Smoke Fairies

Smoke Fairies is a British blues and folk musical duo formed by Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies.

Contents

History

Blamire and Davies met at school in Sussex during the late 1990s. In 2002 they spent a year in New Orleans where they absorbed American blues music[1] and when they returned to England they discovered British folk music at the Sidmouth Folk Week Festival while working as car park attendants.[2] They later settled in Vancouver, Canada, for a year before returning to London to start performing.[3]

In 2007 Smoke Fairies headed on a UK tour in support of Bryan Ferry and released their debut single ‘Living With Ghosts’ the following year on Music For Heroes.[4] Richard Hawley was an early supporter of the act stating they were “frankly the best thing (he’d) heard in years".[5] They supported Hawley on his True Love’s Gutter UK tour in October 2009.[6]

In December 2009 Smoke Fairies became the first UK act to release a single on Jack White’s label Third Man Records.[7] The single was produced by Jack White and featured him on guitar and drums.

Smoke Fairies performed at the 2010 South By South West (SXSW) festival in Texas[8] and supported Laura Marling for a month long tour of the United States.[9] They soon signed to V2 Records/Cooperative Music and released acclaimed debut album ‘Through Low Light and Trees’ in September 2010.[10] The following month the band were invited to record a live session for Marc Riley on BBC 6 Music[11] and were subsequently invited back for another session mere months later.[12] They also recorded a live session with their band for John Kennedy’s X-Posure on XFM.[13]

In November 2010 Smoke Fairies’ recording of Neil Young's "Alabama" appeared on a special Mojo album to mark the approaching fortieth anniversary of Young's Harvest LP.[14]

The band embarked on their first sell-out headline tour of the UK in January / February 2011[15] and performed at several festivals that Summer including Primavera Sound in Barcelona.[16]

The debut album ‘Through Low Light and Trees’ was officially released in the United States in June 2011 via Year Seven Records and they toured the U.S. with Rasputina in August.[17]

Discography

Singles and EPs

Compilations

Guest appearances

Albums

Also pressed as a limited edition on clear vinyl, available on the bands' US tour and via website. Initial edition of 250 followed by subsequent repress.

Also featured On compilation CD Albums

References

  1. ^ Martin, Helen 2011-03-15 Amelia’s Magazine [1]
  2. ^ Udell, Phil Heineken [2]
  3. ^ Umstead, Ben 2011-07-18 Slant Magazine [3]
  4. ^ Gimmers, Moff 2008-06-23 Electric Roulette [4]
  5. ^ Berdini, Valerio live on 35mm [5]
  6. ^ Hopkinson, Matt 2009-10-19 SoundsXP [6]
  7. ^ Mugan, Chris 2010-08-20 The Independent [7]
  8. ^ PRS What SXSW did for Smoke Fairies
  9. ^ Laura Marling website - tour starts today
  10. ^ Sheppard, David 2010-09-08 BBC Through Low Light and Trees review
  11. ^ BBC 6 Music Marc Riley - BBC 6 Music
  12. ^ Marc Riley [8]
  13. ^ John Kennedy’s X-Posure
  14. ^ [9]Harvest Revisited (Mojo, November 2010)
  15. ^ Robinson, Peter 2011-01-15 Guardian [10]
  16. ^ Primavera Sound [11]
  17. ^ O’Donnell, Kevin 2011-06-14 Spin Jack White Faves Smoke Fairies

External links