Biography
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Members
- Jonny Kearney
Jonny Kearney & Lucy Farrell was an English contemporary folk duo comprising Jonny Kearney (lead vocals, guitar, piano and ukulele) and Lucy Farrell (fiddle, viola, musical saw, and harmony vocals). Although labelled as an English contemporary folk, they mixed some traditional songs with their own original compositions influenced by the folk tradition and with songs by other artists such as Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Cole Porter, Brian Wilson and The Beatles.
Kearney (from Hexham in Northumberland) and Farrell (from Maidstone in Kent) met whilst studying on Newcastle University's Folk and Traditional Music course in 2005, where Kearney was awarded the Alan Hull prize for songwriting. Having gigged at folk clubs and festivals, including Green Man, End of the Road and Cambridge Folk Festival, they came to the attention of fellow North East England folk musicians The Unthanks and Adrian McNally from The Unthanks produced The North Farm Sessions - their debut six-song EP, comprising largely their own compositions - which was met with effusive reviews from The Guardian, Uncut, Q Magazine and MTV. Tracks from the EP were featured on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3 and BBC 6 Music with a Campfire Special session recorded for Rob da Bank’s Radio 1 show in October 2010. Support slots on tours by The Unthanks and Bellowhead followed in 2009/10 with more favourable reviews.
Kite, their first full-length album, was also recorded at North Farm and released on 10 October 2011. The intimacy of the duo’s sound is still at the heart of the record, but is fleshed out at times by Adrian McNally (The Unthanks) on piano, Dean Ravera on double bass, Chris Hibbard on trombone, Paul Ruddick on saxophone and clarinet and Peter Tickell (Peatbog Fairies, Sting, Kathryn Tickell Band) on fiddle.
As musicians, they have contributed to a range of other people’s work, including Farrell’s viola and vocals on Emily Portman’s album The Glamoury. Kearney played the piano on the Unthanks' autumn 2011 tour and live album of Robert Wyatt and Antony Hegarty songs.
The duo was nominated for the Horizon award, for 'best emerging artist', at the 2011 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards' and 'Best Duo' at the 2012 edition of the awards.
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