Spiers and Boden
Encyclopedia
Spiers and Boden are an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 duo. John Spiers
John Spiers
John Spiers is an English melodeon, concertina and bandonion player.-Career:He plays with the duo Spiers and Boden and the band Bellowhead, and used to be a part of Eliza Carthy's old band The Ratcatchers.-Personal life:...

 plays melodeon
Diatonic button accordion
A diatonic button accordion or melodeon is a type of button accordion where the melody-side keyboard is limited to the notes of diatonic scales in a small number of keys...

 and concertina
Concertina
A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It has a bellows and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pressed, the buttons travel in the same direction as the bellows, unlike accordion buttons which travel perpendicularly to it...

, while Jon Boden
Jon Boden
Jon Boden is an multi-instrumental musician and English folk singer.-Career:Boden plays fiddle as part of the duo Spiers and Boden, the band Bellowhead and up until 2007, Eliza Carthy's band The Ratcatchers. In 2009 he toured with his new backing band The Remnant Kings. He has also written a...

 sings and plays fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...

 and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 while stamping the rhythm on a stomp box
Stomp box
thumb|Puck'n Stompa by PetermanA stomp box or stompbox is a simple percussion instrument consisting of a small wooden box placed under the foot, which is tapped or stamped on rhythmically to produce a sound similar to that of a bass drum. A stomp box allows a performer such as a singer or guitar...

.

Biography

They began playing together in 1999 and their first album as a duo was Through & Through
Through & Through (album)
Through & Through is the first album by folk duo Spiers and Boden.- Track listing :-Personnel:*Jon Boden *John Spiers ....

(2001). In 2002 they were both session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

s on Eliza Carthy
Eliza Carthy
Eliza Carthy is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson.-Life and career:...

's album Anglicana, and toured with her as part of her band The Ratcatchers. However it was their second album, Bellow
Bellow (Spiers and Boden album)
- Track listing :-Personnel:*Jon Boden *John Spiers ....

, in 2003 that drew significant attention. The tunes and songs were mostly traditional, grounded in the Morris tradition. In the same year they won the "Horizon Award" in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British radio station BBC Radio 2....

, followed by the "Best Duo" category in 2004.

An album called simply Tunes
Tunes (Spiers and Boden album)
- Track listing :-Personnel:*Jon Boden *John Spiers ....

came out in summer 2005 and another, and Songs
Songs (Spiers and Boden album)
Songs is an album by Spiers and Boden. It consists of traditional British folk songs and sea shanties, apart from Innocent When you Dream which was written by Tom Waits for the soundtrack to the film "Franks Wild Years". It was released less than six months after their previous album Tunes . Four...

followed in October of the same year.

Vagabond was released in 2008.

The Works
The Works (Spiers and Boden album)
The Works is the sixth album by folk duo Spiers and Boden. It was made to celebrate 10 years working together. It features re-recorded tracks from their previous albums...

was released on 11th July 2011. It's an album of re-recorded tracks from their 5 albums made as a duo. The album features a number of special guests, including: Fay Hield
Fay Hield
-Career:Hield was part of The Witches of Elswick, with whom she recorded two CDs in their four years together.Fay and her partner Jon Boden run two folk clubs – Royal Traditions and Bright Phoebus ....

, James Fagan
James Fagan
James Fagan is a folk musician from Sydney, Australia. He in a singer and multi-instrumentalist specialising in the Irish bouzouki....

, Nancy Kerr
Nancy Kerr
Nancy Kerr is an English folk musician, specialising in the fiddle and singing. She is the daughter of London-born singer-songwriter Sandra Kerr and Northumbrian piper Ron Elliott....

, Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...

, Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy MBE is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days...

, Martin Simpson
Martin Simpson
Martin Simpson is an English folk singer, guitarist and songwriter. His music reflects a wide variety of influences and styles, rooted in the British Isles, America and beyond.-Biography:...

 and Eliza Carthy
Eliza Carthy
Eliza Carthy is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson.-Life and career:...

.

Spiers
John Spiers
John Spiers is an English melodeon, concertina and bandonion player.-Career:He plays with the duo Spiers and Boden and the band Bellowhead, and used to be a part of Eliza Carthy's old band The Ratcatchers.-Personal life:...

 and Boden
Jon Boden
Jon Boden is an multi-instrumental musician and English folk singer.-Career:Boden plays fiddle as part of the duo Spiers and Boden, the band Bellowhead and up until 2007, Eliza Carthy's band The Ratcatchers. In 2009 he toured with his new backing band The Remnant Kings. He has also written a...

 were founding members of the folk band Bellowhead
Bellowhead
Bellowhead are an English contemporary folk band originally brought together by John Spiers and Jon Boden. The eleven-piece band plays traditional dance tunes, folk songs and shanties, with arrangements drawing inspiration from a wide diversity of musical styles and influences...

.

Spiers and Boden

  • Through & Through
    Through & Through (album)
    Through & Through is the first album by folk duo Spiers and Boden.- Track listing :-Personnel:*Jon Boden *John Spiers ....

    (2001)
  • Bellow
    Bellow (Spiers and Boden album)
    - Track listing :-Personnel:*Jon Boden *John Spiers ....

    (2003)
  • Tunes
    Tunes (Spiers and Boden album)
    - Track listing :-Personnel:*Jon Boden *John Spiers ....

    (2005)
  • Songs
    Songs (Spiers and Boden album)
    Songs is an album by Spiers and Boden. It consists of traditional British folk songs and sea shanties, apart from Innocent When you Dream which was written by Tom Waits for the soundtrack to the film "Franks Wild Years". It was released less than six months after their previous album Tunes . Four...

    (2005)
  • Vagabond (2008)
  • The Works
    The Works (Spiers and Boden album)
    The Works is the sixth album by folk duo Spiers and Boden. It was made to celebrate 10 years working together. It features re-recorded tracks from their previous albums...

    (2011)

Bellowhead

  • E.P.Onymous (2004)
  • Burlesque
    Burlesque (album)
    - Personnel :* Jon Boden - lead vocals , fiddle, tambourine* John Spiers - melodeon, anglo-concertina, backing vocals* Benji Kirkpatrick - guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, banjo, backing vocals* Andy Mellon - trumpet, flugelhorn, backing vocals...

    (2006)
  • Matachin
    Matachin (album)
    Matachin is the second album by Bellowhead, released on 22 September 2008. Its title refers, to 'An old dance with swords, masks and bucklers; a sword dance' that may have influenced the Cotswold Morris dance...

    (2008)
  • Hedonism
    Hedonism (album)
    -Track listing:Bonus track - Personnel :*Jon Boden - lead vocals , fiddle, saw*Benji Kirkpatrick - guitar, bouzouki, mandolin*John Spiers - melodeon, anglo-concertina*Andy Mellon - trumpet*Justin Thurgur - trombone...

    (2010)

Ian Giles, John Spiers, Jon Boden and Graham Metcalfe

  • Sea Shanties
    Sea Shanties (Spiers and Boden album)
    Sea Shanties is an album by Ian Giles, Spiers and Boden and Graham Metcalfe.Most of the tracks are sung as an unaccompanied quartet of male voices. The sound is so thick that there is probably only one microphone. There are two instrumental tracks. This appears to be the first ever recording of the...

    (2002)

Ian Giles, John Spiers, Jon Boden and Giles Lewin

  • Wassail - A Country Christmas (also released as An English Folk Christmas (2003)

External links

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