Show Program | James Keelaghan & Jez Lowe

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JAMES KEELAGHAN & JEZ LOWE

March 09, 2024

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MUSICSERIESMUSICSERIESM USICSERIESMUSICSERIESMU SICERIESMUSICSERIESMUSIC ABOUT THE SHOW

A chance-meeting at a folk festival almost thirty years ago has led to a musical collaboration between two singer-songwriters, James Keelaghan from Canada and Jez Lowe from England, that has seen them play to audiences around the globe, from North America to Australia and to Europe, and which continues to this day.

Every couple of years they each take a break from their busy solo careers to share stages and songs and inspire each other with their voices, their wit and a friendship that lights up each performance. The pair share an Irish heritage that certainly informs their writing and brings with it an enthusiasm for boundary-breaking and story-telling in song that is both infectious and enthralling, timeless and contemporary, unpredictable and yet focused. In other words, they surely and inevitably bring the best out of each other.

JAMES KEELAGHAN | Contemporary folk songs, at their very best, offer an insight into the hardships, attitudes, and resolve of characters and events that shape our day-to-day lives. You can dress these songs up in inspired arrangements and intricate instrumentation but, at their very essence, the archetypal folk song is all about stories. Stories and people. Something such compelling songwriters as Eric Bogle, Si Kahn, Ewan MacColl, and Stan Rogers … all understood and mined so effectively.

James Keelaghan, too, burrows into that same rich seam with equal ability and comparable conviction. To quote Eric Bibb, the awardwinning American acoustic bluesman, after listening to Keelaghan perform: “[You’re] a joy to hear, just beautiful. Reminded me of the best of the best of another time – Liam Clancy, Tom Paxton etcetera.” Less colourful but more succinct, Dave Marsh, the eminent Rolling Stone critic, simply described Keelaghan as “Canada’s finest songwriter.”

Truly, throughout a career that now spans almost four decades, the Juno and Canadian Folk Music Award winner has created a repertoire of incalculable importance – a unique body of work, either inspired by or drawn from the folk tradition including ten solo albums flush with enduring lyrical relevance.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

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JEZ LOWE | A double nomination in the 2015 BBC Folk Awards – for best singer and best new song – was a timely reminder of Jez Lowe’s standing in the UK folk and acoustic music scene. Not only he is one of the busiest live performers in the country, but his songs are among the most widely sung by other performers, whether by long-established acts like Fairport Convention, The Dubliners and Bob Fox, or by the new breed of stars like The Unthanks, The Young Uns, Megson and The Duhks.

Jez’s own long-established band The Bad Pennies (featuring Kate Bramley, Andy May and David De La Haye) continue to attract a huge following, and his other collaborations with The Pitmen Poets (with Billy Mitchell, Bob Fox and Benny Graham), The Broonzies (alongside fellow veterans Maggie Holland, Chris Parkinson and Roger Wilson), Men at Words (with James Keelaghan and Archie Fisher) and with fellow songwriter Steve Tilston, show a willingness to push boundaries and venture boldly into pastures new.

Meanwhile, his involvement in the award-winning BBC series The Radio Ballads continues, with his song The Wrong Bus singled out for inclusion on Radio 4’s Pick of the Year in 2018, and five more of his contributions included in the BBC Radio broadcast featuring the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in November 2019. Many of these songs also featured on his 2016 solo album, The Ballad Beyond, the success of which prompted a feature in fRoots magazine and glowing reviews the world over.

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