Our folk music special: now available as a podcast!

Last Sunday, we sat down at half past eight with the internet radio tuned to Studio 109 Live and Online, ready to hear our very own radio show, full of a diverse range of talent from mostly local (one or two not-so-local) folk and folk inspired musicians. We live-tweeted the whole thing for anyone who was listening, and it was wonderful to see many of the artists featured tweeting to each other, and checking out each other's oeuvre. It's heart-warming to think that perhaps we've introduced some talented musicians to others, and possibly even helped people make new friends!

It was such a fun thing to put together, and we like to think that perhaps some people have a few new favourites now as a result!

If you missed it, the good folks at Studio 109 have kindly put it online as a podcast so you can listen to our show again in its entirety! We'd love to know what you think, especially of the first track, Ella Brown, which will be the lead single from our forthcoming album, Amateur Astronomy, out later this spring.

Studio 109 Live and Online - Folk Music Special - Moss and Jones by Studio109 Live And Online on Mixcloud

Our very own folk show THIS SUNDAY on Studio 109!

If you can, cast your minds back to December 2014, when our Christmas carol, A Song for Mary, was played on BBC Radio Merseyside and other local radio stations and podcasts, featured in the Liverpool Echo and even won a carol competition; one of the radio stations that played our carol was Studio 109. Studio 109 is a fantastic internet radio station for new music coming out of the North West and beyond. You can find them online, and also by using the TuneIn app on a smartphone.

Well, after they'd kindly featured our carol, the lovely folks at Studio 109 got in touch with us early this year and asked if we'd like to do a folk show for them. We debated whether or not it was something we could do; we'd never put together anything like this before. We were worried too; what if we asked for tracks but received too many and had to whittle them down, and risk disappointing or upsetting people? What if the musicians we did contact said no? How would we even go about putting such a show together? Of course, we said yes in the end, and decided we'd learn as we went along.

After researching podcasting, we learned that we could use good old Audacity to put together our show. We then set about looking for music to play. The only stipulations given by Studio 109 were that the music had to be original, and folk. Obviously, with a lot of music in the folk tradition being an artist's own interpretation of age-old songs, we've taken "original" in these cases to mean "an original interpretation". We decided that we'd try to make the show from local folk musicians where we could, but if we heard something amazing from further afield, we wouldn't leave it out. It made sense to include songs we listened to quite a lot at home; we also tried to make it so that the show had a wide range of instruments.

The show will be played this Sunday; the radio show itself starts at 8.30pm and our segment will start just before 9pm.

Musicians featured include:
Laura James and the Lyres
The Lost Lad
Elly the Folk
Under a Banner
Katie Rose
Pennman
Finch and the Moon
Derek King
Caitlin Gilligan
Merry Hell
Janey Turner
SheBeat
Laura & Claire

... and of course, Moss & Jones, with two tracks from our forthcoming mini-album, Amateur Astronomy.

We'd just like to say thank you to all the artists who agreed to let us use their tracks, and who got back in touch with us so quickly. We can't wait to hear your thoughts on the show this Sunday!