Archive for 2014

December Radio Play List & Links

Posted by Ange Hardy on December 25th 2014

This Blog will be updated weekly throughout December.

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Christmas delivery

Posted by Ange Hardy on December 20th 2014

Orders placed after 9am on December 20th may not turn up for Christmas day with standard delivery. However if you still want to order within the UK mainland I've just added a new delivery option called "Special Delivery (order before 11am on the 23rd for Christmas Delivery)". You can also order all of my albums from Amazon using Amazon Prime.

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November newsletter

Posted by Ange Hardy on November 29th 2014

November has been a hugely significant month, I’ve worked incredibly hard and played just as hard too and created some of my most significant lifetime memories in the process!

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Folk Show Playlist: A little diary of my favourite shows

Posted by Ange Hardy on November 15th 2014

I wanted a diary of shows that I regularly listen to and thought that as I have put it together, it may be nice to share it with you, so here it is...enjoy :-)

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November Radio Play List & Links

Posted by Ange Hardy on November 6th 2014

This Blog will be updated weekly throughout November.

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An evening at The Houses of Parliament!

Posted by Ange Hardy on November 3rd 2014

I am absolutely thrilled to have been invited by Tamsin Rosewell to join her at The Houses of Parliament next Monday, where the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Folk Arts alongside the EFDSS and TRAC are holding a Transatlantic Showcase hosted by Kevin Brennan and Cerys Matthews.

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Amazon charts!

Posted by Ange Hardy on October 14th 2014

'The Lament of The Black Sheep' made #1 in Amazon's 'Hottest New Folk Releases' chart and found it's way to #6 in their 'Folk Download Chart' putting it in the top 400 in their entire download charts across all genres! wow :-)

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October Radio Airplay and Links

Posted by Ange Hardy on October 4th 2014

The 'BBC Introducing Folk Residential at Halsway Manor. 'The Wood and The Wire' Album of the Week. Radio Warwickshire, an Interview with Tamsin Rosewell. Dublin City FM, my music goes home.

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'The Lament of The Black Sheep' Album Launch.

Posted by Ange Hardy on September 19th 2014

So what have I got to say about the launch of 'The Lament of The Black Sheep'? Well I want to tell you about what came before and after it, because it was less 'an event' and more 'a gathering of souls' which was months in the planning, a whole weekend of merriment bookending the event, which itself lasted just a few short and surreal hours.

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September Radio Play and Links

Posted by Ange Hardy on September 11th 2014

After the madness of launch of the new album I am finally catching up with my radio plays this month, as always, please support these show by listening to them and sharing your thoughts with the presenters who put so much time and effort in to supporting the music world, they love your feedback as much as I do. Thanks again to everyone who has played a track this month of who has listened to the shows.

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Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh FIVE STAR REVIEW IN THE TELEGRAPH ...boom!

Posted by Ange Hardy on August 24th 2014

It's very hard to even begin to put this last month into the words of a blog. It's been one of the most incredible, intense, immense, important, interesting and impractical months of my entire life...

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Recent BBC Radio 2 Folk Show airplay & complete August Radio Airplay list with links

Posted by Ange Hardy on August 14th 2014

It's been another good month for radio play, with The Lament of The Black Sheep getting its first spin on BBC Radio 2 :)

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BBC collaboration weekend at Halsway Manor

Posted by Ange Hardy on August 14th 2014

I have just spent a weekend filming with the BBC at Halsway manor for a BBC One Points West programme and a BBC Introducing project for BBC Radio Bristol and Somerset.

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The Iain Anderson Show ~ ALBUM OF THE WEEK ~ BBC Scotland

Posted by Ange Hardy on July 10th 2014

I am absolutely delighted to tell you that my new album 'The Lament of The Black Sheep' has been 'Album of The Weeek' on Iain Anderson's show on BBC Scotland this week (7-13th July 2014)

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The Wisdom of Standing Still

Posted by Ange Hardy on July 2nd 2014

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Interview with Tim & John on FromeFM

Posted by Ange Hardy on June 30th 2014

I had a lovely time in the FromeFM studio playing a live session for Tim and John. We talk about The album and upcoming gigs, cover some of my story and I play a a mixture of songs from both albums. Apparently... all of Leicestershire was tuned in ;)

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ADHD and Dyslexia... a new part of our journey!

Posted by Ange Hardy on June 22nd 2014

So yesterday we had an official diagnosis letter confirming our daughter (Amy, 11, full of beans, fun, all singing all dancing bundle of joyous and flappy excitement) has severe ADHD and dyslexia. (we are still waiting for a possible diagnosis of ASD). We started her on medication yesterday. So, why am I blogging about this?

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 16 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on May 1st 2014

Wow, what a long day! We managed to finish all of the edits today but only just, we finished the day with a mix of the first song and as we are now out of time, we have just 1 day to mix the 13 remaining tracks...

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 15 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on April 30th 2014

How to make mixing and editing notes on 14 tracks after a ten hour day in the studio...

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 14 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on April 30th 2014

I am at the B&B for the whole week and being away from home is hard but I just want to give a little shout out to my husband....

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 13 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on April 28th 2014

Today saw the start of my final week in the studio. Only 5 days left (five very long days, 10 hour days in fact! Starting at 8am and finishing at 6pm). I had to finish the final vocals tracks for five songs, The Tilling Bird, The Lament of the Black Sheep, The Foolish Heir, The Lost Soul and The Lullaby and managed to almost do four of them which was pretty good going. We now have four days to edit and mix the entire album! Eeeek!

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 12 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on April 15th 2014

I found myself having no choice but to chuckle as I waited in the queue in co-op for my pint of milk on the way to the studio today. A chap in front of me stood with no shirt on alongside his slightly roundish lady friend who was proudly donning a strappy top and a rather sore looking burn line around her neck… yes, the first day of sun has arrived and we are proud to be British! Hehe...

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 11 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on April 10th 2014

Tonight's blog is a little late due to the wine run on the way home and the fact that I've been lost in listening to these tracks on loop from the minute I got through the door, I just can't stop! We have had Lukas in the studio today...

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 10 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on April 9th 2014

Epic day! It was incredible hearing the legend in the making, James Findlay, singing My songs! Amazing! His fiddle playing, bought out little accents in the songs that I didn't even know were there and as for his vocal work...well, just incredible. I can't wait to listen back to what we've done today.

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 9 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on April 8th 2014

I am pooped! I squeezed every little tiny puff of fabulousness out of the lovely Jon Dyer today, the tones coming from his playing are simply breathtaking.

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 8 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on April 7th 2014

Listening to these songs grow into the skin I have crafted for them is like watching a young child walk for the first time and then for them to fall into your lap for a big squeezie cuddle....

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 7 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on April 4th 2014

Curry! I need curry! And wine... yes, definitely wine! Red of course as that is always my celebratory tipple of choice, and today I feel I definitely have good reason to celebrate! I have had Alex in the studio all day and not only did we have a blast...

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 6 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on April 3rd 2014

So today we did lots of little fixes and a very amusing vocal on 'The Woolgatherer' I'm satisfied that I've really captured the heart of the song, unlike my vocal for 'The Cull' which I am afraid I will be needing to re-do. Win some lose some I guess... what I do know it that is has to be right. I will try again next week.

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 5 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on April 2nd 2014

Oops! Look at my (guitar picking) finger! I just had the most lovely warm bath in the hope of warming through the aches in my shoulders after tracking guitar all day and the plug got stuck! I tried to pull it out and it wouldn't budge so I gave it my best tug, at that, the chain hook bent and flung up past my fingers taking chunks of skin with it...

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 4 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on April 1st 2014

I am sat here listening to the first 5 and a half tracks of my new album and I can honestly say: this is better than anything I could have hoped for, we have so far managed to capture these songs exactly how I heard them in my head!

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 3 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on March 31st 2014

With it being Mothering Sunday yesterday I took the opportunity to embrace being a mother and to embrace my mother too. What a lovely day. I was woken with a box of chocolates... (literally, my 2 year old threw them at my face! Bless him!)...

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What's this "pre-ordering" thing all about?

Posted by Ange Hardy on March 29th 2014

We're down to the last few days in which you can pre-order 'The Lament of the Black Sheep'… and a few people have been saying: “Pre-ordering? What's that then?!”

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 2 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on March 28th 2014

Well, today started with a bit of a bump as we flew into a vocal track only to find distortion in the mic caused by dust in the faders so it was nearly an hour before we managed to clear the line and get some vocal tracks down but when we did I surprised even myself with one of the most beautiful vocal performances of my life!

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Recording 'The Lament of the Black Sheep' ~ Day 1 in the studio

Posted by Ange Hardy on March 27th 2014

I walked into beehive studio in Middlezoy armed with a pint of milk, a jar a coffee and my guitar, hugged Olly like it had been a year since I last saw him (which it had) and then proceeded to make coffee and music as if I'd never left.

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Forlorn Land ~ The Story Behind The Song

Posted by Ange Hardy on February 28th 2014

A battle cry for the suffering and injustice of war, and the voicelessness of the individual. Recorded with a ten part harmony.

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You can now pre-order "The Lament of the Black Sheep"

Posted by Ange Hardy on February 22nd 2014

There is now a new website for the new album. The new website has got the album artwork, track listings and lyrics on it... and between today and March 31st you can pre-order your copy of my new album!

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'White As Snow'- The Story Behind The Song

Posted by Ange Hardy on February 17th 2014

A tale inspired by a scene in the film “Another Earth”. This song was written while sitting at my kitchen table during the heavy snowfall of March 2013...

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My Old Man - The Story Behind the Song

Posted by Ange Hardy on February 10th 2014

'My Old Man' draws from my personal relationship with my father who left my family when I was 5 years old. It started with me humming the chorus in my car. I often find myself writing when I'm alone in the car, frustratingly it is very difficult to harness what I write when I've hands on the wheel and eyes on the road...

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My Contribution to Radio 2's Cecil Sharp Collection - 'Claudy Banks'

Posted by Ange Hardy on February 3rd 2014

Radio 2's Mark Radcliffe has launched a campaign to collect 21st century recordings of Cecil Sharps work in order to compile a collection of 3 traditional songs, The Seeds Of Love, Claudy Banks and Barbara Allen . My contribution was my version of 'Claudy Banks' which I learnt and then recorded on garageband in my kitchen in just one evening

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'Mother Willow Tree' - The Story Behind The Song

Posted by Ange Hardy on January 31st 2014

I wrote 'Mother Willow Tree' specifically for 'Bare Foot Folk'. It was the second to last song I wrote for the album (the final song written was 'Young Martha's Well'). It was hugely inspired by three sources...

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The lovely Mike Harding says the nicest of things!

Posted by Ange Hardy on January 30th 2014

It'll be interesting to see when Ange does another album whether she carry's on writing stuff which is very very rootsy and very very folky, I do like her stuff...

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Crafty Father John, the comic behind the song...

Posted by Ange Hardy on January 28th 2014

I have finally managed to find the comic I saw on Facebook which lead to me writing the song 'Craft Father John"

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Fatea Magazine's "Female Vocalist of the Year 2013"

Posted by Ange Hardy on January 9th 2014

I was delighted to have been nominated for Fatea Magazine's "Female Vocalist of the Year 2013"... and I was absolutely blown away by winning the award during last night's live broadcast! :)

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Warwick Folk Festival 2014

Posted by Ange Hardy on January 1st 2014

I've been shortlisted to open the main stage at Warwick Folk Festival on the Saturday night this year and I need your votes! You can vote EVERY DAY in January... please do!

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