CATtales

March 2008: One from the vault! Critically acclaimed Folk/Americana singer-songwriter, Amy Speace has a velvety and achy voice reminiscent of Lucinda Williams. A former Shakespearean actress, she now lives in Nashville, but I caught up with her on one of her UK tours very early on in her career. #AmySpeace #Americana #Folk #interview

July 2007: One from the analogue vault. More of Allison Moorer please! This edition is one from my archive of analogue recordings from 2007 with the then Mrs #SteveEarle. Grammy nominated alternative country singer, #AllisonMoorer, was performing at #CambridgeFolkFestival when I caught up with her and chatted about her forthcoming album and what makes her tick. #Americana #country #interview

July 2007: One from the analogue vault. Renegade Sharon. From her stints with the Waterboys, it seems that just putting an accordion in Sharon Shannon's hands makes her happy. Luckily for the soft-spoken Sharon, others are just as happy when she picks it up. #SharonShannon #CambridgeFolkFestival #folk #Waterboys #interview

July 2004: One from the analogue vault! Winner of both the Horizon Award for Best Newcomer and the Best Album Award for Sweet England at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2004, Jim Moray is single-handedly turning folk music on its head. Taking traditional English songs he re-works them electronically to create some of the most powerful contemporary recordings in the last thirty years. #JimMoray #CambridgeFolkFestival #folk #interview

July 2003: One from the analogue vaults. After The Teardrop Explodes finally did explode in 1983, Julian Cope continued to beguile audiences with his eccentricity to become a modern-day folk troubadour and eco-warrior author on ancient monuments. This interview is one from my vault of old analogue recordings from 2003. Sadly, only part of it has survived but it still remains one of the most philosophical conversations I've had the pleasure of being part of. #JulianCope #TeardropExplodes

July 2003: One from the analogue vault. It had been a fairytale year for Australian trio, The Waifs, who had managed to create a stir on three continents as well as fulfilling their own personal ambitions. But despite their new found popularity, they'd managed to keep their feet well and truly on the ground. #TheWaifs #CambridgeFolkFestival #folk #interview

July 2002: One from the vaults! English singer-songwriter, Beth Orton, was performing at Leicester's Summer Sundae Weekender amongst a vast array of musical styles over the two day festival when I caught up with her backstage with a group of journalists. We chatted about her performance at the Eden Project, her latest album, and her collaboration with Johnny Marr. #BethOrton #JohnnyMarr #folk #interview

July 2002: One from the analogue vault. This is another from my archive of old analogue recordings, a short chat with Cornershop's Ben Ayres before the band headlined at the 2002 #SummerSundae festival in Leicester's De Montfort Hall. Hot from supporting Oasis the same afternoon in Finsbury Park, they delivered renditions of the band's number-one single Brimful Of Asha and The Beatles’ Norwegian Wood, sung entirely in Punjabi. #Cornershop #BenAyres #pop #interview