Shanties, stomps and songsters for The Tall Ships

A HARTLEPOOL folk singer is bringing the best in the world of traditional music to the town next month during The Tall Ships Races.  
 
The Headland Folk Festival will run over the four days of the Tall Ships celebrations with a continuous programme of music from 7pm on Saturday 7 August right through to 5.30pm on Tuesday 10 August on a special Sea Stage in the Headland Town Square. Admission is free.
 
Headland-based musician Sean Cooney has been working with the Hartlepool Tall Ships 2010 Team to secure the bands.
 
He has performed at maritime festivals across Europe with Hartlepool group the Young ’Uns and when the Tall Ships came to Liverpool in 2008 he sang on board several of the ships that will also be visiting the town this year.
 
 “There’ll be everything from rousing sea shanties, tender ballads of love and loss, local Hartlepool songs and plenty of rollicking foot-stomping tunes which would once have filled the air of many an old sailor town,” says Sean.
 
“The sea has inspired many different types of music and songs and it’s that eclectic mix that I want to put on show. Where better to celebrate the colourful musical heritage of the sea than the Headland?”
 
Topping the bill on Monday 9 August and celebrating a homecoming to the town he grew up in will be multi award-winning, globetrotting singer-songwriter Jez Lowe, recognised as one of the finest writers in the country.
 
A selection of Europe’s very best and most popular sea song performers will be led by Brasy, a five-piece vocal tour de force from Poland. They will be joined by Four ‘n’ Aft from Liverpool, the Keelers from Newcastle and the Young ’Uns.
 
The very best of the new wave of young, vibrant English musicians will be led by the Askew Sisters of London, Coracle of Somerset and from Cambridge the wonderfully named Mrs Trevor’s Deep Freeze Secrets!
 
There’ll also be the unique country blues sound of Serious Sam Barrett, songs hewn from the Northern earth by Benny Graham and Ian McKone and fished from the North Sea by renowned songwriters Richard Grainger and Wendy Arrowsmith. 
 
In all, over 20 groups will be performing on the Sea Stage. There will also be afternoon concerts in St Hilda’s Church on the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and lots of music around the pubs of the Headland.
 
For more information contact Sean at seancooneyfolk@tiscali.co.uk or call him on 01429 244350.