Rachel Unthank & the Winterset

Forging links between folk worlds old, new and other, Rachel and her set have blown a bracing northeasterly gale through traditional English song, casting it in an endlessly inventive and playful new mould.

Transcendent and grounded music folds around unsentimental old, new and imaginatively borrowed stories of booze, brawls, abuse, loss, fear, infantile death, depravity, and sorrow.

Dancing down the leftfield and singing in their own lilting Geordie accents, Rachel Unthank & The Winterset are the “inheritors, curators and gleeful distorters” (Ian MacMillan) of Tyneside’s traditions. Discreetly provocative arrangements draw on elements of blues, jazz, music hall, burlesque cabaret, classical, and leftfield contemporary music, making their take on folk music peerless, fearless and wholeheartedly brave.

Fans as disparate as Robert Wyatt, Kate Rusby, Paul Morley, Nic Jones, Phil Jupitus and Joan As Policewoman have joined the chorus of adulation from the press.

Further reading

Polobi & the Gwo Ka Masters share new single ‘Kawmélito’

Abri Cyclonique by Polobi & the Gwo Ka Masters is our first release of 2023.

Long-awaited release of Kayhan Kalhor and Toumani Diabaté collaboration

The album is a spiritual meditation by two culture bearers of centuries-old musical traditions.

Track of the Day: ‘Chavale’ by Kerieva, from Dub No Frontiers

Today sees the release of Kerieva’s ‘Chavale’, the second track to be revealed from the forthc...

Guitarist Salif Koné demonstrates three musical styles from Mali

Rokia Koné and Les Amazones d'Afrique's guitarist demonstrates Mandigue, Bamana & Tuareg music.