THREE leading names from the English folk scene are to showcase songs inspired by Lancashire cotton workers.
Faustus featuring Paul Sartin, Benji Kirkpatrick and Saul Rose will bring their Cotton Lords tour to Helmshore Textile Museum on Wednesday.
For the last few months Faustus have been sifting through publications and journals of the 19th Century Lancashire Cotton Famine period, as part of a project based at the University of Exeter to archive, preserve, and rehabilitate the poetry of this distressing chapter of working-class history.
They have set some of the texts to new music and at the beginning of the month released the Cotton Lords EP.
Rooted deeply in the English folk tradition, in Faustus 2007 received a 75th Anniversary Award from the English Folk Dance and Song Society and were nominated in 2009 for a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award.
Both Benji and Paul have been part of Bellowhead and Saul has played with Waterson:Carthy and Whapweasel. The trio formed the core band in The Transports, 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.
Faustus, Helmshore Textile Museum, Wednesday, February 13. Details from www.eventbrite.co.uk or 01706 226459
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