TheBowerHouse

Welcome to the Bowerhouse

2019

The Bowerhouse is an independently run art and performance space in Maidstone, Kent. We have regular concerts, folk club and life drawing, community choir and art exhibitions

Community Choir starts on the 9th of January and runs every Wednesday in term time, 7,30-9pm. All abilities welcome!

NEXT GIG...

M G Boulter | Lucy Farrell

7th April | at the BOWERHOUSE | DOORS 7.30pm | £10 | Tickets

Lucy Farrell and M G Boulter have had a varied history of musical collaboration and friendship. Both separate and distinct songwriters in their own right they first met while working together on sessions for various albums produced by Hudson Records boss, Andy Bell. This in time led to the formation of Gluepot, a project that saw Farrell and Boulter working alongside Sheffield song writer Neil McSweeney. The subsequent EP ‘Lulu the Bear and Other Songs’ (Harbour Song, 2015), saw the trio tour across the UK when their schedules allowed. The Estuary Song Writing Project in 2017 saw the duo collaborate again on new material celebrating the Thames in commemoration of the Leigh Folk Festival’s 25th Anniversary.

In a special one off show for the Bowerhouse both artists will be sharing songs from these projects and more.

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Topette!

27th April | at the BOWERHOUSE | DOORS 7.30pm | £14 | Tickets

Anglo-French acoustic five-piece, Topette!! return to the UK for a spring tour in April / May 2019. This band is a must see, for anyone interested in traditional European dance music, for folk fans, French dancers and discerning listeners alike. The band’s debut album, C’est le Pompon… was well received across the continent, and they have continued to thrill audiences, with their unique, energetic take on instrumental folk tunes. This tour will see the band firing on all cylinders, as they prepare to make their second album, Rhododendron, to be released later this year. Featuring the peerless diatonic button accordion maestro, (and multiple BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards winner), Andy Cutting, alongside the “enfant terrible” French bagpiper and banjo plucker, Julien Cartonnet, with James Delarre on violin, Tania Buisse on Bodhrán and Barnaby Stradling on acoustic bass guitar, these guys and gal are literally having a bal!

We have added an afternoon Dance Workshop with Kerry Fletcher!! Kerry Fletcher is a choreographer and traditional dancer of many styles, from waltzing to clogging. She is an experienced dance workshop leader and an accomplished performer. Open to all european dance workshop runs from 3pm-6pm on Saturday 27th. Come along and learn the dances with Topette!
Various ticket prices, combination and concessions

workshop tickets

concert tickets

Rachel Newton

18th May | at the BOWERHOUSE | DOORS 7.30pm | £10 | Tickets

Singer and harpist Rachel Newton specialises in interpreting traditional folk songs in both English and Gaelic as well as writing and arranging her own music. Rachel performs solo, with her trio featuring Lauren MacColl on fiddle and Mattie Foulds on percussion and with a full band when the trio is joined by Michael Owers on trombone and Sarah Hayes on keys.
Rachel plays fiddle and viola in addition to harp and works across a range of performance platforms including theatre and storytelling. She was awarded a Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) for Best Music and Sound in 2009 for her work with the Rowantree Theatre Company. A skilled collaborator, Rachel is a founder member of The Shee, BBC Radio 2 Folk Award 2017 Best Group The Furrow Collective and also plays with the Scottish/Norwegian group Boreas. Rachel's third solo album Here's My Heart Come Take It was released in 2016. Her previous releases are The Shadow Side (2012) and Changeling (2014).
In 2016 Rachel received a Hands Up for Trad Ignition Award for Innovation, was awarded Instrumentalist of the Year 2016 at the Scots Trad Music Awards and is Musician of the Year in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2017. Her album Here's My Heart Come Take It was shortlisted as one of Scotland's top 10 outstanding albums in the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award 2017.

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Ye Vagabonds

18th May | at the BOWERHOUSE | DOORS 7.30pm | £10 | Tickets

Nominated ‘Best Traditional Track’ – BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards

Brothers Brían and Diarmuid Mac Gloinn grew up playing music together around their hometown of Carlow, a small town in the southeast of Ireland. After moving to Dublin in 2012, they quickly became a staple of the live music and session scene in Ireland, playing their own original songs as well as folk songs from Ireland, Scotland, England and America.

In 2014 they came to the attention of Arbutus Yarns’ music filmmaker Myles O’Reilly, whose videos gained international attention for the brothers for the first time.

After a chance meeting at Electric Picnic in September 2015, the brothers performed onstage with Glen Hansard, who invited them to open for him on his European tour the following October.

Their debut EP Rose & Briar was released on October 7th 2015.

Since then, they have been busy touring Ireland, the UK and Europe, opening for acts such as Villagers, Roy Harper and Lisa Hannigan (whose band they played in for her Irish tour, June 2016). They have also played sold out headline shows in Ireland, Paris, Geneva, and Solothurn, Switzerland.

They have made numerous television and live radio appearances in Ireland, and were featured in Ep. II of Myles O’Reilly and Donal Dineen’s music programme This Ain’t No Disco in March 2017. They were also part of ‘Imagining Home’, a live broadcast concert in the National Concert Hall of Ireland, 2016, curated by Glen Hansard, Philip King and Gary Sheehan.

Buoyed by the success of their EP, Ye Vagabonds are set to release their highly anticipated debut album, on Friday 13th October 2017, on their own label: Inglenook Records.

Expect harmony rich folk music, influenced by Irish traditional music, Appalachian singing, and the 1960's folk revival. Ye Vagabonds’ album is comprised of ten mellow tracks weaved with thoughtful lyrics, thickly layered with strings and droning harmonium.

The first single from the album “Song Long Forgotten”, with an accompanying video from filmmaker Myles O’Reilly and artist Conor Campbell, is out now.

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