'I think Chris Wood is an incredible artist....he combines stories and
music in such an original and completely melodic way.'
Laurie Anderson
'Contemporary hero of the English folk tradition.
...radical, fierce, compassionate, humane, political, proud, tender, humorous, critical and frank. Wood's work speaks directly to anyone concerned with English life and society... his impact is immediate and direct.'
Bath Festival
BIOG:
The Irish Times heralded Chris Wood as "the renaissance man of English folk" when on his own R.U.F Records label he released The Lark Descending which included the BBC Folk Award winning song One In A Million in 2005.
Chris Wood is an uncompromising writer whose music reveals his love for the un-official history of the English speaking people. With gentle intelligence he weaves the tradition with his own contemporary parables, his writing has been said to share the same timeless quality as Richard Thompson at his best.
Since the release of The Lark Descending Wood’s appeal has gone way beyond English folk music. He was invited to sing at last year's WOMEX where he garnered much praise and found many new followers. Likewise, his spot at this year's WOMAD festival was testament to his widening appeal.
He has had musical commissions from BBC Radio 3's Late Junction and Between The Ears also from The Sage Gateshead and has completed work for Arts Council England whilst also writing and lecturing.
November
Wood was recently invited to join Paul Weller, Billy Bragg, Martin & Eliza Carthy in Simon Emerson's The Imagined Village project. The album is out now on Real World and the tour took place throughout November 07. Billy, Chris and Simon hosted a platform discussion before each show and Chris then played a half hour solo spot from his Trespasser CD.
December
Christmas Champions is Chris's latest collaboration with Hugh Lupton and is a multimedia show. First broadcast on Late Junction in 2005 a touring version has now been commissioned by The Sage Gateshead and will tour throughout December.
Wood and Lupton are joined by Rob Harbron, John Dipper and Olivia Ross in a show directed by Tim Dalling of The Old Rope String Band that mixes the recorded voices of the past with ritual theatre, seasonal song, storytelling and music in a celebration of England’s most enduring midwinter custom: The Mummers Play.
January
The new year sees Chris and The English Acoustic Collective playing with The London Symphony Orchestra as part of the Judith Weir directed festival (17th & 18th) at Saint Luke's in London before Wood flies to Glasgow's Celtic Connections festival to perform solo on 20th.
February
February 11th 2008 is the official release for R.U.FCD11 Trespasser . The CD is released via R.U.F / Proper
Trespasser was recorded at his R.U.F Records / English Acoustic Collective base in Kent and includes the vocals of Karine Polwart. Chris and Karine first sung together on the Folk Britannia series for BBC 4.
Chris Wood will be Touring in support of Trespasser throughout 2008 and his live work is handled by Alan Bearman Music - 0207 263 0425.
A deluxe triple vinyl is also released combining The Lark Descending and Trespasser over six sides of glorious heavy vinyl issued by Reveal Records - Reveal33LP.
www.EnglishAcousticCollective.org.uk
Mail order from www.EnglishAcousticCollective.org.uk
REVIEWS:
fROOTS MAGAZINE
"The new CD by Chris Wood (The Lark Descending) seems to us to be one of the best out of the English folk scene in living memory. There has been much animated discussion on our message board about his recent live appearance on Late Junction playing tracks from it. I think its appeal goes way beyond people who think they like English folk, even to those who think they don't - especially because some of the modern songs on it are awe inspiring. ...the album's going to be a milestone up there with the likes of Penguin Eggs and A Handful Of Earth and so good it's absolutely guaranteed to not win a Folk Award. Sensational!"
Ian Anderson - Editor, fRoots Magazine
MOJO MAGAZINE
Entirely solo Wood offers a uniquely sensitive meeting of old and nu folk.
A lot of wimpy garbage is being hailed as part of a brave new world for folk music - they might want to listen to this guy. In a warm, dark brown voice with sparse, minimalist accompaniment, Wood is an intimate storyteller, applying such nuance and gravitas to every phrase you are imperceptibly lured into his world. Some of the stories are old - John Barleycorn, Our Captain Calls and, especially, Lord Bateman are familiar traditional tales born anew with fresh, bold arrangements. Yet what perhaps marks this album as one of the best of the year is Wood's own songs. Whether about his daughter (Hard), suicide (Albion) or a chip shop (one in a million), he seamlessly knits the spirit of the tradition into his very contemporary parables. And it's magnificent.
Colin Irwin
The Times
...it is his own compositions, which share the same timeless quality as Richard Thompson's best writing, that make this CD special. Most striking of all is Albion.
Nigel Williamson
The Observer Music Monthly
The unshowy charm of The Lark Descending has emerged on to the folk scene like a gentle, shy bird, to be greeted with widespread chirps of acclaim. Wood, a Kentish teacher, reveals himself to be a talented interpreter of traditional material on the organic 'John Barleycorn', but it's his own bewitching treatises, played on fiddle and acoustic guitar, that prove particularly engrossing. The likes of 'Hard" and 'Albion" are rooted in the English folk tradition, albeit refracted through Wood's reflections on political disaffection and familial love. It's a lyrical, pensive album, shaped by his plangent vocal and possessed of a timeless quality.
Sarah Boden
The Irish Times
Solo recordings don't come more solitary than this one form the Renaissance man of English folk, Chris Wood. His is a world populated by glorious minor chords, life-affirming songs and stomach-churning tales of urban decay. It's a stark terrain he navigates, melding his own tales of fatherly affection (Hard) and alienation (Albion) with an uncannily timely reading of the traditional Our Captain Calls all Hands, a four-minute distillation of the idiocy of warfare. "How can you go abroad fighting for strangers?" a question as apt in Downing Street as it is in dimly lit folk clubs. Wood's ferocious musicality is everywhere: from the fiery cello scaffolding John Barleycorn to the somnolent guitar of Bleary Winter. Unapologetically and quintessentially English - and unmissable.
Siobhan Long
