John Kirkpatrick/Belinda Kempster & Fran Foote @ The New Musical Traditions Club

Event information

John Kirkpatrick is one of the most prolific figures on the English folk scene, performing solo, in duos, acoustic groups and electric bands, and has established an enviable reputation as an instrumental virtuoso (melodeon, Anglo concertina and button accordion), as well as a leading interpreter of English folk music. He has been a member of the Albion Country Band, Magic Lantern, The Richard Thompson Band, Umps and Dumps, Steeleye Span, Brass Monkey, Trans-Europe Diatonique, and Band of Hope, as well as numerous ceilidh bands.
As songwriter, composer, choreographer, and musical director, he has contributed to over sixty plays in the theatre and on radio. And as featured artiste, band member, or session player, his music can be heard on over 200 different commercial recordings.
John has lived in Shropshire since 1973, where he still dances with the Morris team he founded in 1975, The Shropshire Bedlams.

Belinda Kempster & Fran Foote are a mother and daughter duo, singing songs from their native county of Essex. Belinda began singing traditional songs in the 1960s, she met her husband in a folk club, and Fran grew up immersed in the local folk scene, learning songs from her parents from a very young age. Many of their songs were learned from Belinda’s great uncle and farm labourer Ernie Austin, who was recorded for Topic’s ‘Voice of the People’ release ‘Flash Company’ in 1974. Singing mainly unaccompanied and without frills or fuss, Fran and Belinda are now continuing this tradition.