Ian Carter and Nicola Kearey of Stick In The Wheel have gathered a new set of recordings on location, asking English folk and traditional artists what ‘From Here’ means to them. What it means to be making this music in 2019, and in turn, posing more questions than answers about English identity. The Café Oto launch features a mixture of the musicians from the project, performing short sets.

“The more we travelled the less we found we knew. At every turn, surprising, frustrating. And identity to grasp, or to push away. To try and understand who we are, where we are going, where we came from. Now more than ever, our identity is important, this culture and canon of music is a living, breathing thing, to be respected and taken seriously.” Nicola Kearey

A snapshot of the English folk scene right now - from seasoned professionals to folk club singers, everyone is equal and valid. Recorded in front rooms and kitchens with two pairs of microphones, capturing immediate, intimate, yet powerful and evocative performances. This is not the collecting of songs to fit a pre-determined view of what folk music “should” be - rather, an attempt at documenting of what it is - a continuum that thrives, flourishes and persists in this country. 

From old Northumbrian kingdoms, through the Midlands, way over to the Welsh border, with an expanding set of experimental and traditional musicians interpreting the music that roots them, in their own unique ways. Songs and tunes reflecting everyday life in England: from racing pigeons to lost children, domestic violence to fighting in the street about politics. This is each artist’s response to what From Here means to them, by way of identity or place, feeling or memory: “this is who I am, this is where I’m from”.

Praise for Volume 1: “The idea behind this bountiful record…is so ingenuously ambitious and artfully executed, it feels both like the beginning of a major project of contemporary musicology and plays like a dream open-mic session at the perfect folk club… a project that could conceivably do more to broaden the appeal of traditional folk music than any other venture in recent years.” Caught By The River