Arts Festival – Agit Folk

Dick Gaughan, “one of the five or six great voices of our time” (John Peel), takes a challenging, dissenting stand through his music. Yet he is no sloganeer; his warm personality shines through with a beautifully expressive voice allied to a dazzling guitar technique. “In any style, on any stage, Gaughan is one of folk musics’s guitar geniuses as well as one of Scotland’s finest singers” (Dirty Linen).

The only performer to hold the dual honours of a Lifetime Achievement award by BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and induction into the Scots Music Hall of Fame, Dick Gaughan has been at the cutting edge of Scottish music as a guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer since 1970. His 1981 album Handful of Earth was voted Album of the Decade for the 1980s in both the Readers’ and Critics’ polls in fRoots magazine. He cites Karl Marx and Groucho Marx, John Lennon and Vladimir Illych Lenin amongst his influences.

Fellow-agitators, especially invited by Dick Gaughan to join in the musical troublemaking are: Sean Taylor “a wonderfully talented modern troubador whose sincere, thoughtful songs pull you in” (Eric Bibb); and Naomi Bedford with Paul Simmonds (The Men They Couldn’t Hang) – “Her voice is so striking…that your attention gets quickly nailed to the floor…you’re on such a high at the end that you instantly hit play again, several times. It’s easy to get besotted with.” Ian Anderson – fRoots

Bob Harris (BBC Radio 2) calls Sean Taylor “an absolutely superb guitarist…reminiscent of John Martyn”. With his passion for performance, sheer talent and high calibre songwriting other touchstones would be Tom Waits and Neil Young. A seasoned veteran of headline tours and major support gigs, Sean’s 2011 Glastonbury appearance was widely blogged as the festival highlight. His acclaimed fifth album Love Against Death “is a direct challenge to a reality dominated by greed, inequality and injustice”.

With reviews describing Naomi Bedford’s last album Tales From The Weeping Willow  as “brilliant and original in equal parts” (The Independent) and “unexpectedly wonderful” (Colin Irwin – Mojo Magazine) and “a voice that thrills, soothes and haunts in equal measure” (Nigel Williamson – Uncut Magazine), it’s easy to see why she can count Peter Buck (REM) and Shirley Collins (spearhead of traditional English song) amongst her fans! Her current duo partner is Paul Simmonds, songwriter and guitarist of the hugely influential and popular The Men They Couldn’t Hang. Expect to hear songs from their forthcoming album together “A Short History of Insolence – Songs of Trouble, Dissent and Strife” .