Chris While & Julie Matthews

BBC Folk Awards 2009 – Best Duo “They are two of my favourite singer songwriters in the whole wide world.” Beth Nielsen Chapman Chris While and Julie Matthews’ musical partnership began in the mid 1993 when they were key members of the legendary folk super-group The Albion Band. In 1997 they left the band to concentrate on their work as a duo which has seen them tour throughout the world and gain an ever growing devoted fan-base. Their songs have been covered by a range of artists including Mary Black, Barbara Dickson, Christine Collister, Kathy Chiavola, Mary Duff and Fairport Convention. Both multi-instrumentalists Julie sings, writes, plays guitar, piano, ukulele, bouzouki, mandolin, harmonica and accordion while Chris sings, writes, plays guitar, bodhran, banjo, dulcimer and percussion. Their musical careers have produced successful solo albums and a variety of projects away from the duo including the Christmas band St Agnes Fountain with David Hughes and Fairport Convention’s Chris Leslie. Described by Folk Roots as "awesomely talented “Julie contributed ten songs to the 2006 Sony Award winning Radio Ballads for BBC Radio 2 and in early 2010 she joined Rory McLeod, Boo Hewerdine, Jez Lowe and Ruth Notman in the song-writing project ‘All Along the Wall’ celebrating the history of Hadrian’s Wall in music and poetry, in 2012 she has contributed 13 songs to the latest Radio 2 Radio Ballads, The Ballad of the Games. maverick says of Chris, “She has the heart of a poet and the eyes of a painter." Her long-time association with legendary folk-rock band Fairport Convention saw her take the place of the late Sandy Denny as the band’s original 1969 line-up performed the groundbreaking album ‘Liege and Lief’ at the 2007 Cropredy Festival , an event later broadcast on BBC Radio 2. Chris also records and tours with her daughter Kellie While, ex lead singer with the Albion Band and E2k. Of Chris the Guardian wrote “She rises like an angel from the ashes with a voice to match”, and fan Eddi Reader describes her simply as ‘the best singer in England’. In 2009 Chris While and Julie Matthews were named Best Duo at the BBC Folk Awards. Their eighth studio album 'Infinite Sky' was released in September 2012 to glorious reviews..... "What is there to say? I long ago exhausted my thesaurus of superlatives when it comes to reviewing the duo’s albums, leaving me struggling to find the words to do them justice." NET RHYTHMS "Their pedigree is without question. Both are supreme songwriters & instrumentalist & it’s the union of their two wonderful voices which is the crowning glory with the emphasis being on the exquisite two part harmonies." ROCK SOCIETY "While & Matthews are dazzlingly good multi-instrumentalists but it’s their skill as close-harmony singers that defines their sound. Nie Wieder (Never Again), their tribute to German-Jewish athlete Gretel Bergmann, is outstanding" DAILY EXPRESS Past Studio Albums Piecework 1997 Higher potential 1999 Quest 2001 Perfect Mistake 2003 Here and Now 2005 Together Alone 2008 Hitting the Ground Running 2010 Infinite Sky 2012 Stages 'Live' 2000 The Best Of While and Matthews 2006 Stage 2 Live in Germany 2007 Songbook Words and Music Best duo BBC Folk Awards 2009