Wight Hot Pipes
Wight Hot Pipes are a five-piece Celtic band who play original songs alongside covers from all genres. The powerful vocals of Tori Blain and the unexpected sound of bagpipes combine to make their music unique and exciting.
Diverse and eclectic, Wight Hot Pipes deliver a mix of musical genres which fuse in their melodic melting pot to create an exhilarating cocktail of flavours, spanning the entire spectrum from Celtic all the way through to contemporary dance and gritty rock. Highlights include Thunderstruck with the twist of the spectacular fire breathing bagpipes!
Hailing from the shores of the Isle of Wight, Wight Hot Pipes played a prime slot on the Glastonbury Croissant Neuf stage in 2019 and their album Any Time it Rains has added to their growing reputation. They drew international acclaim with a standing ovation at the B.B. King Club in Manhattan, New York and their UK appearances have included headlining the Lincoln Asylum Steampunk Festival at the Engine Shed. Their appearance at last year’s Wessex Folk Festival drew an enthusiastic response and we are pleased to have them back this year to bring Sunday’s programme on the main stage to a lively conclusion.
Gaz Brookfield
West Country-based Gaz Brookfield is predominantly a solo acoustic musician. But on occasions such as the Wessex Folk Festival, you will find him on stage with long-time collaborator and fiddle player extraordinaire, Ben Wain.
Gaz was the first independent musician to sell out Bristol’s, The Fleece, The Bierkeller and, more recently, the 1,000-capacity SWX. With eight studio albums (the latest, Idiomatic, hitting number 10 in The Official Download and Indie album charts) and a ninth one just around the corner, this fiercely independent musician continues to tour up and down the country. No manager, no record label, no agent – just a guitar, a van and a steadfastly belligerent refusal to give in.
Harbottle & Jonas
Partners in life and in music, the Devon-based folk duo Harbottle & Jonas are one of the most exciting acts on the UK circuit today, combining a love of the richness of traditional folk with their own original and powerful songwriting. Dave and Freya have developed a distinct and compelling signature sound, blending concertina, harmonium, banjo, stomp box, acoustic guitar and cittern with their beautiful and closely intertwined vocal harmonies.
Their subject matter covers the historical as well as the more personal. Their engaging live shows are full of stories as well as beautiful songs. People, places and events are brought to life through their intimate, timeless music.
Their fourth album, The Beacon, entered the top 30 of the Official UK Folk Chart, whilst Songs Of Love and Death (a collaboration with Reg Meuross) achieved the same feat. Their video series, Saving the Good Stuff, has reached over half a million people (and counting) on Facebook.
Releases in 2023 include a collection of covers, Saving The Good Stuff: Vol 1, and a highly anticipated new album of originals coming this Autumn.
Dorset Wrecks
Dorset Wrecks sea shanty group was formed in 2013 and had its first gig when five of the initial six members sang in Weymouth harbour opposite the Kings Arms on board MV Freedom to support it taking disabled people for sea cruises.
Since then, they have sung at weddings, social events, funerals, Trafalgar nights, Poole Fireworks and Sea Food Festival, Camp Bestival and Weymouth Sea Food Festival. Other festival appearances have included the inaugural Lymington Sea Food Festival, the Bridport Folk Festival, the Teign Shanty Festival and the 2021 Weston-Super-Mare Festival, where they were proud to kick off the Festival while being broadcast live on local BBC West TV.
Last year, Dorset Wrecks sang at the naming ceremony for the new Weymouth Inshore Lifeboat, Jack & Phyl Claire, as well as singing at Greenhill Gardens where the public generously donated £840 for the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.
In 2016 they recorded their first CD of sea shanties and songs of the sea, entitled Bright Eyed ‘N’ Stiff’, alluding to how to determine their freshness when buying fish. A Covid-postponed second CD called Mackerel Skies should be coming out in time to buy at the Wessex Festival.
“We are extremely happy to be singing again at the full post-Covid Wessex Folk Festival,” say the band. “It’s been a tough few years but we are here to entertain you and have some fun.”
David Gordon
David Gordon is a singer-songwriter from Manchester, where he was a familiar figure on the acoustic music scene until eight years ago when he moved to Weymouth in Dorset. He now plays regularly across the South West of England, winning praise from audiences for his melodic songs and their often poignant lyrics.
David got his first taste of performing in the folk clubs of Manchester. He soon took to writing his own songs and playing them on acoustic guitar and over the past 20 years has played many hundreds of gigs in numerous venues around Britain, as well as performing in France, Belgium and the United States.
In addition to playing in his own right, David has also supported top songwriter Boo Hewerdine, folk legends John Renbourn and Dick Gaughan and American banjo virtuoso Tony Furtado.
While in Manchester, David recorded two CDs of his songs in local studios. After his move to Dorset, meeting Tom Toomey, lead guitarist with legendary band, The Zombies, led to him recording again at Tom’s Blue Door Studios in Yeovil, Somerset. Tom brought his own production and engineering skills to David’s songs, adding contributions by a string of top musicians and some magic sprinkles of his own on guitar. The result was a four-track EP, Silver Thread, which was launched at the end of 2019. The title track is a song written in California some years ago but only then recorded for the first time. The EP also includes Climate Change, David’s personal take on the global heating crisis.
Unable to play gigs to promote the EP during lockdown in early 2020, David wrote a song about the plight of those whose plans had been put on hold by the virus. Although it focused on the way the loss of live music was affecting so many people, it also looked at the wider effects on everyone whose lives had been Frozen In Time.
The temporary lifting of restrictions later in the year allowed David to play the new song to audiences and it made an immediate connection with people. “There was a feeling that I should record the song so that it could reach more people,” said David. “Elijah Wolf, singer and songwriter with The Gravity Drive, agreed and offered to produce the song at his Howl Recordings studio. With Ryan Halsey engineering, we kept things simple and managed to get the session finished the day before lockdown resumed and the music venues closed their doors again.”
Frozen In Time received radio play after it was released as a single and by the time lockdown was lifted again, David was ready to record a new song with Elijah Wolf – We Will Look After Your Star, written about his first granddaughter, who had been born a few months before the start of the pandemic.
Elijah Wolf added: “I’m a huge fan of David’s songwriting and his new song, We Will Look After Your Star, has a special place in my heart. David not only captured the feeling one has to protect and keep the dreams alive of a new family member but also captured for me a particular moment of time after leaving the EU. A beautiful song.”
When live gigs returned in 2022 David played at the Wessex Folk Festival and will be returning to play the main stage in 2023.
More Acts coming Soon………