“Excellent songs performed to a high standard… magnificent instrumental playing.”
The Living Tradition
Brian Peters is one of the English folk scene’s great all-rounders, a compelling singer and an outstanding multi-instrumentalist on squeezeboxes and strings. Brian is one of the country’s best anglo-concertina players, is just as good on melodeon, and plays guitar to a high standard, recently adding banjo to his act. Well known for towering renditions of Child Ballads and other songs from the English tradition, Brian adds beautifully-played squeezebox instrumentals to a repertoire full of variety, fire and humour. He also has a deep knowledge of the history behind the old songs.
Brian has played most of the major folk festivals in Britain, and works all over the world, including regular tours of the USA and several appearances at the Australian National Folk Festival. Brian is also in great demand as an instrumental teacher and workshop leader, has recorded several highly-acclaimed CDs, and devised concept performances of Child Ballads and Appalachian-English songs. He’s worked with singers and musicians including Sara Grey, Jeff Davis (USA), Bella Hardy, Lucy Ward, Jackie Oates and James Findlay, and is currently performing ‘The Road to Peterloo’ with Pete Coe and Laura Smyth.
Past gigs (highlights)
ENGLAND
Festivals
Sidmouth; Whitby; Broadstairs; Hartlepool; Music on the Marr; Chippenham; Tenterden; Warwick; Chester; Shrewsbury; Fylde; Cheltenham; Folk East; Bromyard; Brampton; Gate to Southwell; Shepley; The National.
Workshops and teaching
Halsway Manor, Somerset (Co-ordinator and lead tutor: ‘From Albion to Appalachia’, ‘Singing the Folk Tradition’; Tutor: ‘Ballads, Broadsides and Bawling Hawkers’)
Concertinas at Witney; Melodeons at Witney
East Anglian Traditional Music Trust; West Country Concertinas; Swaledale Squeeze-in
Folkworks; Baring-Gould Song School; Cecil Sharp House, London
Squeezing Shropshire; Lewes Arms Workshops
Too many folk clubs to list!
SCOTLAND
Celtic Connections, Glasgow; Edinburgh Folk Festival Edinburgh, Carrying Stream Festival; Girvan Folk Festival; Edinburgh Folk Club; Glasgow, Star Folk Club; Irvine Folk Club; Penicuik Folk Club; Stonehaven Folk Club… and many more
USA
Festivals
Old Songs Festival, NY (5 appearances); Champlain Valley Folk Festival, VT;
Mystic Seaport Maritime Festival; Summerfest, New Bedford, MA; Fox Valley Folk Festival, Chicago, IL
Summer Schools and Workshops
Augusta Heritage Center, Elkins, WV – Vocal Week
The Swannanoa Gathering, Asheville, NC – Traditional Song Week
Pinewoods Camp, MA – TradMad Week, Folk Song Week
The Button Box, Greenfield, MA; Elderly Instruments, Lansing, MI; Dusty Strings, Seattle, WA.
Concerts
The Library of Congress, Washington DC
Folksong Society of Greater Boston; Folksong Society of Greater Washington
New York Pinewoods Folksong Society, NYC; Branford Folk Music Society, CT
Cornell University Folk Song Society, NY; Valley Folk Music Society, Corning, NY
Blackstone River Theater, RI; Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, NY
Princeton Folk Song Society, NJ; The Fiddle and Bow, Winston Salem, NC
The Ten Pound Fiddle, Lansing, MI; Folk Arts Association, Grand Rapids, MI
Little Rock Folk Club, AR; Folkal Point, St. Louis, MO
Seattle Folk Song Society, WA; Living Tradition, Anaheim, Los Angeles, CA
Fiddling Cricket, San Jose, CA; Berkeley Folk Concerts, CA
CANADA
Festivals
Carrefour Mondial de L’Accordeon, Montmagny, Quebec; Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival, NS
Goderich Celtic Festival, ON; Mill Race Folk Festival, ON; The Woods Camp, ON
AUSTRALIA
The National Folk Festival, Canberra (4 appearances)
Maleny Folk Festival (now Woodbridge); Port Fairy Folk Festival;
Jamberoo Valley Festival; Loaded Dog Folk Club, Sydney
NEW ZEALAND
Auckland Folk Festival; The Bunker Folk Club, Devonport; Whangerei Folk Club: Nelson Folk Club
NETHERLANDS
Trek Es ar Uut, Nijmegen; Muziek Zonder Grenzen, Schiermonnikoog;
Drachten Trekharmonika Festival; Utrecht, Pothuis; Zandaam, Folk Club; Sevenaar, Folk Club