TheBowerHouse

Welcome to the Bowerhouse

2017

The Mae Trio

September 28th | The Bowerhouse, Maidstone | Doors 7.30pm

"spine-tingling harmonies" The Scotsman

The trio are Maggie Rigby (banjo, ukulele, guitar and vocals), sister Elsie Rigby (violin, ukulele and vocals and Anita Hillman (cello, bass and vocals). Their debut album, Housewarming, released in 2013 features songs that the trio had written before they even finished school earned hem Folk Alliance Australia Youth Award and NFSA Folk Recording of the Year and carried them on a bigger wave than they could ever have imagined.
Leaving behind two half finished university degrees and one steady primary school teaching job the Trio took to the road for the last two years touring Australia, Canada, USA and Europe with performances at the Hydro Stadium at Celtic Connection, Glasgow, Americana Folk Festival, Nashville, Cambridge Folk Festival, UK Edmonton Folk Festival, Canada, and Port Fairy and National Folk Festivals, Australia.
“…their highly melodic, immaculately crafted songs are arranged to use the diverse instrumental talents of its members, their angelic lead voices and, most pertinently, their exquisite vocal harmony” The Australian
"the Mae Trio were easily the breakout act at Folk Alliance" The Bluegrass Situation
"The Mae Trio has made a meteoric mark on the national acoustic music scene" Rhythms

Tickets

Kings of the South Seas

October 6th | St Andrews Arts Centre, Gravesend | Doors 7.30pm

Beautifully lyrical folk music from Sweden and the British Isles

“a brooding and mysterious triumph” - Louder Than War
“uproariously rousing and darkly disturbing” - The Guardian
“takes the listener into an oceanic heart of darkness illuminated by powerful skeletal songs from the edge of the known world” - Songlines
“I am loving this!” - Mark Radcliffe BBC Radio2 Folk Show
“dark, driven and turbulent” - The Independent
“A fantastic celebration of all things nautical and seaworthy.” EDS Magazine
“like the Velvet Underground in the bilges of the Pequod” - Philip Hoare, author (winner of Samuel Johnson Prize with Leviathan)
One of The Telegraph ‘Best Folk Albums of 2014’.
“stunning in both scope and intensity” – Spiral Earth

In the last three years, HMS Erebus and Terror, Franklin’s two ships from his ill fated 1845 voyage to find the NW Passage were discovered at the bottom of the icy seas off Northern Canada. This brought the fateful events back into focus after they’d filled the international headlines in the second half of the 19th Century when all 129 of the crew disappeared without trace in the Arctic wastes. With the ‘Franklin’ album, Kings of The South Seas will bring to life the traditional and written music left by these events and their cultural fallout; from Canadian Voyageur paddling songs, English folk ballads and songs composed onboard ice-bound wintering ships to Victorian parlour pieces.

Kings of The South Seas are, Ben Nicholls-concertina (Full English, Seth Lakeman Band), Richard Warren-guitar (Spiritualized), Evan Jenkins-drums (Neil Cowley Trio).

This event is a special preview performance of the songs from their upcoming ‘Franklin’ album (set for release in early 2018) which was recorded in St. Andrews Gravesend, a Mission dedicated to those who lost their lives on the Franklin Expedition. The evening will be accompanied by a film of footage and imagery based on the themes of the content directed by BAFTA nominated Adam Clitheroe.

Kings of the South seas just recorded their upcoming album in St Andrews Arts centre, Gravesend. Excited to be hosting the band here!

Tickets

Trio Dhoore

27th OCT 2017 | at the BOWERHOUSE | DOORS 7.30pm

“Technical excellence and rare musicality of all three.” fRoots

"The three Dhoore brothers from Flanders turned a lot of heads with their 2013 debut album Modus Operandi and they are bound to attract more admirers with this even more impressive second release. There is absolutely nothing about this album that is flash or showy. What we hear from every track are fine melodies and we are aware of the technical excellence and rare musicality of all three." - fRoots Magazine

Trio Dhoore Are a young band of monstrously musical brothers from Flanders

Championed by fRoots magazine, their first appearance in the UK at Sidmouth Folk festival this summer was a rip-roaring success, swiftly followed by universally-applauded shows at Homegrown Festival/EfEx. They are a stand out act!
Their "rooted folk music" breathes life, freedom and energy into a repertoire of traditional Flemish tunes (and the occasional song) and their own self-penned material. They create an immersive soundscape where folky grooves, melancholy melodies and intuitive interplay combine to unique effect. Thrillingly modern in approach, engaging in style, modest and technically outstanding in execution. This is what blood-harmony sounds like in instrumental form!
Koen (electro-acoustic hurdy-gurdy), Hartwin (diatonic accordion) and Ward Dhoore (acoustic guitar/mandolin) have honed their pure acoustic sound and refreshing arrangements with live work at prestigious events throughout mainland Europe over the past few years, as well as two acclaimed album releases.
Their third, Momentum, is released this November and expresses that critical moment, the tipping point when sufficient energy is set free to enable change; the moment to seize a new opportunity. Trio Dhoore are ready to seize opportunities with all six hands!

“Music that captures the imagination.” Folk World Magazine

“Trio Dhoore brilliantly typifies the young generation of Flemish folk musicians” Rudolstadt Festival

Tickets

Martin Simpson

9th DEC 17 | at the BOWERHOUSE | DOORS 7.30pm

“Martin Simpson has transcended borders and oceans to quietly become a superb storyteller and musician of great depth and unquestionable taste.” Stephen Fearing

In recent years, he has been a lynchpin in the award-winning Full English, The Elizabethan Sessions and, in 2015, recorded Murmurs, an exciting new album with Andy Cutting and Nancy Kerr. Martin’s eagerly awaited new solo album entitled Trails and Tribulations will be released in September 2017 on Topic Records. Album guests include Andy Cutting, Kathryn Tickell, Nancy Kerr and John Smith.

He has had the most nominations of any performer in the 15 years of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, an astonishing 31 times, 12 of those as Musician of the Year, winning that particular accolade twice.

A virtuoso player without question, but above all Martin Simpson conveys his diverse treasure trove of material from the heart, performing with rare subtlety, intensity and honesty. A true master of his art.

'A Master of His Art'

The remarkable intimate solo performances Martin gives go from strength to strength - every gig is a masterclass. He travels the length and breadth of the UK and beyond, giving rapt audiences passion, sorrow, love, beauty, tragedy and majesty through his playing.

“What’s it like being the best guitar player in the world…?” Martin’s modesty and grace prevented him from answering this BBC Radio 4 interviewer’s question recently, but the facts speak for themselves.

40 years after he recorded his first album, Golden Vanity, in 1976, Martin is known as a guitarist of formidable talent. Equally at home playing English traditional folk, American folk and blues and his own compositions, he is consistently named as one of the very finest fingerstyle guitar players in the world.

He is listed in Gibson Guitars’ Top 30 Acoustic Guitarists of all time, and Acoustic Guitar readers voted him number 12 guitarist in the world in 2005.

Universally acclaimed as one of the finest ever acoustic and slide guitar players, and a fine banjo-picker to boot, his solo shows bear witness to an artist at the very top of his game. Whether interpreting material from tradition or singing his own potent self-penned songs, Simpson is a remarkable storyteller: captivating and profoundly moving. His own songwriting produced the poignant ‘Never Any Good’, from Prodigal Son, 2007’s Folk Album of the Year.
Martin continues to collaborate with a dazzling array of people from across the musical spectrum: Jackson Browne, Martin Taylor, June Tabor, Richard Hawley, Bonnie Raitt, Danny Thompson, David Hidalgo, Danú, Richard Thompson and Dom Flemons are among the great musicians he has worked with.

Tickets