Something a little different for today’s review. A little known fact about me is that I have a soft spot for folk music. I have been to a fair few folk festivals and it’s the only genre of music that every member of my family agree on! One of my all time favourite albums is by a modern folk band called More Like Trees, I also follow a classic folk duo called The Drystones and finally, have loved The Young ‘Uns since the summer of 2014 when I saw them at Priddy Folk Festival.
The Young ‘Uns are a trip of guys from Stockton-on-Tees who have crafted their style, humor and talent for over 10 years. Since then they have won best group at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2015 and 2016 and released four incredible albums, their latest being Strangers of which they are touring now.
Their secret to their success, I think, is their ability to find and tell such incredible stories about unique and inspiring individuals. As a journalist I am extremely jealous of this talent. From women who foster hundreds of kids and turn down and an MBE in exchange for pillows and bedsheets to men who fought in civil war and drove a bus full of beans and rice. Each song has its own focus and they do each one such justice by honouring their story in such a beautiful way.
Their rich voices naturally harmonise with ease, their textured layers are full of soul and you feel as if you could melt into the song. Their three voices weaved together to form a deep yet soothing sound. They were accompanied by a piano, guitar and accordion but utilised their voices as instruments as much as they could, especially as Sean was rather under the weather and was clearly struggling to sing nearer the end of the encore.
In contrast to their meaningful lyrics during chant like songs they also have a very large funny bone, particularly David who had the audience in tears every time he opened his mouth, and genuinely needs his own stand up show. Their most well know is called A Lovely Cup of Tea which speaks of nations bonding over a cup of tea and a biscuit despite race religion and war. We were treated to two newer comedy numbers. One of which was about the national express written by The Divine Comedy and the other about George Fornby discovering windows. If you haven’t listened to any of these three, I URGE you to do so.
I will also give a little shout out to the support group called The Hut People. All the way from Hull the dorky pair experimented with French Canadian foot percussion and interesting instruments which resembled a bin lid covered in chopsticks but created an eerie atmosphere to back their freakishly fast accordion playing.
I spent the entire evening smiling for a multitude of reasons for The Young ‘Uns will always have a special place in my heart. Bravo, my friends!
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