Hannah Sanders

We are excited to welcome to Otley Music Festival the spellbinding acoustic duo HANNAH SANDERS & BEN SAVAGE, who released their most recent album "Ink of the Rosy Morning" on Topic Records in 2022. Since emerging in 2016, Hannah Sanders and Ben Savage have been defying all conventions of style, genre and compartmentalisation. This seemingly unlikely duo have recorded two studio albums, Before the Sun (2016) and Awake (2018), produced by award-winning producer David Travers-Smith in Toronto, both praised for the crafting and skill of their musical writing and arranging. They have toured the UK, North America and mainland Europe, enrapturing audiences at shows and on festival stages alongside Americana and folk luminaries such as Sarah Jarosz, Martin Simpson, Seth Lakeman and Oh Susanna. They also appeared at the West Java World Music Festival, Indonesia in 2019. Hannah Sanders has an alluring mystique and a voice of disarming purity that massages your senses with gentle ease. Ask her nicely and she will discuss witchcraft, tarot cards and her adventures in a family band busking through Europe in an old school bus. Ben Savage is a bubbling ferment of energy, all fluffy hair, unkempt charm and infectious enthusiasm who will seemingly play any instrument you care to put in front of him with grace and favour. Ask him nicely and he will debate any musical tradition you care to mention and will tell you all about the dobro and his adventures with the band The Willows.  On the face of it, you can?t imagine this duo summoning enough common ground for an afternoon chat over a cup of rhubarb juice, let alone make astonishing, original music together. Ask someone to describe their music or say who they sound like ? and they will be bereft of words.  ?Americana?, some yelp. Yeah, maybe there?s a bit of that, but at other times they sound quintessentially English. Oh, then they must be British folkies, comes the cry. Sort of, but not really, because they do all this other stuff rooted in American music too. Shall we just call them traditional? Not at all. They may incorporate various traditions, but they play contemporary music and have their own unique writing style too.  After all, who puts English songs together with mountain dulcimer and dobro? Or incorporates ghost stories, blues, Northumbrian music, electric guitar, Woody Guthrie, murder ballads, Billy Bragg, human seals, old time songs, the Stockholm Archipelago, hangings, Appalachia, new moons, Joan Baez, cowboys, railway journeys, street singers and Cambridge into one mesmerising explanation of their musical philosophy? Not your average acoustic duo, that?s for sure.  Playful and instinctive, they constantly do the unexpected; yet they do it with such panache and natural chemistry it makes perfect sense. They are true originals, that?s all there is to it. Distinctive. Innovative. Ground-breaking. Unique. QUOTES: ?Passion, precision and unbridled intimacy?An exquisite soundscape? - RnR ?Spellbinding? Hannah & Ben were born to play and sing together? - fRoots ?Flawless? Folk Picks of the Month? - The Guardian ?Beautiful songs? haunting dreamlike folk music? - Songlines ?Awesome? a supremely divine album? - Americana UK ?This is folk music for everyone ? a master-class in proficiency, an exercise in individuality and a declaration of love of the folk tradition from both sides of the  Atlantic? - Spiral Earth ?Dreamy reveries, softly warm vocals, stirring guitar arrangements ?   Sanders & Savage wield an elusive sort of magic? - MOJO   ?Beautiful- just magical, dreamy and gorgeous? - BBC Radio 3 InTune ?Sanders has a voice of such sparkling clarity that soars above and dips around Savage?s dobro   and their harmonies are exquisite.? - No Depression LINKS: hannahbenmusic.com facebook.com/hannahbenmusic twitter.com/hannahbenmusic instagram.com/hannahbenmusic youtube.com/channel/UCPa8Znbjkje6e0ehc01w4oA We are also delighted to welcome back to the festival KATIE SPENCER, who was recently voted FATEA Female Artist of the Year. Raised in the East Yorkshire flatlands on the fringes of Hull, Katie Spencer?s landscape has always been that of open skies and widening rivers. Industry still shapes the city here. The people, as with the land, are moulded by tides and stark horizons. Stand in the same place for long enough and you can watch the sun rise over the North Sea and then sink into crop fields, glowing auburn in late-summer sun. It is this sense of space and movement that flows through Katie Spencer?s music. The songwriting, and most notably her guitar playing stems from a time when the steel-stringed instrument was truly finding its voice. Artists like Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and perhaps most evidently Michael Chapman, flow into her sound, carrying with them the warmth and idealism of the early 70?s folk and songwriter movements. Katie Spencer?s widely celebrated new album, The Edge of the Land (2022), follows her debut release, Weather Beaten (2019) which was praised for its unique song-craft, spell-binding musicianship and crystal sonic clarity, as she brought together fans of music from all backgrounds and walks of life. Delicate and un-rushed, the ten songs on The Edge of the Land drift by like ships on the horizon, yet intimacy and introspection still remain. The inclusivity found in her recorded works is most apparent when on stage, with a personal connection and humour that allows the listener time to appreciate the emotion of the music. Her historical gig list is extensive, taking in the world-renowned Celtic Connections and Cambridge Folk Festival, whilst performances with Danny Thompson and Alan Thomson have left audiences in awe of her confidence and craftsmanship. ?Her articulate picking, with suggestions of folk and jazz, frames intelligently written songs and is the backbone to her music.? Guitarist Magazine ?One of the most satisfying and spellbinding singer-songwriter collections I?ve encountered in some time.? RnR Magazine ????? ?Imaginative imagery supported by compelling music that summons up the best of early 70s folk, fluently delivered here with its own contemporary power. This is a fine collection of memorable songs by an outstanding writer and musician.? Record Collector ?Katie Spencer sits gracefully in a vocal nook between Sandy Denny, Linda Thompson and, to conjure a name we hear less often these days, Bridget St John.? Prog Magazine ?The way Katie plays is never contrived, showy or imitative; it sounds true ? a world-class folk guitarist? ? fRoots ?Katie?s guitar playing has echoes of my dear friend the late great Bert Jansch. Like a musical weaver she threads her poetic lyrics through the guitar?s strings and produces little tapestries of song? ? Ralph McTell www.katiespencer.net Otley Music Festival is a community-based 10 day event that celebrates the town's extraordinary musical talent but also features some nationally acclaimed performers. All profits go to local charities. Further details of the festival can be found here: https://otley-music-festival.co.uk/