The UK’s Folk/Rock “Supergroup“ (said the BBC!)

(Tom A. Wright, Nancy Kerr, Findlay Napier, Alex Hunter)

Some Press

“Folk/rock with Led Zeppelin vibes” (Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2)

“Just the right amount of Black Sabbath for folk/rock” (Rockslam Podcast)

Biography

The Magpie Arc is a cross-Border band out of Sheffield, Arran and Edinburgh featuring the multi-award-winning talents and wide musical influences of Nancy Kerr, Findlay Napier, Tom A. Wright, Alex Hunter and guitar legend Martin Simpson.

Formed from the idea of bringing together a group of established folk musicians who would mix their unique song-writing styles and musicianship in a full-on electric band to create exciting new music and update the classic 60’s and 70’s British folk/rock sound, the possibilities of The Magpie Arc, which also included founder member and guitar legend Martin Simpson, being something special and unique on today’s folk scene became obvious very quickly.

Having three strong writers the focus has naturally been on new material, however they’ve also tackled some great covers plus their own re-workings of traditional songs. There’s folk, rock, a bit of country and even some prog-rock elements, but whatever the genre the band are their own musical mix of everything you could expect from such a line-up, with excellent songs, lush harmonies, scything electric guitars, gorgeous fiddle lines and rock solid bass and drums.

The buzz about seeing the band live and the anticipation among those in the know all became clear as they hit festival stages during the summer of 2022, where only their fifth gig was the Main Stage at the Cambridge Folk Festival, and 2023 kicked off in style with a live session on Mark Radcliffe’s 10th Anniversary BBC Radio 2 Folkshow, followed by a trip to the Costa del Folk Festival on Ibiza and summer festival appearances which included main stage slots at the Sidmouth Festival and Friday headliners at FolkEast.

Their first full length album, Glamour In The Grey, was released in November 2022 and has enjoyed an unbroken run of fourteen months in the UK Official Folk Chart where it debuted at number 9 and was punningly compared by Mojo magazine to the first ever album of the folk/rock genre in 1969 from Fairport Convention as being “Liege and Lief affirming” and also “an elemental racket”.

Since then it’s been regular gigs and festivals around the UK together with their own festival The Indoor Festival of Folk which has now become an annual event and is held every February at Cecil Sharp House in London with five artists performing and an interview slot with some of the great and the good of British folk. Previous interview guests have included Maddy Prior, Ashley Hutchings, Peter Knight, Joe Boyd and John Wood

Founder member Martin Simpson announced his intention to step down from the band after their 2025 summer festival commitments and joining up as tour guitarist for future gigs is the award-winning UK folk artist Sam Carter.

More Press

“The possibilities The Magpie Arc offer are very enticing indeed. You owe it to yourself to catch this band as soon as you can. Capability, flair and originality rarely come so well wrapped.”
(Spiral Earth)

“Everyone in the band brings their own talents but the synergy makes them much more than the sum of their parts. It takes “folk-rock” to a new and exciting level.”
(Fatea Magazine)

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