Hotel in Derby. It will sound a bit like this (only with added Matt Downer and Tom Moore)… 

8:43pm – Who’s that rattling around in the inbox? It’s only Nick Hart again, this time in the company of the The Norfolk Broads. They’ll be playing at Good Honest Folk in Dorking this month. And for all those keen young folk musicians out there, I can highly recommend getting along to this lovely, vibrant new folk club. I was lucky enough to be the first person to play there, and it was an absolute joy. Get along, do!

8:42pm – Are you in the South Norwood region on the 10th of May, and likely to be itching for a ceilidh? Well, I’ve got good news for you…

8:32pm – And it’s a braw tour from James Yorkston, with a few sold-out dates looming ahead. Get involved! (Great looking band, by the way, James. I mean that entirely in the reputation sense, of course.)

8:28pm – Wouldja look at that? John Spiers is to join Gigspanner for the final four gigs of their Spring tour. Might as well let them tell you in their own words, though…

8:21pm – If you’re up in Birmingham, the Trad Arts Team have Sandra Kerr & John Faulkner on the docket for the 23rd. Trad songs, self-penned songs… and a spoonful of politics. Just right for their Folk Song Cafe.

8:18pm – And here comes the Owl Light Trio with news of some Campfire Club fun this coming Friday…

8:14pm – #fRootsLive has never really started until one of the Rheingans Sisters or the Askew Sisters check in. In the case of Lady Maisery, there’s a little bit of both for good measure. Enjoy the tour, Maiseries!

8:07pm – Seeing as you’ve got the whole evening ahead of you, why not kick back with a couple of helpless folk geeks? Nick Hart has a new album out, and yours truly has been to Bristol to chat him into a folk coma.

8:03pm – Also in touch last night was Hannah Martin of Edgelarks, who have their new album Feather out, with a tour throughout this month. Take a look at the Tweet below for more info – there’s a website link in there for you somewhere.

8pm – And we’re off. First up, it’s Ben Walker, the eager beaver fret wizard who got in touch last night, only to be snubbed in the face of Bristol-based delight and merriment. Our apologies, Ben! Good luck with your album pre-launch gig on the 18th.

Fare Thee Well 

Sadly, this week we’ve also had to say goodbye to the following legends.

Mose Fan Fan. RIP.

Solo Cissohkho. Fare thee well.