Cotton Lords - Five Songs Of The Lancashire Cotton Famine

Description

'Ridiculously great band.' Tom Robinson BBC 6 Music
'One of Britain's outstanding folk bands.' **** The Guardian

Nominated in the 2009 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Faustus are three of the leading lights of their generation: Benji Kirkpatrick (Seth Lakeman Band, Bellowhead), Saul Rose (Waterson:Carthy, Whapweazel) and Paul Sartin (Bellowhead, Belshazzar's Feast). Rooted deeply in the English tradition, in 2007 they received a 75th Anniversary Award from the English Folk Dance and Song Society.

During 2016 the band were Artists in Residence at Halsway Manor, National Centre for the Folk Arts, in the Quantock Hills of Somerset, where they had unlimited access to the Manor's extensive library, and where 'Death and Other Animals' was recorded. Four songs unique to Halsway's little-known Ruth Tongue archive, lyrics by Bill Caddick and Olivia McCannon, a Chartist poem, and the band's own indomitable settings of traditional texts comprise 'Death and Other Animals' . . . 'the best thing they've done' (Froots). 'Death and Other Animals' received the 2017 German Critics Award (Schallplattenkritik Bestenliste) in the Folk/Singer-Songwriter/World Music category. They are also nominated for the 'Iron Eversteiner' the only European Folkmusic-award. - Benji, Paul and Saul formed the core band in The Transports (Guardian *****), the revival and reworking of Peter Bellamy's ballad opera which proved a sensation in 2017-18 and played to full houses across the country.

In 2018 Faustus continued the research in the Archives and came up with previously hardly known documents which they publish now as songs with their own compositions. The 'Lancashire Cotton Famine' is a part of the history of the British working class that still needs to be discovered – and it affected other countries as well – Globalisation in the 19th century.
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Benji Kirkpatrick was a key member of the recently disbanded folk big band and BBC Award winners Bellowhead. He spent three years in the Seth Lakeman Band having featured on Seth's successful releases 'Kitty Jay' and 'Freedom Fields'. He has also released four solo albums, the latest 'Hendrix Songs', saw him strip back the songs of his hero and set them in a new, acoustic light. In summer 2016, as part of the Shakespeare 400 celebrations, Benji was involved in 'The Fairy Portal Camp' at the RSC in Stratford upon Avon. Musicians, actors and dancers collaborated to produce new works every day for a week, working up to a final performance which opened 'the fairy portal'… Benji has also worked with numerous other artists including Oysterband, John Jones, Maddy Prior (Steeleye Span), Thea Gilmore and Joan as Police Woman

Saul Rose was a long time member of Waterson:Carthy, winning two BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards with 'Broken Ground' and forming a duo with Eliza Carthy. The double album 'Red Rice', of which Saul was an integral part of the 'Rice' half, was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 1998. More recently Saul has joined Whapweasel, played in Ruth Notman's band, and formed a duo with James Delarre (Mawkin). He is a founder member of new folk big band Eliza Carthy and The Wayward band. He has played on numerous albums as a guest, including Jackie Oates' album 'Hyperboreans', Norma Waterson and Eliza Carthy's album 'The Gift' and the soundtrack for the films 'Morris- A Life With Bells On' and 'Far From The Madding Crowd'. He was nominated for the Musician of The Year award in the 2010 BBC Folk Awards and during 2011 took the part of Songman in the West End play War Horse.

Paul Sartin: A member of Bellowhead, as well as BBC Folk Award-nominated duo Belshazzar's Feast, Paul is Director of the Andover Museum Loft Singers. Following the 'Bellowhead Songbook', his latest publication is 'Community Choirs Folk' for Faber Music. Recent broadcast appearances include BBC Radio 2's 'Clare Balding Show' and BBC Radio 3's 'In Tune' and 'The Choir'. Having received a BASCA nomination for 'The Hartlepool Monkey' with Streetwise Opera, he has been commissioned to write music for Central School of Speech and Drama; Broadstairs Folk Week; Sidmouth Folk Festival and the Southbank; Somerville College, Oxford; and BBC Radio 4's 'Playing the Skyline'.
Faustus came together in 2006 as an evolution of the award winning band Dr. Faustus. They made an eponymous debut album in 2008, produced by Stu Hanna and released by Navigator Records, which gained them a nomination for Best Group in the 2009 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Touring saw them headlining at festivals, as well as playing sell-out concerts at arts centers and clubs. After a two year break they returned in 2011 and released the new album Broken Down Gentlemen (Navigator Records) in spring 2013.