DESCRIPTION:
The Albion Band@Butlins Big Folk Weekend 2012
Folk Rock Music
03064
Katriona Gilmore
Fiddle, Mandolin & Vocals
Fiddler Katriona Gilmore credits the 1997 incarnation of The Albion Band as the sparking point for her musical career: 'I saw Joe Broughton with The Albion Band when I was 12 and his playing just blew me away -- I was considering giving up the violin, and that inspiration arrived in the nick of time.' After several years of playing alongside her guitarist father, Katriona joined forces with innovative lap-tapping guitarist Jamie Roberts in 2006. The duo have since released two albums, toured with Fairport Convention and been nominated for the BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award. Katriona, also an award-winning songwriter, has previously toured as part of indie folk sensations Tiny Tin Lady and with Rosie Doonan's Snapdragons, and has appeared as session musician on several acclaimed albums.
Gavin Davenport
Vocals, Cittern, Gutiar & Concertina
Multi instrumentalist, singer and song writer Gavin Davenport spent his late teens and early twenties infiltrating the folk scene and encouraging people to buy him drinks in return for singing traditional songs culled from early Albion projects including Battle of the Field and Morris On. Spurred on by this he developed a deep love of traditional song which led him to academic research and mainstage performances from Europe to Canada with bands and solo projects and he toured solo in Canada once again in 2011. In last few years he has gained an enviable reputation as a powerful interpreter of English traditional songs and ballads, both accompanied and unaccompanied and has won acclaim and plaudits for his songwriting, with other contemporary formers including Folk Award nominees Lady Maisery picking up his material. He's played with an eclectic range of folk projects from the traditionalism of vocal harmony and instrumental group Crucible to the heavy metal excesses of dance band Glorystrokes and all points in between.
Blair Dunlop
Vocals & Guitars
Blair began playing guitar at the age of six and grew up around the music of The Albion Band "I remember going to a lot of Albion Band gigs and falling in love with the music, Ken Nicol's guitar playing has stayed with me in particular and inspired me to learn and play music I really connected with." The son of Albion, Fiarport and Steeleye founder Ashley Hutchings, Blair began his career in entertainment in the film industry, in Tim Burton's production of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', playing the part of young Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp). After leaving school he then decided to follow a career in music with his first EP being released in the summer of 2010 and the follow up 'Bags Outside the Door' a year later. Blair has just completed a short tour of Italy and performed at the Southbank Centre at the 'In Search of Nic Jones' tribute concert. He has supported acts such as Fairport Convention, Cara Dillon and Georgie Fame and is a finalist of the 2012 Radio 2 Young Folk Award.
Tim Yates
Bass, Melodeon & Vocals

Benjamin Trott
Lead Guitar
Swift fingered lead guitarist Ben Trott has been exposed to English folk music as far back as he can remember, and grew up to the sounds of his father's folk flute playing. Ben has experience of a wide variety of musical genres, but loves folk first and foremost:

"I find the role of the guitar in folk music very interesting, from the acoustic accompaniment styles of players such as Tim Edey and Martin Carthy to the flair and expression of Richard Thompson's electric guitar. I feel privileged to be a part of The Albion Band because of it's history and because I believe this line-up will live up to it and take it further!"
Tom A Wright
Tom A Wright -- Drums/Vocals

Tom's love for roots music started to creep out during his time attending festivals and playing drums and guitar in local bands during his teens in Exeter. It was at this time that He first encountered and performed with people like Jackie Oates and Jim Moray.

Tom Studied Music Production at the Leeds College of Music (as did Katriona and a host of other folk musicians, producers and engineers) where he worked with a wide variety of Punk, Jazz, Folk and Dance acts. It was at this time that Tom's love for folk music was confirmed as He joined the ceilidh band Pepper in the Brandy (at the request of Nick Cooke, now of Mawkin) on Electric Guitar.

Since Uni, Tom has produced a number of records for and played with artists such as Park Bench Social Club, FolkEngine, Amanda Connell, Dogan Mehmet, Eliza Carthy, Cieran Boyle, Rosie Hood and The No Good Sinners. He continues to collaborate with various people including Will Lang in PBS6.