Thu 12 December 2024 7:30pm

The Magpies

at The Cluny, Newcastle upon Tyne

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They’re a breath of fresh air peddling engaging, bright and breezy transatlantic folk and making it seem as easy as breathing.
All under 30, The Magpies are one of the most exciting acts on the roots scene, combining first class musicianship with sublime harmonies and increasingly impressive song and tune writing. A fervent thread of feminism runs through their music and indeed the three are champions of gender equality in the music industry. Here are themes of sisterhood and solidarity , tricky relationships and rueful reflection as they seamlessly switch between Anglo and American roots – traversing traditional folk, bluegrass , Celtic and Appalachian trails. It’s a rich melting pot of luminous , flawless music by gifted young performers.
In their live performances The Magpies have been exceptionally well-received, with festival performances including Glastonbury Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival, Larmer Tree Festival, Shambala Festival, Towersey Festival and Deer Shed Festival and international shows in Canada, Ireland and Portugal, including Folk Music Ontario.
The trio have also made their mark as hosts of their own fast – growing signature Magpies Festival in the parkland of stately home Sutton Park, near York with top quality line – ups.

The Magpies

It has only been a short space of time since The Magpies burst onto the UK folk scene, but they have already made a huge impression with their fresh brand of transatlantic neo-folk and have been ‘making waves wherever they play’ (Phil Beer, Show of Hands). Three accomplished musicians in their own right, The Magpies is a combination far greater than the sum of its parts. Award winning guitarist, banjo-player and singer Bella Gaffney, clawhammer banjo player and singer Kate Griffin and acclaimed fiddle-player and tunesmith Holly Brandon draw on their wide-ranging influences to create a unique blend of transatlantic folk. In their live performances The Magpies have been exceptionally well-received. 2018 saw them perform at festivals such as Cambridge Folk Festival and on main stages at Wickham Festival, Towersey Festival and Deer Shed Festival. 2019 saw their first international shows, with performances at Folk Alliance International in Montreal, a successful tour in Ireland and performances at Costa del Folk in Portugal. And the summer saw many more festival performances including Glastonbury, Larmer Tree, Warwick and Shambala. Following the release of the band’s critically acclaimed debut album in 2020, The Magpies released their second album Undertow in October 2022. A rich and varied showcase of their live sound, flawless instrumentation provides an elegant canvas for intricate harmonies and engaging storytelling. With a sound that pushes boundaries and brings a fresh voice to the current milieu, the album’s success comes as no surprise, with a quarter of a million streams on Spotify, a place in the Official Folk Albums Chart Top 40 and a live session on BBC Radio 2.

See The Magpies tour dates