Hi Nick, lovely story, and very well told as always! The background effects and music work really well. Thanks and Happy New Year. Andy xx

The BRAND NEW track from Gavin Davenport. "Dead Weight" will be available as a digital download with all of the proceeds from sales going to the fantastic work of the Unseen charity, whose work focuses on the eradication of slavery wherever it is found, and providing survivors with safety hope and choice.

Gavin Davenport - Dead Weight (Sample)

Bob Dylan's version of the Hangman, played on the dulcimer at Islington Folk Club. 

7 Curses LIVE at Islington Folk Club 03/10/13

For Woody.
Commissioned, written and performed for Billy Bragg's Woody Guthrie Centenary Concert
This performance recorded by http://forgetwhatyouheard.co.uk/
(c) Rachel Rose Reid

Responses to 'For Woody'
"it's really quite stunning. I'm moved that my father's small story can find it's way into a new story and the story just keep growing new lines, paragraphs, pages and chapters. The circle is not broken, as we do keep opening up our mouths".
Nora Guthrie

"This work is stunning. The singing is beautiful and the poetry inspirational. Exquisite! " 
Ralph McTell

For Woody: Written & Performed for Billy Bragg Guthrie Centenary

This is a Backlisted special, recorded at the Bodleian Library in Oxford to celebrate the publication of Treacle Walker the new novel by Alan Garner (Fourth Estate). The panel discussion features Erica Wagner, writer and critic and editor of First Light, an anthology of pieces about Alan Garner’s work; Dr Melanie Giles, archaeologist and the author of Bog Bodies, the definitive account of the phenomenon which plays a significant role in the book’s story; and Professor Bob Cywinski, physicist, whose conversations with Alan Garner about time, landscape and local legend provided the inspiration for the novel.

Treacle Walker by Alan Garner

Sit back, close your eyes, slow down and experience a sound tour of the Westmorland Dales through this mosaic of sounds recorded at various locations by sound artist, Dan Fox. A mysterious and evocative medley of traditional music, local voices and sounds of the countryside. 

From the sonorous tones of the St Lawrence Church organ in Crosby Ravensworth, to bird call on the windy upland commons, nostalgic snatches of local poetry read by local farmers, performances from local music groups and the sound of  steam trains dashing through the area. Step into a Westmorland Dales farm and imagine what it would be like to make a living from working the land. Swoop beneath bridges under the M6 where river and farmlife meet below the boom of passing motor traffic. Experience the eerie sounds of wind in the railings on Smardale Gill viaduct, lively streams and the buzzing of busy pollinators - but watch out for a low-flying jet coming through!
‘Everywhere you go in the Westmorland Dales there is a pervasive noise of people, quarries and transport routes, a deep rumble in the distance, even on the wilds of the fells – an interesting interplay of nature and humankind’. Dan Fox, who recorded the clips over three days in early May 2022.
We are grateful to the following contributors, for helping enable this diversity of sounds to be captured:
Kirkby Stephen church choir, rehearsing ‘Jerusalem’ for the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, on location in St Stephen’s Parish Church.
David Jones, organist at St Lawrence’s Church, Crosby Ravensworth 
Kirkby Stephen Brass Band
Steve Dunning, local farmer, who read from Joseph W. Thwaites poem ‘Breetherdall’ 
Brenda Iveson, local farmer, who read from Eileen Todd’s poem ‘A “One Man” farm’

Sounds like this…. in the Westmorland Dales

Stories come from so many places. Some from the surface and some from the heart of life. 

Best enjoyed with headphones. 

(All material copyright of the artist.)

What the Bird Sees

Our label name 'wetfoot music' came from the tapping of Nick's foot in water to create the rhythm for this song.

Seven Little Gypsies

The Blacksmith

Three of Finland’s foremost folk musicians collaborate with leading UK storyteller to breathe life into Kalevala, the national epic of Finland.

The show is an international collaboration featuring an outstanding ensemble of artists including leading UK storyteller, Nick Hennessey and three of Finland’s best folk musicians - Anna-Kaisa Liedes (singer), Kristiina Ilmonen (flutes, percussion, vocals) and Timo Väänänen (kantele – Finland’s national instrument – and pyngyr or Siberian lyre).

Fire In The North Sky: Epic Tales From Finland

Bride Of Gold And Silver / Kultaneito

On the overnight ferry from Liverpool to Belfast, I walked around with my recorder, and sat with my laptop editing together an NTS show. Join me on the night voyage . . .

>>> MUSIC >>>

Garreth Broke - Bartók: Allegro Moderato
Lee Wiley - A Ship Without a Sail
The Ink Spots - Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat
Der lange Schatten - Serenata Maledetta 
TALsounds - Else
Jherek Bischoff - The Seas Son
multa nox - i have not whispered everything i can bear
Trini Lopez - Michael Row The Boat Ashore
Joshua Redman & Brooklyn Rider - Through Mist
James Taylor - The Water Is Wide
Chris Abrahams - Shoreline
Sara Serpa - Unity And Struggle

>>> WORDS >>>

Leah Good reads Beds from Autumn by Karl Ove Knausgaard.
Speech by Esther Stanford-Xose (Parliament Square, 1st September 2020)
Charlie Gerstrom reads The Empty Boat by Chuang Tzu.
Phil Smith reads from The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching by Thich Nhat Hahn.
Phil Smith reads from Science and Poetry by Mary Midgley.
Phil Smith reads his poem Aubade.

NTS: Phil's Jazz Dis-junction [2020]

Jazz Dis-junction - Ship As Metaphor [NTS Radio, 2020-09-06]

A singer, songwriter and storyteller Nick is a dynamic and passionate performer whose love for the traditional culture of the British Isles forges together the note, the song and the spoken word into a unique and engaging style. His work has taken him all over the UK and around the world, playing at folk clubs, literature festivals, village halls and venues such as the South Bank and the Albert Hall. Nick's style is confident, deliberate and  disarming, and his performances are memorable. Critics all agree on the richness of his voice, whether singing or speaking.

What the Bird Sees

Nick Hennessey

Recent comments

Andy Harrop

Ibsey

Related tracks