(01.22.2025)
When I received my tickets to see The Furrow Collective and Salt House on Wednesday night, I was ecstatic! The two bands were performing as a part of Celtic Connections, a folk, roots, and world music festival held in Glasgow each January. One of my favorite genres is folk and I’m always looking to discover new artists, so I was very excited to see this performance. The two groups did not disappoint!
The concert began with Salt House, a Scottish/English trio made up of Ewan McPherson (vocals, guitar), Jenny Sturgeon (vocals, keyboard, guitar), and Anna Hughes (vocals, guitar, fiddle, viola, and harmonium). The group is heavily influenced by nature, as each member is from different parts of the British countryside. Most of the songs that they performed were originals, with the occasional covers of old folk songs.
Then came The Furrow Collective, a unique four-piece band from England and Scotland. The group consists of Lucy Farrell (vocals, viola, saw), Rachel Newton (vocals, harp, fiddle), Emily Portman (vocals, concertina, banjo), and Alasdair Roberts (vocals, guitar, jaw harp). They took a lot of inspiration from traditional folk music, covering several old Scottish ballads. Each musician was a multi-instrumentalist, which kept things interesting (you never knew what they’d be playing next).
After performing a few songs with their own respective groups, the two bands joined together to play the rest of their set. I was surprised to learn that they had only practiced as a whole group once before this show. They seemed so in tune with each other and their styles fit together very naturally! My favorite aspects were the vocal harmonies and appearances of unexpected instruments (e.g. the jaw harp and saw)! To get a better feel for what the music was like, here’s a song that I liked by Salt House! Written by band member Anna Hughes, it was initially inspired by birdsong (further displaying the group’s love for nature).
The festival, Celtic Connections, is very interesting as each show is held in a random venue across the city. They are located anywhere from concert halls to churches to the Old Fruit Market (a historic market-turned-concert venue). This performance was in the Mackintosh Church. Designed in the 1890’s by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, it is the only church ever created by the famous Glaswegian architect. It served as a parish for about 100 years, before being closed and reopened as a museum and concert venue in the late 1990’s. You can find more info on the history of the building on the official Mackintosh Church website (https://mackintoshchurch.com/history/).
Listen to the Furrow Collective on Spotify —https://open.spotify.com/artist/021DnAkhugUCMBCsmciPVK?si=moA9IWnnSheBe-L_G1hjWQ
About Salt House — https://www.salthousemusic.com/the-band
Listen to Salt House on Spotify —https://open.spotify.com/artist/3AJVVwaQSwSwVkkmSXYIm9?si=S3_7Zm0oRO-VKHesGMWOpg
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