Videos

Steve Folk – That Sleigh

• 13th Dec 2012

Steve Folk was raised in a small town called Littlehampton on the South Coast of England, at 18 years old he ventured into London to study for a degree in Fine Arts, once college life had finished, he embarked on a career in Painting, Sculpture and Performance Art. He was inspired by an Artist friend to take to music, specifically the art of songwriting.

Steve invested time and money into recording two tracks with producer Ian Shaw at Warmfuzz studios, he sent the demo to a few appropriate labels and Hobgoblin Records expressed interest in signing him for an album deal, shortly after a deal was struck and his debut album “My Dancing Heart” was released in 2009; it received great reviews in many folk publications and he secured a number of festival dates including support for Seth Lakeman, Show of Hands and The Demon Barber Roadshow at Crawley Folk Festival, Wadebridge Festival and Sidmouth Folk Festival respectively, he became a regular guest on a number of regional BBC Radio shows including with Janice Long, Sue Marchant and Sam Walker. Songs from the album were played on BBC6, BBC Wales and many BBC regional shows as well as many community radio stations.

In 2010 he recorded “Me and The Metronome” also on the Hobgoblin label which also received great reviews; a highlight being a review in UNCUT and a 2 page feature spread in Acoustic Magazine as well as continued radio play.

It was later that year when Steven recorded the single “Christmas Time in London Time” using his modest home studio on his 45ft Narrowboat, he decided to self-release the song as a digital download, including a homemade video that clocked 15,000 views in the space of 4 days, the song also had repeated plays on BBC6 with Chris Hawkins championing the song; it was clear that home-recording was a viable direction and he began to record new songs in the comfort of his home studio.

He then met with producer Ian Faragher who wanted to help with production on the songs; a great partnership formed between them and combining Steve’s home recordings with the skills and dedication of his new producer, the album “Ramble” was born. Ramble was Steve’s first solo release and has also received great reviews and radio play including BBC6 Tom Robinson and many other regional shows.

Now Steve releases his first FREE Xmas single “That Sleigh”.

Steve has played live shows all over London including Bush Hall (Bethnal Green), The Spice of Life (Leicester Square), The Troubadour (Earls Court), Upstairs at the Ritzy (Brixton), The Bedford (Balham), The Montague Arms (New Cross), The Fox and Firkin (Lewisham), The Southbank, Shunt Lounge (London Bridge Vaults), The Green Dragon (Croydon), Olivers Jazz Bar (Greenwich), The Slaughtered Lamb, (Farringdon) The Gallery Cafe (Bethnal Green), Folke Newington (Stokey Records Bar), The Others (Stoke Newington), BBC Radio 6 Gig at Catch (Shoreditch), The Hideaway (Archway), Proud Galleries (Camden), Catweazle Club @ Paradise Bar (Kensal Green) and many others; he has played these festivals Farm Festival, Sellindge Festival, Sidmouth Folk Festival, Wadebridge Folk Festival, Crawley Folk Festival Two Rivers Folk Festival, Bath Folk Festival, The London Vegan Festival, Bladnoch Folk and Blues Festival and The Festival of Life.

Last year he worked with Oxjam and became a firm favourite with the Stoke Newington Oxjam team; playing gigs in living rooms across London and helping to raise money for Oxfam, Steve also runs his own monthly night Folk Modern and has just secured venues of Upstairs at The Ritzy and the Hackney Attic.