Cathryn Craig and Brian Willoughby

Ben Smith & Jimmy Brewer and Marina Florance

Presented by: Laurel Canyon Music

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0	LONDON: St. Pancras Old Church
P	Thursday 28th April, 2016
N	7:30pm

Event information

Join us for an incredibly special night, as Cathryn Craig and Brian Willoughby takes to the stage at the beautiful St Pancras Old Church for an intimate Folk and Americana show. It's a venue unlike any other. A working church with acoustics rarely found elsewhere. It's thought to have been around since before Norman times. It's also pretty small so advance booking is definitely recommended. We've made 20 low-price earlybird tickets available at £10, so please get yours soon.

The church is all seated for this gig

Headlining for us are one of Nashville's finest voices and one of the world's greatest acoustic guitarists, Cathryn Craig and Brian Willoughby. Combined they are pure magic and leave audiences spellbound. With a superb selection of music, together with many humorous stories of travels on the road of life, this is not to be missed. They will be joined by special guests and newly formed duo Ben Smith & Jimmy Brewer and the award-winning singer-songwriter Marina Florance.

Cathryn Craig is one of Nashville's finest voices and Brian Willoughby is one of the world's greatest acoustic guitar players, combined they create an evening of pure magic. With a superb selection of music, together with many humorous stories of their travels on the road of life, this is not to be missed.

Cathryn Craig is from Richmond, Virginia and has built a strong reputation as both singer and songwriter. She is no stranger to Tennessee's Nashville recording studios, working with Chet Atkins, The Righteous Brothers, Shel Silverstein, Jorma Kaukonen and Garth Brooks.

Brian Willoughby is best known for his virtuoso performances on electric and acoustic guitar. As well as playing with the Strawbs in the 80s and 90s, Brian has been a session player/sideman in much demand, playing with the likes of Mary Hopkin, Roger Whittaker, Monty Python, Joe Brown and Jim Diamond and Nanci Griffith.
Cathryn and Brian have just released their excellent new album 'In America', which is already one of our favourites.

"They catch a mood that could produce goosebumps on sheet metal (The Glasgow Herald)
"Traditional songs and delicately crafted originals by assured performers with formidable story-telling abilities" (Record Collector)
"Sublime guitar work and one of the finest voices around" (Folking.com)

The first of our special guests are the newly formed duo of Ben Smith and Jimmy Brewer.

Ben Smith is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Cambridge. His style and music is influenced by the greats of the blues, funk, folk and beyond. He has supported supported the great Joan Armatrading on her two most recent tours, as well as Robert Cray, Jon Gomm, Matt Schofield, Wilko Johnson, Royal Southern Brotherhood, Stefan Grossman and Ian McCullogh. He has also recently shared the bill with Gordon Giltrap, John Etheridge, Paul Brett, Gareth Pearson and 'Tubular Bells' producer Tom Newman.

Jimmy Brewer is a songwriter originally from Lincolnshire. Since releasing his debut album 'As Time Stands Still' in 2013 Jimmy has relentlessly toured solo around the country. Recently he has been on tour supporting Joan Armatrading including sets at the Barbican in London as well as several high profile theatres around the UK. He is now heading out on the road on his own in preparation for the release of his second album.

Our second special guest Marina Florance is a Norwich based awarding winning singer-songwriter who came to performing late in life, however, very soon after making the decision to "come out of the kitchen" to widen her audience she was awarded Arts Council funding, via the Escalator Project, to record her debut album 'Somewhere Down The Line' using this as a platform she has since reached audiences never previously thought possible. Marina was nominated on Soundcloud as Soundclouder of the day with the song 'The Guilty One' and also added to their International Women's Day playlist, this resulted in thousands of plays all over the world. The self-penned song 'Cry', won the Oldies Composers Competition judged by BBC Radio 2 presenters including Ken Bruce, Terry Wogan and Johnny Walker, resulting in Anthony Head singing the song live on ITVs This Morning and gaining airplay on numerous radio stations including BBC Radio 2.

She has recently had success with radio play on BBC6Music 'Little Black Cloud' which was selected for the Tom Robinson Mixtape and has been invited to play at BBC Introducing BBC Radio Norfolk.
Festivals played include the Cambridge Folk Festival, where a recent highlight was playing on Stage 2 with Brian McNeil. Marina has just recently released her latest album 'This, That and The Other'

"She has a voice like chocolate" (Sue Marchant BBC Radio)
"Of the literally thousands of artists we've covered over the years, one that ranks highest amongst the discoveries is Marina..." (FATEA)
"A wonderful singer songwriter, Marina's original version of 'Cry' was beautiful. She has got an amazing voice." (Anthony Head, Actor)