An Evening with Richard Grainger

Richard Grainger is a prolific and diverse artist,performing on the British Folk Scene .

30 years have elapsed since he made his first recording. 2015 was a year to look back and celebrate some of the musical associations , events and recordings he has made in this time.

'Widely respected songwriter and guitarist with a clear and 'captivating' vocal style'. His songs are performed widely by artists including The Wilson Family, Flossie Malavialle, GU4, John Morris, Dick Miles, Monkeys Fist , KImbers Men, Derek Gifford and many more...

Born in Middlesbrough, an industrial town on the North East coast of England, he was brought up in a musical family, and sang with them from a very young age. He now resides in Whitby, North Yorkshire.

From his early days,Richard toured the north east folk clubs and was invited to join the popular Teesside Fettlers Folk Group in1981. He followed in the footsteps of Vin Garbutt , and his 'mentor' Ron Angel. Richards songs achieved wider recognition in the process.

In 1984 his first solo album was released by FELLSIDE. Produced by Paul Adams, it received great reviews – some comparing him to the ‘incomparable’ Nic Jones and Martin Carthy.
Before long, Richard was touring throughout the UK at folk clubs and major festivals and was regularly heard ‘live’ and on record on BBC’s Folk Show on Radio 2.

During the 1990’s Richard performed with folk singer and concertina player Dick Miles which resulted in a duo album on BREWHOUSE titled 'Home Routes'. Later on he teamed up with accordion 'sultan', Chris Parkinson. The musical partnership with Chris Parkinson produced some of the material heard on the 1994 Folksound album 'Thunderwood' . Grainger & Parky are enjoying a revival since their reunion in 2008.

Since 1995 Richard has been filling the role of artistic director to several festivals and has worked as a consultant to local authorities and arts organisations to help develop new events.

In recent years he has added several musical plays to his repertoire. Among the most notable of these is ‘The Journey Home’ – a rewrite of Homer’s ‘Odyssey’, which was premiered in Sicily at The University of Catania, in 2003. That was preceded by 'Eye of the Wind' telling the tale of the world renowned explorer James Cook. The play was produced for radio by the BBC with Sir David Attenborough narrating.

His latest production,'The Moorland Whalers’, was inspired by his long association with the Yorkshire Coast town of Whitby and a project with The Ryedale Folk Museum in North Yorkshire . It tells the story of The Yorkshire Whaling Industry through the recollections of those who took part.

Richard produces 'WASSAIL', an annual show featuring many voices from Yorkshire and the North East of England, performing traditional and contemporary Christmas Songs and Poems, Drama and Dance.

His 11th album ‘WAR HORSE’ (no relation to the musical of the same name) released in January 2008 was described by folkradio.co.uk as: “a classic folk album that will stand the test of time”.

Richards latest theatre project is 'STORMBOUND' telling the dramatic story of the "Rohilla" Disaster in Whitby in November 1914. Written to commemorate the disaster and performed in Whitby to a capacity crowd one hundred years to the day on November 1st 2014.

The current project 'Flithers & Swill" focusing on the unique dialect of the Yorkshire Coast village of Staithes is nearing completion.

Richards new 'studio' album titled 'Hard Road To Prospect Hill' is was released at the end of 2015. It has been well received and you can read some of the reviews on the website

http://www.richard-grainger.com/

Monday, 10 April 2017

Infos/Reservierung: irishfolkclub@hotmail.de, 089/679 24 81
www.irishfolkclubmunich.com
Veranstaltungsort:
Ars Musica im Stemmerhof, Plinganserstr. 6, 81369 München (U6/S7 Harras, Bus 53 Sendlinger Kirche)