Thank you so much to everyone who came along to our Indoor Festival of Folk 2024 at Cecil Sharp House on Saturday, it was an absolutely fantastic day with amazing music from all the artists and a fascinating and touching interview by Matthew Bannister with folk/rock and production legends Joe Boyd and John Wood.

We will be making the interview available online very soon as the demand to hear it from people who couldn’t attend has been immense.

AND we’re doing it all again next year! Plans are already afoot for another great indoor day of music in 2025 so do pencil the 8th of February at CSH in your diary and follow us here or on social media to find out who will be joining us. We have a VERY special target for the interview session and if we can pull this one off it will be rather tremendous indeed!

Thank you also to everyone who has joined us on tour at our first two gigs in Glasgow and Sevenoaks. Both sell-outs and both great nights playing to wonderful folk/rock-loving folks!

We are rolling on to Southport for the Love Folk Festival at the Atkinson on Friday, the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon on Saturday, the Phoenix Exeter on Sunday and tickets are flying so do get in there quick if you’re intending to come along.

You can check out all our tour dates here – https://themagpiearc.com/live/

And as ever our music is available to buy here – https://themagpiearc.com/shop/

Hopefully see you somewhere out there!

TMA xx

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch asking about bringing albums along to sign at our February tour, there seems to be a wee bit of hesitancy amongst folks about the etiquette of asking a band to sign something that they’ve already bought in the past rather than buying something new at the gig.

The short answer is……don’t think twice and bring along whatever you like!

Although the strangest thing we’ve had so far was when someone whipped out a Steeleye Span album and was a bit miffed that we weren’t them, so do make sure you get the right band before you leave home!

If you’d like to stock up first before the gig then you can find special offer deals on all CD’s/vinyl by clicking our shop here

And just a reminder that our dates are….

30th January – Oran Mor, Glasgow (support Katherine Priddy)
2nd February – Memorial Hall, Sevenoaks
3rd February – Indoor Festival of Folk, Cecil Sharp House, London
9th February – The Atkinson, Southport (support Frankie Archer)
10th February – Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon
11th February – Phoenix, Exeter
16th February – The Cast, Doncaster
18th February – The Fire Station, Sunderland
22nd February – Junction, Goole
24th February – The Met, Bury
25th February – The Musician, Leicester

For all info and ticket links just click themagpiearc.com/live

We’re firing up the amps and looking forward to seeing you soon so do get along if you can and also support venues and promoters by buying tickets early as much as you can.

TMA xx

Tour time is approaching and our first run of three gigs are a headline show at the world famous Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, our own “one day, sit yourself down in a lovely warm venue with food, drink and facilities” festival at Cecil Sharp House in London and also a show in the wonderfully leafy Sevenoaks in Kent.

Our Celtic gig is at Oran Mor on the 30th of January and support will be from the superb Katherine Priddy, so an excellent evening of high quality music.

The Indoor Festival of Folk at CSH is on the 3rd of February with a fantastic line-up of folk artists throughout the day (including the great Tom Robinson) AND two absolutely genuine UK folk/rock legends of the 1960’s and 70’s in Joe Boyd and John Wood.

Joe and John are the men behind some of the bands and music that we all grew up with up from that time and they will be taking part in a rare interview and Q&A session with BBC broadcaster Matthew Bannister to talk about all things Fairport, Sandy, Fotheringay, Nick Drake, John Martyn, Richard and Linda, the Incredible String Band etc.

And the night before that on the 2nd of February we have an “Evening with The Magpie Arc” show at the Memorial Hall in Sevenoaks, which is us plus a first set from Martin Simpson, Nancy Kerr and Findlay Napier solo, so again a great value musical evening.

Can we just ask one small favour for all our gigs please? And this applies to all artists that you love and intend to go and see live in the future.

Can you please support the promoters that are behind every gig that you ever go and see (and their nerves and fingernails!) by buying tickets as far in advance as you possibly can?

Everybody knows it’s not easy in the current financial climate, we know that the folk world is already fantastically supportive of artists and that many of you are having to pick and choose who you go to see, but buying as early as possible once you’ve made the decision does ensure that the dedicated folks who organise these things can put on events with some confidence that there will be an audience.

Thank you everyone, sermon over, and we look forward to “folk/rocking” you in person soon.

The info and ticket links for all our upcoming gig dates are available to see at https://themagpiearc.com/live/

TMA xx

Thank you to everyone who has bought tickets for one of our tour gigs in February, we’re really looking forward to getting back out and playing live for you again.

We’ve had many people on asking the pertinent question of what exactly is our “An Evening With The Magpie Arc” show and so for those that haven’t seen us before and are thinking of coming along to one of our gigs here’s what happens…

As we have three award-winning solo artists in the band, each with their own audience, we thought that it would be a really nice and full evening for everybody if we supported ourselves so to speak, and so our show consists of a first set of Nancy Kerr, Martin Simpson and Findlay Napier playing a few solo songs each, then the band joining in for a couple of songs to round that off, then a break and then the band playing a full headline second set.

All in all that’s over two hours of music……..plus the inevitable rubbish banter!

Apologies if this is a bit of a dry message but with the many growing financial pressures on everyone there’s a school of thought that 2024 is going to be a very challenging year for live events and so it’s important for us to make sure that every ticket-buyer knows that they are going to get excellent value for money at one of our gigs.

You can see all our February tour dates at https://themagpiearc.com/live/ as well as our three festival dates, which are the unique Indoor Festival of Folk at Cecil Sharp House in London where we’ll be joined by a stellar cast of some of the UK’s finest folk musicians plus two folk/rock legends, Celtic Connections in Glasgow where we’re supported by Katherine Priddy and the “Love Folk” festival in Southport where we’ll be joined by Frankie Archer.

Hope to see you all out there, and just one final message…..

In support of all the lovely venues we’re playing, if you do intend to come along then it’s very, very helpful to them (and us) if you can buy tickets as early as possible in advance.

TMA xx

Our own one-day festival, the Indoor Festival Of Folk, at Cecil Sharp House in London is on the 3rd of February and features Tom Robinson, The Trials of Cato, The Rosie Hood Band, Janice Burns and Jon Doran, us and a very special interview session hosted by BBC broadcaster Matthew Bannister with two legends of British folk/rock, Joe Boyd and John Wood, the manager/producers behind Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Fotheringay, Richard and Linda Thompson, John Martyn, Nick Drake, the Incredible String Band plus lots of others.

Many of us have lived our lives with the music that Joe and John helped bring in to the world and now is the chance to hear them talk about the who, what, where, why and when behind the artists and their albums.

It’ll be a truly unique event in absolutely beautiful surroundings with music, chat, food, drink, facilities and a nice warm sit down but tickets are strictly limited so be quick to book and don’t miss out!

For tickets and information about the day click here

And our full February tour dates are…

30th January – Oran Mor, Glasgow (support Katherine Priddy)
2nd February – Memorial Hall, Sevenoaks
3rd February – Indoor Festival of Folk 2024, Cecil Sharp House, London
9th February – The Atkinson, Southport (support Frankie Archer)
10th February – Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon
11th February – Phoenix, Exeter
16th February – The Cast, Doncaster
18th February – The Fire Station, Sunderland
22nd February – Junction, Goole
24th February – The Met, Bury
25th February – The Musician, Leicester

Please note that all dates except Glasgow and Southport are “An Evening with The Magpie Arc” so you get a bit of Martin, Nancy and Findlay solo as well as the band.

Value for money or what?!

For all tour date information/ticket links click here

And finally the usual musicians mantra at the moment which is sadly, if you are intending to come along to one of our gigs then please do buy tickets sooner rather than later. Given the current economic situation promoters and venues are very nervous about live music and buying early helps calm everyone’s nerves!

See you out there soon.

TMA xx

Ooh, a lovely Christmas bonus from Bandcamp!

The download collection of our 22-song Glamour In The Grey and the First Three EPs anthology is a folk/rock bestseller!

Did you know that you can send music as a gift by email via Bandcamp so if you need to sort out a late/surprise pressie for someone that you love music with then you can do that for any artist that’s on there in minutes?

We’re here obviously but so are our Nancy Kerr, Martin Simpson and Findlay Napier plus all our extended family of wonderful musicians and bands.

And here we are – themagpiearc.bandcamp.com/music

Check out the budget-priced Anthology and also our “Let Me Introduce You To The Family” compilation album which includes a selection of songs from us, the above band-members and our amazing “nearest’s and dearest’s” all of whom are some of the finest folk artists in the UK!

TMA xx 🖤🤍💜

Hi Everyone,

Next week sees the last posting dates for UK Christmas delivery so if you’re planning on making a gift of The Magpie Arc music to a significant folk loving someone then buying as soon as possible would be wise.

CD’s, regular vinyl and the special edition coloured vinyls of our chart album Glamour In the Grey and our first three EPs are all available at https://themagpiearc.company.site/

And if you need an urgent last minute option then you can gift a download link to any of our music by email from our Bandcamp site at https://themagpiearc.bandcamp.com/music

Also our final tour dates for February have been confirmed and all shows are now on sale at https://themagpiearc.com/live/

A reminder that our own festival at Cecil Sharp House in London on the 3rd of February features Tom Robinson, The Trials of Cato, The Rosie Hood Band, Janice Burns and Jon Doran, us and a very special interview session hosted by broadcaster Matthew Bannister with two legends of British folk/rock, Joe Boyd and John Wood, the manager/producers behind Fairport, Sandy Denny, John Martyn, Nick Drake, the Incredible String Band plus loads of others. Many of us have lived our lives with that music and now is the chance to hear from two of the central characters about the who, what, where, why and when behind the artists

It’ll be a truly unique event in absolutely beautiful surroundings with music, chat, food, drink, facilities and a nice warm sit down but tickets are strictly limited so be quick to book and don’t miss out!

Thank you as ever for all the support everyone and hope you’re all keeping warm and dry.

TMA xx 🖤 💜 🎅

If you have a folk-lovin’ significant person in your life (and let’s face it, who doesn’t?) then The Magpie Arc family have some appropriate Christmas gifty things available.

Martin Simpson has an extraordinary new album out with Nashville-based songwriter Thomm Jutz and a host of very special folk guests called Nothing But Green Willow which you can check out by clicking here.

Nancy Kerr’s band Melrose Quartet with James Fagan and Jess and Richard Arrowsmith have a wonderful new album called Make The World Anew which you can view here.

Our Findlay Napier runs a great “Del Boy-esque” sideline in tea towels, which sell like hot cakes. Plus of course fantastic music over a range of excellent solo albums, which you can see here.

And we have special offers and free P&P on our CD and vinyl bundles, including some remaining copies of our limited edition 12″ coloured vinyl with photos and lyrics insert of the Glamour In The Grey album, which you can check out here.

Perfect stock folking-fillers!

TMA xx

Apologies to anyone who is experiencing a delay in receiving a CD or vinyl order from us.

Due to a huge amount of retailers turning Black Friday into a week-long event these days our distributor is facing a large backlog across all their outlets which has affected us too.

They are working flat out to clear this so please don’t worry, all music orders have been processed and will be distributed asap.

And thank you to everyone who has bought a copy of our Let Me Introduce You To The Family album sampler of music from our award winning, award-nominated and generally some of the best folk musicians in the UK extended family. It hit number 2 on the Bandcamp bestseller list which is a fantastic achievement.

There are ten songs from Martin Simpson, Nancy Kerr, Findlay Napier, Rosie Hood, Gillian Frame, James Fagan, the Melrose Quartet and us so do check it out and then go on to explore any of them that you’re not familar with. There’s a wealth of amazing music and you’ll be delighted that you did!

You can see the compilation and preview the music by clicking here

Thanks again everyone!

TMA xx