It began with three women slipping into the mythical entity of one Wise Woman. Visually striking, vocally stunning, the scene was set. It ended in bizarre chaos bar the frenzied ceilidh with a mass of multi-aged folkies running amok to the sounds of Scottish Gaelic meets Jamaican Dub. Words are futile, actions immortal. Finish with An Dannsa Dub and you’ve ripped up the rule book.
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| Demi Marriner |
Friday was fun. Eleven sets back-to-back with minimal breaks. Even the last minute substitute for the poorly Maddie Morris took his chance with amusing and risqué gusto. Defining the line up is a hopeless task. We had bi-lingual Welsh bluegrass from Cardiff courtesy of Taff Rapids and confessional songwriting from Camden Town via the heart of Simeon Hammond Dallas. Hen Party frivolity Barnsley-style flowed from the indie pop vibes of Common Culture, but it’s a folk festival, I hear them say. All music is folk music but if you wanted to stay on script, the awesomely capable hands of Hase Waits played a wonderfully inspired traditional set on the acoustic stage while the missing rain crept up outside. Now that’s an act that preserves some meaning to the word ‘genre’.
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| Sam Kelly |
Saturday was fun and dry. A disclaimer as this intrepid music absorber sat out three of the twelve scheduled sets on the two stages. Admittedly, one was Dan the Hat, but who’s to judge a comedic interactive magician. Beardy fans lap him up year after year. Likewise the return of The Bar Steward Sons of Val Doonican was greeted with raucous hilarity. Fast forward to Sunday morning and the quirky humour of Polly Morris was more to my taste. An audience with Steve Tilston had many admirers but for me the format lacks the voyage aura of experiencing live music. However, these three are popular and play a part.
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| Simeon Hammond Dallas |
The new and familiar juxtaposed right across Beardy Saturday. Six days from seeing Sam Kelly and Honey and the Bear play a Birmingham show, both acts had a main stage billing to kick off their festival seasons. When you have been opening for an exceptional band, you might as well use their talents. Lucy and Jon aka Honey and the Bear invited four members of Kelly’s Lost Boys band to give their Suffolk-focussed folk songs a gentle boost. For Sam Kelly, Beardy was the final date of his Dreamers Dawn album launch tour. The title track is becoming my song of the summer and the heart dropped as he announced the last number without it appearing. Encores are rare at festivals, but then Sam Kelly and The Lost Boys are a special band. Cue an impromptu one and the day was saved. Listening to the song in the place it is meant depict made the moment. Two more familiar names from a more distant past teamed up for a rare show. Banjo-playing maestro Dan Walsh and guitar master Brooks Williams have been seen many times at festivals but never together on the same stage. This set was a treat. An Anglo American feast of blended music.
Partial familiarity applied to The Ciderhouse Rebellion who hooked up with Irish vocalist Molly Donnery for an exquisite lunchtime main stage set. Both artists have played the festival before and the gelling of voice, accordion and fiddle sent shivers across the Shropshire Hills. A summer feeling that keeps the memories fresh when the cold moves in.
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| The Cinelli Brothers |
Sunday morning coming down is not on the Beardy agenda. Very few artists can make you laugh and cry at eleven o’clock on a Sunday morning. Polly Morris delivered a comic element brimming with impactful timing putting music in front of the mirror, interspersed with touching songs parading real issues to the fore. Beardy never refrains from inviting artists back even if it’s been a long time. Demi Marriner and Joshua Burnell were both on the inaugural bill in 2018 and much water has passed in the last seven years. This time they both brought full bands and commandeered a main stage slot. Individual styles were nailed with Burnell sailing in the seas of progressive folk rock and Marriner finding fertile soil in country-Americana fields. They depict a rich tapestry and extend their gift to all. Wet the Tea were more recent visitors in 2023 and returned with a fine trio performance pairing delightful sounds and engaging stories.
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| Michele Stodart Foreign Affairs racked my brain to where I had seen them before. A quick search and the link was opening for Larkin Poe at The Glee Club in Birmingham in 2019. Maybe the pandemic altered their course but they are ramping up for a storming return to a wider exposure via a robust blues sound and a pitch to Americana ears in the UK. The acoustic stage at Beardy Folk was a loud sample. |
Festivals are ideal places for bands to diversify into different forms. Before Rangari took to the main stage, two acoustic stage sets featured band members. Firstly, the duo act of Eleanor Dunsdon and Gregor Black, the former on harp and the latter on percussion. The combined sound was gorgeous and just the tonic to set the mind roaming off to dreamy places. There is a definite wild Scottish feel to what they do and it soothes to the core. Before the harp was heard in the band later, it was the turn of Eliza Marshall’s flute to help form an enticing show. This step into the solo world was described as a bold move, but when joined by poetry, guitar and samples of electronica, a gentle feel of inspirational tranquility took hold. Marshall and Dunsdon then become one half of the Ranagri quartet with the other filled by Dónal Rogers and Jordan Murray. The result is an exhilarating blissful sound encompassing stories, magical moods and music touching the souls of attentive audiences.
The final scheduled act before the mayhem of An Dannsa Dub, and the ceilidh after-party, was another Beardy returnee. Greenman Rising turned the full folk circle taking you back to basics. After a wild ride around a manic musical template some might say normality resumed.
So that's the wrap on Beardy Folk Festival 2025. A treasured event carving its own niche on the circuit.
2026 anyone? The promise was made.
