Kitchen Garden Cafe to host acclaimed performers.
Two of the most highly-regarded folk/roots musicians in Britain will be appearing at the Kitchen Garden Cafe in Kings Heath on 9th May.
Naomi Bedford is an English singer/Ssngwriter who first came to prominence as vocalist and co-writer of the 2001 Orbital hit Funny Break and appearances on Jools Holland’s Later programme.
In recent years she has focused on a series of folk and country albums in collaboration with Paul Simmonds, drawing plaudits from the Independent’s Andy Gill and the Guardian’s Robin Denselow. Her albums have featured in Mojo’s top 10 and the Guardian’s top 5 of 2013 and have received Arts Council backing. She has appeared at Glastonbury,the Cambridge Folk Festival and Celtic Connections amongst others and has been invited to perform at Cecil Sharp House. In 2014 she was jointly nominated for a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award in the Best Original Song Category.
Paul Simmonds has been the songwriter and mandolin/guitarist with English folk rock institution The Men They Couldn’t Hang since 1984. He has recorded over 15 albums on major labels, toured the world twice and appeared at most major festivals including supports to David Bowie, Van Morrison and The Pogues.
His songs have featured in documentaries, TV shows, adverts, trails and also in academic courses and dissertations while his recent collaboration with Naomi has drawn wide praise. Their 2017 third album Songs My Ruiner Gave To Me featured in th Guardian, the Independent, Mojo, R2 and No Depression. This year will see the duo releasing Singing It All Back Home, an album of Appalachian ballads. The project, inspired by meetings with Shirley Collins, is produced by and features Folk Award winner Ben Walker.
