Bob Dylan, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Diane Cluck, Polly Paulusma, Nina Simone, The Sky Green Leopards, King Creosote, Pip Dylan, Carina Round, Fiona Apple, Marissa Nadler, Adem, James Yorkston, PJ Harvey, Third Part, Neil Young, Bonny Prince Billy, The Aliens, Robert Johnson, Damien Rice, Feist, Findlay Brown, Laura Marling, Lone Pigeon, Mary Hampton, Woodie Guthrie........
Elaine Palmer hails from a sleepy village on the North Yorkshire Moors, a stones throw away from the idyllic fishing town of Whitby.
Growing up Elaine was continually surrounded by music and at school she learnt the recorder and piano. Her talent was evident even at an early age and by her early teens the school Orchestra were playing original Elaine Palmer compositions!
Whilst studying at Manchester Metropolitan University Elaines hobby turned into her passion and she continued to return north to play live, finely honing her guitar playing and building up a strong fan base.
After securing the services of a manager Elaine made regular trips to London and shared the stage with the likes of David Pajo (Papa M) and Tom McRae. She also embarked on a six week residency in New Yorks trendy Greenwich Village and ended the year touring with Ben & Jason.
The next couple of years saw Elaine step up her game playing a hectic schedule of UK dates supporting Joseph Arthur, Neil Halstead and Thea Gilmore. Such was her talent that her appeal stretched from the folk world to the young alternative scene.
After seeing her play live Inspiral Carpets Clint Boon invited Elaine to record some demos at his home studio. The culmination of this would turn out to be the recording of her first album Into The Spotlight released on Clints new label Booney Tunes.
Since the release of the album Elaine has gone on to play with a host of successful artists including James Blunt, K T Tunstall, Bonny Prince Billy, King Creosote and Sophie B Hawkins. Elaine also enjoyed a rapturous reception at The Greenman and The Wickerman festivals, which were a highlight of her year 2005.
Playing on the main stage at The Wickerman Festival on a beautiful sunny summers day to a field full of chilled out fans all laying on the grass as far as my eye could see. It was amazing!
Elaines success continued apace and her fan base significantly increased after receiving airplay on Radio 2 as well as numerous regional stations.
So, on to 2006 and, after touring extensively and fine-tuning her powerful live performance, Elaine finished recording her second album, Waves.
Released on Cosmos Recordings and featuring members of Lamb on double bass, cello, drums and electric bass. The album was recorded at Manchesters Analogue Catalogue and was engineered by Julie McLarnon (Lambchop, Nine Black Alps).
Elaines musical talents are brought to the fore on Waves seeing her play classical guitar, accordion, harmonium, chimes, piano and even piano strings. Elaines approach to the album lends it an intimate yet intense sound. With intricate finger picking and traditional guitar strumming coupled with Elaines extraordinary voice the album has a certain charm and character.
The songs were written while I was living by the sea on the North East coast of England. I did lots of walking and reflecting so a lot of the songs are influenced by the sea, ocean and harbours. I was a little lost and nostalgic when I wrote this record so the songs are very romantic and folky.
Waves was released nationally in July 2006 to great critical aclaim. Mojo, Uncut, RocknReel, Terescope,The Sun....ect all gave fantastic reviews of the album! Waves also received masses of radio airplay including national stations BBCRadio 2, 3 and 4! Followed a successful Summer of touring and Festivals with the likes of Diane Cluck, Jose Gonzalos, Donavan, The Sky Green Leopards, Fionn Regan and many more.
In 2007 Elaine released a series of EP's called the DADGAD Series, which she recoreded in three different houses she lived in that year all influenced by the three different areas and landscapes. The DADGAd Series were all recorded solo on classical guitar which adds to the intimate and personal atmosphere of these recordings. With only 50 made of each they all sold out immediately to collectors of Elaines work.
2008 brings some changes to Elaine's material, picking up the pace a little, working with a new band, drums, bass, electric guitar gives a slightly more up beat larger sound to her new material.
'The new songs are much more edgy and slightly more agressive, heavily influenced by the open road and the unknown, looking forward not backwards this time'
Elaine's third album, 'On The Run' is finished and is in promotional stages to find a happy home for it's release in 2009. You can sample 3 tracks off this record here on Elaine's myspace.
Thanks Elaine, we really enjoyed playing last night's gig at Danby Castle - it is a great venue. Enjoyed your set lots! Hope to see you again Cheers Chris & Georgia x
JAMES YORKSTON & THE BIG EYES FAMILY PLAYERS with MARY HAMPTON and DAVID A JAYCOCK
JAMES YORKSTON, resident of the East Neuk of Fife and core member of musical family The Fence Collective, for a special night of folk music in the company of The Big Eyes Family Players.
James plays in support of his new album Folk Songs - released on Domino in August, which features traditional songs from the length and breadth of Great Britain & Ireland and one tune from Galicia in Spain. After a decade which has seen folk music morph into nu-folk, mobile phone-ad folk, mortgage-folk, smoothie-folk and so on, Yorkston has reached back into the tradition of song and place and drawn a line in the sand.
Its been selling faster than we expected, and we currently only have around a quarter of our stock left - so we thought we'd better you all know that if you want a copy then now would be a good time to pick one up! If you buy it from the link above then you're buying it direct from us, the label aren't taking a cut - so its a bit like Fair Trade for struggling musicians.
International mail-order is available, just follow the instructions.
Thank you very much, and sorry for making a mess of your profile. If its any kind of consolation, we don't have a MySpace bot, so I'm leaving these comments the old fashioned way. Three -and-a-half thousand of them. My life is so exciting.
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Hello young lady,i sit here infront of my open fire and im listening to on the run that you sent me.Im in the process of trying to sort a week out where we can all get together so will keep you informed and hopefully you can make it also.. Much love and tachos Davexx
Hey Elaine! Great to meet you! How are you? Love to hear from ya.
If you haven't got your copy of 'LOST AND FOUND' yet, you can stream the full album on my Official site, & if it tickles your fancy, you can get it on itunes or from the STORE on my site!
Thanks for listening, take care out there... Noush x