A Day Will Come - Will Pound

Acclaimed harmonica and melodeon player Will Pound is embarking on a musical journey across the states of the European Union, to discover and unveil the diversity and common ground of their traditional music and song.

From the lively Swedish polska to the upbeat Italian tarantella, the lilt of the Irish jig, to buoyant French bourées, relentless rachenistas from Bulgaria and the rip-roaring Spanish jota – these tunes have travelled, evolved and merged as Europeans have enjoyed freedom of movement and expression, a shining example of the strength and joy in unity.

Together with Polish poet, Bohdan Piasecki, and a live band featuring Jenn Butterworth (Songs of Separation, Kinnaris Quintet), multi-instrumentalist Jude Rees (Jim Moray, RSC, Pilgrims Way), bass player and beatboxer John Parker (Nizlopi) and fiddle player Patsy Reid (Breabach), join Will and be uplifted by the joyous sounds of the traditions of a continent and hear the stories and hopes of those affected by the politics of division.

An accompanying album featuring this new ensemble, alongside a host of guest musicians, was released in May 2020 to great critical acclaim.

“The harmonica superstar presents a dizzying set using the folk traditions of all 27 members of the EU. Wildly celebratory, it barely pauses for breath” – MOJO (Top 10 albums of 2020)

“One of the most poignant and pivotal releases of 2020”- Folk Radio co.uk

“An uplifting celebration of the fruits of the free movement of European instrumental music by the British harmonica player – Swedish polska, Bulgarian rachenista and Irish jigs never let up the pace” – The Guardian

A Day Will Come: The Album

Released in May 2020, Will Pound’s A Day Will Come features a traditional tune or song from or inspired by the traditional music of the 27 states of the European Union. These are tunes that have travelled and evolved, mixed and merged – played with joy, a love of tradition and a sense of adventure.

The album features Will’s touring band Jenn Butterworth, Jude Rees, Patsy Reid and John Parker, alongside poet Bodhan Piasecki, special guests Dame Evelyn Glennie, Liz Carroll, Gudrun Walther, Dunja Bahtijarević, Stream of Sound and Caroline Price, and three solo tracks.

Band

Will Pound

Will Pound

Harmonica, Melodeon

Three-times Nominated BBC Radio 2 ‘Folk Musician of the Year’

Spiral Earth Magazine ‘Musician of the Year’ 2015

FATEA Magazine ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ 2011, 2014

A flat out genius harmonica player Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2

One of the most outstanding instrumentalists in the country today BBC Radio Scotland
Bohdan Piasecki

WEBSITE

Bohdan Piasecki

Spoken word

Bohdan Piasecki is a poet from Poland based in Birmingham. A committed performer, he has taken his poems from the upstairs room in an Eastbourne pub to the main stage of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from underground Tokyo clubs to tramways in Paris, from a bookshop in Beijing to an airfield in Germany, from niche podcasts to BBC Radio. In the UK, he regularly features at the country’s most exciting spoken word nights, festivals, and readings. He enjoys the creative chaos of big field festivals just as much as the composed concentration of literary events.

Bohdan founded the first poetry slam in Poland before moving to the UK to get a doctorate in translation studies. He has worked as Director of Education on the Spoken Word in Education MA course at Goldsmiths University, and was the Midlands Producer for Apples and Snakes between 2010 and 2017. Since 2012, he has been a regular Visiting Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham. He currently holds the post of General Manager at Free Radical, a Birmingham-based company creating opportunities for young artists with an activist practice.

Bohdan is able to make his audience laugh and cry within a few minutes Jenna Clake, UoBlogFest

…an authentically delivered set of pieces inspired by memories of childhood, family roots and social change in his motherland. Bohdan goes down a storm in his own right. Rina Vergano, Bristol 24/7
Jude Rees

WEBSITE

Jude Rees

Oboe, English border bagpipes, Soprano saxophone

Jude Rees is a dynamic genre-defying oboist and woodwind specialist with extensive experience in classical, folk, contemporary, commercial and early music. As a freelance multi-instrumentalist and sought-after session musician, Jude has worked with some of the luminaries of the British folk scene and has guested on numerous albums and live tours. She currently plays and sings regularly with Folk Award nominated Pilgrims’ Way and with Renaissance Consort Piva. Jude has played for theatre, radio and television including the BBC, Netflix and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Jenn Butterworth

WEBSITE

Jenn Butterworth

Guitar

“Butterworth’s style is what makes her one of the most in-demand musicians in Scotland. There are few guitarists in this country able to so intricately guide a set with melody and rhythm.” — The National Newspaper

Jenn Butterworth is one of the most notable folk guitarists in the UK acoustic music scene and nominated for Musician of the Year at the 2019 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. An excellent collaborator, she has been a key member of a range of high profile folk music projects, including Ross Ainslie and Ali Hutton’s SYMBIOSIS Big Band, Scots Trad Music Award / BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominated Kinnaris Quintet, three Celtic Connections New Voices, four years on the BBC Hogmanay Live show as a member of the All Star House Band and recently a member of folk supergroup ‘Songs of Separation’ involving an array of prominent folk artists including Eliza Carthy, Lady Maisery and Karine Polwart. The Songs of Separation album, conceived, arranged and recorded in just 7 days, won the title of ‘Best Album’ at the Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2017.

Based in Glasgow, Scotland, she is a lynchpin of the vibrant and thriving Scottish folk scene, performing regularly with a wide range of artists including her own projects ‘Jenn Butterworth & Laura-Beth Salter’, ‘Kinnaris Quintet’ and experimental folk-jam group ‘The Blas Collective’.
Patsy Reid

WEBSITE

Patsy Reid

Fiddle

Patsy Reid is a Scottish musician, composer and educator from Perthshire.

Since stepping back from super-folk-group, Breabach in 2011, Patsy has been in constant demand as a session player and arranger, playing and recording with the who’s who of the folk and roots scene such as Mark Knopfler, Julie Fowlis, Will Pound, Gretchen Peters, Donald Shaw, Kathryn Tickell, Duncan Chisholm, Tim Edey and Flook, to name a few.

Patsy graduated from Strathclyde University in 2004 with a 1st class Honours Degree in Applied Music. Continuing her studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, she gained a Post Graduate Certificate of Education with Specialist String Teaching as well as a Post Graduate Diploma in Classical Violin Performance.

This essentially-bilingual upbringing in music gives Patsy a unique sound and style and according to Lau’s Aidan O’Rourke, “She has an accuracy and tone that many fiddlers only dream of.”
John Parker

John Parker

Double bass, Beatbox

John Parker (JP) is one of the busiest double bassists on the scene, he started out with his own duo Nizlopi and having a number one single (JCB Song) which became a worldwide hit in 2005, he has toured the world and lived the dream as you might say. Now John is a very much in demand session double bassist having played with Ed Sheeran, Newton Faulkner, Kate Rusby, Ninebarrow and Barry Adamson to name but a few, often in the studio but more often in the car, such is the way of being a successful session player. John has his own duo Ward & Parker and loves nothing more than practicing and going for very long runs.

LIVE

No shows booked at the moment.