My Contribution to Radio 2's Cecil Sharp Collection - 'Claudy Banks'

Radio 2's Mark Radcliffe has launched a campaign to collect 21st century recordings of Cecil Sharps work in order to compile a collection of 3 traditional songs, The Seeds Of Love, Claudy Banks and Barbara Allen .

My contribution was my version of 'Claudy Banks' which I learnt and then recorded on garageband in my kitchen in just one evening.

I'm in the middle of working on my new album 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' so I was only able to give this project limited time and attention. This almost didn't happen, but I'm so glad it did. It was really quite inspiring and I am now toying with the idea of a future album featuring a collection of traditional songs. Perhaps all, as with this one, slightly 'Angeified' (is that a word?!) as I found that changing the melody and phrasing to this song really opened up it's potential.

I'm quite pleased with it, and in the words of the station itself: "Very nice it is, too."

You will find my contribution embedded on the Radio 2 website by pasting this link into your url bar http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03phcm3/live

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The lovely Mike Harding says the nicest of things!

PODCAST #57 http://www.mikehardingfolkshow.com/podcast-57/ Track : My Old man

"Now an album which has grown on me the more and more I listen to it is Bare Foot Folk from Ange Hardy. She lives down in the west country, writes all her own stuff, but they do sound as though they've come straight out of the soil of Devon and Somerset, I really like them.

...It'll be interesting to see when Ange does another album whether she carries on writing stuff which is very very rootsy and very very folky, I do like her stuff" - MIKE HARDING, The Mike Harding Folk Show

"I was especially excited to hear him anticipating the the next album"

Mike has continued to play tracks from 'Bare Foot Folk', much to my delight and has always been very kind with his words about the album.

I was especially excited to hear him anticipating the the next album 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' as I can confirm it will indeed follow the path of my "very very rootsy and very very folky" style of writing even deeper into the traditional style of writing which I have been exploring this last year. I can not wait to hear what he has to say about this one!

Thank you Mike, for taking a chance on a new name and bringing my music into the warmth of your folk show to sit with you by the fire for a while and thaw through whilst I find my footing in the folk world. I owe you one ;)

Also a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to request tracks on his show and helped to bring me to his attention in the first place. Please do continue listen to and support his shows.

Ange x

Previous shows and quotes... PODCAST #50 http://www.mikehardingfolkshow.com/podcast-50/ Track : Mother Willow Tree

"Bare Foot Folk and is full of really interesting songs, Ange Hardy takes folk tales and creates new folk songs that sound traditional around the story. This is one she's called mother willow tree, it's beautiful" - MIKE HARDING, The Mike Harding Folk Show

PODCAST #43 http://www.mikehardingfolkshow.com/podcast-53/ Track : Waste Wanting

“This reminds me a bit of Lowell George's song 'Long Distance Love' from the album he did with 'Little Feet'” - MIKE HARDING, The Mike Harding Folk Show

PODCAST #34http://www.mikehardingfolkshow.com/podcast-34/ Track : Young Martha's Well

"I've had a good listen to the album, there's some cracking tracks on it. She seems to get folk themes going in her mind, and writes new songs that sound sometimes for all the world as though they are in fact deeply traditional" - MIKE HARDING, The Mike Harding Folk Show

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Female Vocalist of the Year 2013 ~ FATEA

I was delighted to have been nominated for Fatea Magazine's "Female Vocalist of the Year 2013"... and I was absolutely blown away by winning the award during last night's award show!

It's humbling to be placed in such fantastic company - alongside fellow nominees Emily Barker and Lucy Ward,.

If anyone out there wants to discover some amazing new music - just buy every album on the award show playlist! If you've not already downloaded the free Fatea Magazine Showcase Session album then you should :)

The full list of winners and nominees can be found on the Fatea website.

Thank you to everyone that has supported me so far in 2014, it's been quite a year already!

Ange x

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Warwick Folk Festival! Please VOTE?

Hello friends, fans and family!

... I've got a huge request to make of everybody, I've been shortlisted to perform on the main stage at Warwick Folk Festival this year on the Saturday night, and I need your vote:

http://www.angehardy.com/warwick

Please, please vote for me :) You can vote every day in January - so that's a potential 31 votes each!

Ange x

p.s. I had my 30th birthday last night (we had a pretty good barn dance!), and received the beautiful gift of a new Martin 000-16 guitar which I'll be using to record the new album :) I've called her "Willow Elizabeth" (because she's the third child I never had!).

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FOLK AND ROOTS reviews BARE FOOT FOLK

Ange may well tread bare foot, and this her second studio album may itself tread similarly bare-footed in terms of setting, arrangement and mode of delivery – just voice and guitar for the most part – but it’s an extremely persuasive record that celebrates the basic, unashamed old-fashioned but timeless virtues of fine singing and good honest original songwriting, here entirely unadulterated by any unnecessary instrumentation or intrusive studio gimmicks. And yet it sounds anything but bare, very rich in fact, which is quite an achievement!

Ange hails from Somerset, and is barely approaching her 30th year, yet her writing displays a compelling combination of youthful vigour and perception with a wholly natural command of the folk idiom and a telling maturity of approach. Bare Foot Folk is a truly refreshing set, whose 14 songs clock in at under 40 minutes in total and yet run a strikingly broad gamut of subject matter and mood.

With Bare Foot Folk, Ange has created above all else an album of stories, many with the common theme of loss. These transport us through a varied series of scenarios and viewpoints; some, like Forlorn Land and Mother Willow Tree, deal with moral issues, and Waste Wanting is a desperately wistful, though lyrical reflection, whereas the disc’s central triptych is a linked set with the common theme of the sea and its dangers, and Stop Your Crying, Son is a charming nursery-lullaby.

Ange’s assured and acute sense of melody is distinctly informed by that of traditional song, as the spooky allegory of The Ghost On The Moors, the chilling a cappella ballad White As Snow and the tale of unrequited love It Can’t Be So all well demonstrate, while humour’s not forgotten either (Crafty Father John). The album closes with the beautiful Heaven Waits, another knowing reflection on the acceptance of loss, which the air of an authentic (almost Carter-esque) country-gospel song. Ange’s songs are enchanting without being twee, and earnest without being po-faced or mannered, and Ange achieves a consistency of invention without predictability of expression.

As far as performance style goes, her delicate, melodic and economic guitar accompaniment provides all you need, with never an extraneous note or noodle, while her singing voice is entirely natural, with abundantly clear diction, a good range and smooth coordination of timbre, and is tenderly expressive without a trace of artifice. Her only concession to studio production is the fairly frequent augmentation of her voice with her own uncannily effective (and quite “angelic” – pun intended!) harmonies. All of which adds up to a spellbinding little gem of a disc that positively invites you to play it over again from the start, in its entirety.

Reviewer: David Kidman, Folk and Roots

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The year I decided to be a folk musician...

Wow. What a year it's been!

In May this year (was it really only this year!?) I decided to release a 'Folk' album and try my luck at being a 'Folk Musician'. I kicked off my shoes, called the album 'Bare Foot Folk'... and it's gone pretty well...!

I've had a huge amount of support this year, and I owe it all to you. You kind people that buy my music, come to see me perform live, and remind me that music is something that adds light to the world even when it seems like such a hard career path to follow!

Special thanks also go Mike Harding on the Mike Harding Folk Show, Terry Ferdinand's Folk Show on Bishop FM, The Richard Harris 'Folk and Blues Show' on SomerValley FM, David Bond's 'Folk and Roots' show on 10 Radio, the incredible Emma Britton at BBC Somerset, Maverick Magazine, Rock 'n' Reel (R2) Magazine, Fatea Magazine, Bright Young Folk, FolkWords, Armandaleg Music, Readifolk, FolkCast, Irish Music Magazine, Albion Magazine and The Living Tradition magazine to name but some of the wonderful people that have played, reviewed and promoted my music this year.

(Oh, and Rob, who now co-runs “Story Records Limited” as a proper record label... he's done a fair bit this year too...!)

The “Bare Foot Folk” tour saw me playing theatre stages and village halls alike, and the closing night at the “Glastonbury Assembly Rooms” still makes me smile!

I've played a fair few other gigs throughout the year. I shared a stage with some wonderful talent during “Flying Folk” at the Ilminster Arts Center, and I was an honorary member of “Folk Room Records” at Home Farm Festival. The album launch at “Silver Street Sessions” was an absolute delight, and ending the year by playing in the old stables of Dunster Castle for the whole evening at “Dunster by Candlelight” was a beautiful end to a beautiful year.

So what's next?

A new album

I've written my next album! “The Lament of the Black Sheep” is a 12 track acoustic folk album. It's similar to Bare Foot Folk in style, but (hopefully) showing some fairly substantial growth as a folk musician.

I've got time booked in the recording studio in March. I'm VERY excited by this!

There will be a promo video with previews of songs from the album very soon, as well as a chance to pre-order with a lots of lovely ways of showing your support and getting goodies in exchange!

Folk Festivals

Bookings have started coming in for folk festivals next year, but I'm waiting until a few more have confirmed in the new year before I start publishing dates.

Amongst them, however, I've been shortlisted to open the Warwick Folk Festival main stage. It's all going to come down to a public vote to see who get's the honour – I'll be relying on you good people to help with that! There's a video to go alongside this competition... but I'm not allowed to share it with you just yet!

Nominated for "Female Vocalist of the Year"

I was very excited to learn I've been nominated by Fatea Magazine for "Female Vocalist of the Year" alongside the wonderful Lucy Ward and the exceptional Emily Barker. It would be incredible to take the award; but keeping such fine company is good enough for me!

Here's hoping 2014 is as great as 2013 has been!

Ange x

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Piers Ford reviews 'Bare Foot Folk'

It is a measure of Ange Hardy's immersion in the art of folk-song writing that even the references in her social media-inspired number “Crafty Father John” are rendered timeless. Only as the song’s last strains fade do you do a double-take and catch yourself wondering if they really had Facebook in the ancient days from which it surely dates.

Hardy’s acoustic album, Bare Foot Folk, is some achievement. Each number is a testament to her gift for telling complete, emotionally engaging stories through lyrics crafted with careful economy and plangent melodies that resonate with traditional cadences, without a single hint of parody.

Her references are the experiences of a life that, as the biographical note on her website implies, has had its stormy times. She scatters them across a landscape of those meadows and glades that she says she sees in her mind’s eye when she’s listening to traditional folk music, and distils them into little jewels of song. Motherhood, loss, broken hearts, faith and the artist’s quest for recognition emerge as the strongest themes.

“Forlorn Land” rings with timely relevance as we prepare to mark the centenary of the Great War in an age blighted by new violence and uncertainty around the world. The ten-part harmony, with its intrinsic lament, is gorgeous. There’s a gritted-teeth lullaby (“Stop Your Crying Son”) that will strike a chord with any new parent and, among several tales of romance and separation, “It Can’t be So” and “The Old Maiden” command attention with their gleaming clarity.

The standout track, however, is “The Ghost on the Moors”, a brooding study of the artist’s essential loneliness and frustration. It’s a struggle that Somerset-based Hardy clearly understands. But with this, her second album, she has signalled her own very real presence in the diverse world of modern British folk music.

Reviewer : Piers Ford, THE ART OF THE TORCH SINGER

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Irish Music Magazine review Bare Foot Folk

Irish Music Magazine review Bare Foot Folk

This is mesmerising album and all the more so for being the reviewers nightmare – a new artiste with a set of self–penned tracks that are unfamiliar. Hardy has a voice that captivates from the first syllable and when this is combined with a sure footed performance of well–crafted story songs she is on a winner. I spent the first few tracks trying to pin down her sound. It reminded me of both Adrienne Johnston and the female members of the wonderful Artisan. She can combine genres skilfully, make us smile and then feel heartbreak while all the while entrancing us in what are basically short, short stories set to music. White as Snow is one of the many tracks on this CD that in a century from now will have singers recording it as “traditional”. On a lighter note she entertains us with Crafty Father John which she tells us on the liner notes was inspired by postings on Facebook. Ange Hardy is a worthy standard bearer of the true soul of folk music as we knew it in the 1960s. She tells stories but she also awakens the conscience. Forlorn Land will resonate with anyone looking at war torn lands and the injustices perpetrated by often well meaning people. Away with You Lassie and The Old Maiden are both inspired by that great inspiration of folk songs, the sea. She keeps us at sea on the more upbeat The Storm has Now Begun with a simple bodhran accompaniment in the shanty style. There as a sort of country lilt on My Old Man that will lift your spirits. Then she haunts you with The Ghost on the Moors. Many parents will learn Stop Your Crying Son off by heart in the hope that its sentiments will send that child off to sleep. She closes the all too short album with two beautiful philosophical songs about our need to accept and by accepting triumph over our worries. It may sound deep but believe me it is just beautiful in sentiment and delivery. This is a gem of an album from a lady with the voice and the vocal skills to regain the truth of folk music in telling tales, opening minds and making us laugh.

Reviewer: Nicky Rossiter, Irish Music Magazine

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A review of 'Bare Foot Folk' ...Nicky Rossiter

Ange Hardy can combine genres skillfully, make us smile and then feel heartbreak while entrancing us in short, short stories set to music.

"White as Snow" is one of the many tracks on this CD that, a century from now, will have singers recording it as "traditional." On a lighter note she entertains us with "Crafty Father John," which she tells us on the liner notes was inspired by postings on Facebook.

Hardy is a worthy standard bearer of the true soul of folk music as we knew it in the 1960s. She tells stories, but she also awakens the conscience. "Forlorn Land" will resonate with anyone looking at war-torn lands and the injustices perpetrated by often well-meaning people. "Away with You Lassie" and "The Old Maiden" are both inspired by that great inspiration of folk songs, the sea. She keeps us at sea on the more upbeat "The Storm has Now Begun," with a simple bodhran accompaniment in the shanty style.

There as a sort of country lilt on "My Old Man" that will lift your spirits. Then she haunts you with "The Ghost on the Moors."

Many parents will learn "Stop Your Crying Son" by heart in the hope that its sentiments will send that child off to sleep. She closes the all-too-short album with two beautiful philosophical songs about our need to accept and by accepting triumph over our worries. It may sound deep, but believe me it is just beautiful in sentiment and delivery.

This is a gem of an album from a lady with the voice and the vocal skills to regain the truth of folk music in telling tales, opening minds and making us laugh.

Reviewer : Nicky Rossiter, Rambles.NET

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**** R2 Magazine ROCK 'n' REEL

ANGE HARDY - Bare Foot Folk Four stars ****

Somerset-based songstress Ange Hardy's second studio album is a pleasing collection of unfailingly listenable, self-penned acoustic songs. Amongst this charming assortment of melodies we are treated to highly catchy tunes, some nods to ancient times as well as choice references to the present day.

Hardy brings the stylings of trad folk into a modern setting as declared from the outset in 'Young Martha's Well'. With tongue lodged firmly in cheek (or is it?) she then gives us 'Crafty Father John', which relates the church confessional to the era of Facebook and Fairtrade.

Sung in a courtly musical fashion, the a cappella 'White As Snow' and the soothing 'Forlorn Land' have welcome echoes of recent work by Mediaeval Baebes. 'The Storm Has Now Begun' is a sea shanty sung as a round, virtually nursery rhyme style, and 'My Old Man' surely destined to be picked up by many a folk club performer.

The overall ambience of the CD is achieved seemingly effortlessly with the aid of nicely fingerpicked guitar and the singer's own multi-tracked harmonies.

The Arrangements on the record and unfussy but not basic, Hardy's vocals are graceful without sounding precious, and the delivery is sensitive but never cloying.

Reviewer: Colin Bailey, R2 Magazine ROCK 'n' REEL.

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