Hi!

BBC Radio 2 is having a Pete Seeger night tonight, and I recorded his song 'Arrange and Rearrange' for The Mike Harding Show.  It's a brilliant fun and uplifting song, and I had a great day recording it with Sandy Wright playing the guitar

Sandy is an amazing singer songwriter and guitarist, with a new album 'The Songs of Sandy Wright' due out next February... www.myspace.com/sandywrightmusic.

I'll upload the song onto my myspace page right now, it'll be played on The Mike Harding Show tonight (7-8pm, BBC Radio 2), and you'll be able to listen again at BBC online.

That's all for now, lots of festive spirit to everyone!

Bella*

Hello!

Well I'm back from Japan. I arrived home late on Monday night, and having discovered that I find long haul flights too exciting to sleep, I've been zombified ever since.

What an amazing country. And such lovely people! I was there for 6 nights, and did 4 gigs supporting LAU, 1 in Nagoya and 3 in Tokyo. The audiences listen really intently which made singing a pleasure, and they're all so keen to make you feel welcome.

I did the tourist thing pretty well too. I went to Meiji Jingu (the shrine to Emperor Meiji), Tsukiji Market, which is the huge fish market in Tokyo and a scary place at 7am, and I spent a lot of time wandering around Shibuya, Tokyo's answer for Oxford Street, but a ton of streets, 100 times as big, with 1000 times more people. Ok, so the size might be an exaggeration but I'm fairly sure the number of people isn't!

I'll not go on, except to say that the politeness of the people is extraordinary and inspiring, and the food completely incredible. As soon as myspace lets me, (it's being a nightmare right now!) I'll upload a little photo diary, but until then there's a couple of links you can check out...

Here's some photo's of a gig by our friend Tagg (the link needs to be copied and pasted into your address bar):
http://tadd.txt-nifty.com/blog/2009/10/photos-from-lau.html

And here's a short video of an exhausted me leaving and saying goodbye to Japan on the website of the wonderful promoter Yoko (The Music Plant):
http://musicplant.exblog.jp/12244137/

I'm feeling overwhelmed and very lucky. And would like to thank Yoko and Lau for making the experience possible.

Right then, back to snoozing for me. However much I enjoy travelling, there's nothing like coming back to a place where the temperature feels right for November, the sky's turned a steely colour, and there's explosions of copper orange everywhere. Lovely lovely lovely.

Bella*

R2 Magazine (Rock’n’Reel)

Bella Hardy – In The Shadow of Mountains

* * * * * (5 stars)

To say that a record is a big step forward from it’s predecessor often sounds like a back-handed compliment: “So the last one wasn’t that good, eh?” Bella’s debut album Night Visiting was excellent, but In The Shadow of Mountains is stunning.

Bella’s writing and her performances exude confidence although she isn’t going to shake of the ‘doom and gloom’ tag yet. Even the instrumental ‘Broadlee Bank’ is miserable and ‘Rosebud in June’ has an unexpectedly hard edge. The opening song, ‘Mary Mean’, reminds me of another fiddle/singer-songwriter with a taste for the dark, Carolanne Pegg. ‘We all have our secrets/you’re not going to hell love’ is a refrain that still poses questions as the track ends. In contrast, ‘Smoke & Ashes’ is a rather more prosaic piece about the effects of Foot and Mouth disease, reminding us of Bella’s Derbyshire roots. Two more original songs, ‘Sylvie Sovay’ and ‘The Trawlerman’s Wife’ offer more insights on marriage than someone of Bella’s tender years should possess.

The core band – Debbie Chalmers, Corrina Hewat, Chris Sherburn and Anna Massie – do an excellent job, powerful but tightly controlled, and the production is a model of clarity.

Dai Jeffries.

That's all for now. Hope you've all had a great Summer. A highlight for me was Cambridge Folk Festival.... you can check out pictures of that at
www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/cambridgefolkfestival/2009/photos/best-of-sunday/.

Best wishes,
Bella*

Bella has just announced the title of her eagerly awaited second album...

In The Shadow of Mountains will be released on Noe Records this summer.

This new collection of songs sees Bella building on her song writing success (Three Black Feathers from Bella's debut album Night Visiting was nominated for Best Original Song in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2008, and has since been covered be Jim Moray) with a brooding mix of traditional and self-penned numbers.

Recording takes place in February, and Bella will once again be joined by a selection of special guests, including the harpist of the Unusual Suspects Corrina Hewat, and concertina maestro Chris Sherburn, with whom Bella toured extensively in 2008.

Iain Hazelwood of the folk news website Spiral Earth visited Bella in Edale just before Christmas. They chatted about the success of 2008, and the album planned for 2009 in a video interview which can be seen at www.spiralearth.com.

 

Late Junction Special!

night visiting will be a feature on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction with tracks from the album being played between Tuesday 6^th and Friday 9^th November!  Listen in to Verity Sharp and Fiona Talkington from 11.15pm-1am on 90 – 93 FM.

Emerging Music

Great news from the Bella Hardy camp!  After a trip down to see Ken and Sue

Bradburn in Devon last week, Bella is now represented by their agency Emerging Music!  Ken and Sue are the agents behind many fantastic acts such as Nancy Kerr & James Fagan, Cathy Ryan, Niamh Parsons, and the wonderful Kristina Olson (writer/composer of Heart Hill).  See www.emergingmusic.co.uk.

Reviews
Night visiting has just received a great review from Colin Irwin in fRoots magazine. Read it online at
www.frootsmag.com/content/issue/reviews/.

There's been loads of write-ups coming in, check them out in the reviews section. Keep checking back for updates!

Heard It on the Radio
Those of you with an ear to the radio will have heard Bella played repeatedly on Mike Harding's Radio 2 show, which is every Wednesday from 7-8pm.

Bella's also been played on Radio Wales' Celtic Heartbeat, the fRoots Radio playlist, the Thistle and Shamrock Thistlepod & BBC Radio Derby, with appearances soon to come on Folk Radio UK! Find your way to some of these stations through links.

Supporting Last Night's Fun
Bella's been having a fantastic time doing support for folk boy band extraordinaires 'Last Night's Fun'. She's even had special guest Chris Sherburn helping her out on stage with Young Edmund. There's still time to catch the band with support from Bella, with another three dates coming up in December. Check the gigs page for details.

Album Launch
The night visiting launch party was held on September 27th at Northern Stage in Newcastle, and what a night it was. The basement stage 3 bar was packed with people, and Bella performed tracks from the album with special guests Chris Sherburn, Hazel Askew, Debbie Chalmers, Ian Stephenson and Emma Hardy, while much bubbly was had by all! See pictures of the event in the gallery.

Proper on Board
Night visiting will soon be available in all good record stores… Proper Distribution will soon be looking after all Bella's CD distribution, with a new general release date of 22/10! Look out for the album on a high street near you!

bellahardy.com now launched