GILMORE & ROBERTS – Canopy Theatre, Hungate Church, Beccles – Saturday 28th September 7.30 p.m.
Contemporary folk/acoustic duo Gilmore & Roberts combine award-winning songwriting with astounding musicianship and their trademark harmonies to create a powerful wall of sound. Nominated three times at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Katriona Gilmore (vocals, fiddle, mandolin) and Jamie Roberts (vocals, guitar) met while studying at Leeds College of Music and released their debut album in 2008.
Since then, the duo have toured Canada and mainland Europe, played some of the UK’s biggest acoustic festivals, toured with folk rock legends Fairport Convention and won countless accolades for their genre-spanning work.
Katriona grew up in Knebworth, Hertfordshire and started her professional career with folk pop sensations Tiny Tin Lady and singer songwriter Rosie Doonan. She was invited to be part of a new line-up of The Albion Band in 2011 and subsequently joined Albion frontman Blair Dunlop on his solo tours.
In 2017 she joined established folk-roots band The Willows and has featured on many acclaimed albums as a session musician, as well as appearing on stage with such diverse acts as The Troggs, Kim Richey and Matt Berry.
Jamie was brought up in Barnsley, South Yorkshire in a musical family – his sister Kathryn is a well-respected singer on the UK folk scene. He joined young English traditionalists Kerfuffle in 2007, formed The Dovetail Trio with Rosie Hood and Matt Quinn in 2014, and joined the critically acclaimed Emily Askew Band in 2016. He has also performed with Nancy Kerr’s Sweet Visitor Band and Blackbeard’s Tea Party amongst others.
Documenting Snapshots, released in 2023, is Gilmore and Roberts’ sixth studio album and their first since 2018’s A Problem Of Our Kind.
“So much has changed since our last album,” says Katriona. “It feels like a different landscape altogether.” “The music industry is still feeling the fallout of the pandemic,” adds Jamie “and on a more personal level we now have two young children, so making this record had to fit around our lives rather than the other way round.” Recorded at home over a period of more than a year, Documenting Snapshots contains some of their most emotionally charged material yet.
From personal experiences of parenthood, grief and family legacy, to historical stories of solidarity and unlikely connections, the album presents ten original tracks (alongside a cover, written by Californian band Dawes) through an ever-changing kaleidoscope of genres, while maintaining a sound that is always identifiably and uniquely theirs.
‘Capable of making you dance, cry and think…a masterclass in songwriting and a lesson in how to present songs’ – FOLK RADIO UK
For more information, music & video visit https://gilmoreroberts.co.uk/
Tickets are £15 from www.ticketsource.co.uk/martello-promotions
or from the Ticketsource box office 0333 666 3366