Zoe Wren

SO, WHAT’S NEXT FOR GRAYSHOTT FOLK CLUB?
On
Thursday 22nd October 2020 @ 6.30pm
at
Grayshott Social Club,
Hill Road,
Grayshott,
Nr. HINDHEAD,
Surrey GU26 6HL
Grayshott Folk Club presents:
Zoё Wren
Zoё is a fully-licensed London busker who came to entertain us last November as support to Irish trio cua. She is a talented singer/guitarist/song writer, who has a great stage presence and a raft of fascinating stories to tell about her life playing on the streets and in the underground stations of London Town. She made a real impact on our audience that night in November and several people asked when we were going to invite her back to Grayshott. Thursday 22nd September 2020 was pretty much the earliest opportunity we have had since then, as Zoe is currently dividing her time between Switzerland and the UK so we had to catch her while she was still here.
Here’s a little more about Zoe:
Since her beginnings as a busker in Camden, Zoё Wren has gone on to perform on stages from Cambridge Folk Festival to Glasgow Celtic Connections to The Shard. She is a winner of the PRS Lynsey de Paul Award, and has had airplay on BBC Radio 2 on the Bob Harris show. Drawing on influences from the unorthodox harmonies of Joni Mitchell to the honest storytelling of Tracy Chapman, and mixing these with cinematic pedal effects, Zoё is creating a sound that Fatea magazine has called 'refreshingly bold.'
Zoё has been selected for the roster of live music agency TALENTBANQ, who represent many of the UK's best independent artists. She was named Laurel Canyon UK's Favourite New Artist of 2018, and won an artist development prize and was shortlisted for Best Female Solo at the NMG Awards. As well as opening for acts such as Chris Leslie of Fairport Convention and Ralph McTell at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, Zoё can still be spotted busking, as she now holds a coveted London Underground busking license.
Her EP “Gold and Smoke”, was based on contemporary re-tellings of traditional folk stories and was released by Folkstock Records.
Zoe now has a brand new album to promote and we will be among the first people to hear it played live.
Live session video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmM8npDE0CM
+
Grayshott’s very own
Lyre
Although they both grew up in Grayshott, Joe Boon and Bryony Lewis had never met until they were sixteen, when they attended the same school. Fast-forward six years and Lyre was born: an alternative folk group heavily influenced by the likes of Sufjan Stevens, The Staves, Tom Waits and Aldous Harding.
Bryony’s musical journey started at the age of four with the violin. Since then, she has picked up (and put down), various instruments along the way, finally settling on the only two instruments in which she was self-taught: guitar and vocals. Writing her first song at age thirteen, she honed her skills in song writing and performing, listening to a variety of artists and attending local Folk concerts and festivals.
After meeting Joe for the first time, Bryony was frequently irked by Joe’s unnerving ability to just pick up any instrument and play it. She decided that instead of competing against him in the music world, she would use him for her own musical gain........
He had already performed on TV as a member of the house band for a CBBC show, played at Glastonbury Festival with his previous band and was to begin studying for a degree in composition at the Royal College of Music. While Joe often and modestly, hides this information from most people, it’s undeniable that his experiences in performance and composition have been perfectly combined with Bryony’s to create Lyre.
Now London-based, Lyre released their first EP ‘I wasn’t scared; I was just somebody else.’, on my birthday on Saturday the 14th March 2020 and I was delighted to be at the launch party.
Listen to “Red Afternoon”-it’s a very special song........
www.youtube.com/watch?v=83yyw0yUzsI&ab_channel=Lyre
After several false starts, it’s great to be able to finally welcome Joe and Bryony to Grayshott Folk Club as Lyre.
Tickets to this gig are £12 each
and will be available from Grayshott Post Office
or directly from me
on 01428 607096.
Hope to see you there!
Des O'Byrne
Grayshott Folk Club
01428 607096
grayshottfolkclub@btinternet.com
www.grayshottfolkclub.co.uk