In three years, eleven piece folk-big-band Bellowhead have exploded onto the festival scene and fast became one of the most talked about bands on the contemporary folk circuit.  Formed in 2004 by the duo Spiers & Boden to headline the first Oxford Folk Festival, Bellowhead have played some of the top festivals in the UK and Europe including Cambridge Folk Festival, The Big Chill, Summer Sundae and Roskilde Festival.  In 2005 they received the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Live Act.

 To describe Bellowhead’s music is a very difficult thing indeed - the material is steeped in the English folk traditions of song and dance, but the feel is exciting, intoxicating, slightly sinister and deeply funky ... Above all this is a BIG band.  If you want to hear more sounds visit their Myspace site.

 A self-released demo, E.P.onymous was put out in October 2004 just to sell at gigs - with interest from the distribution companies it made the folk charts!  The long awaited first full studio album by Bellowhead, Burlesque was released in October 2006 and has received rave reviews, some of which you can read here.

Bellowhead is:
Jon Boden - vocals, fiddle, tambourine;
John Spiers - melodeon, concertina, bandoneon;
Benji Kirkpatrick - guitar, bouzouki;
Giles Lewin - fiddle, bagpipes;
Paul Sartin - fiddle, oboe;
Pete Flood - stomp box, percussion & tuned percussion;
Rachael McShane - cello, fiddle;
Justin Thurgur – trombone;
Andy Mellon – trumpet;
Gideon Juckes –Sousaphone, tuba;
Brendan Kelly – saxes