Charlie Dore, Julian Littman

Charlie Dore
with Julian Littman

Charlie Dore met Julian Littman when she was 16 years old. The pair were training to be actors, but music was never far behind and they started playing in folk clubs and pubs whenever they could. Several decades later, it’s easy to see why Charlie calls Julian her honorary brother as the vibe onstage has a natural, sparky, off-the-cuff energy to it.

With eight albums’ worth of songs to mine, no two nights are the same and the array of instruments - guitars, piano, mandolin, harmonium, autoharp & ukulele is constantly swapped as they dip into last year’s Milk Roulette album, followed perhaps by a couple from 2011’s award-winning Cheapskate Lullabyes, their version of Charlie’s first ever single, Fear of Flying (covered by George Harrison), an unplugged version of her UK No 1, Ain’t No Doubt, written with Jimmy Nail and maybe even a new take on Pilot of the Airwaves - still a Radio 2 favourite.

Charlie is hard to label, but eclectic, contemporary folk is a nearly-accurate description - and Julian, fresh from touring with his ‘other’ band, Steeleye Span, is always up for an improvised solo or two. Charlie is a multi-award winning songwriter and although she has written for the great and the good, the live show reveals that actually she keeps the best ones for herself.

‘A gift for melody, brave, poignant, entertaining, original ‘ Guardian
‘Beatific of voice, fragrant of melody and lyrically fearless’ MOJO
‘Still stretching boundries’ - Telegraph/Featured in Telegraph’s Best Albums of 2014
‘Charlie Dore has made the album of her life’ - Ricky Ross. Deacon Blue/BBC Radio Scotland