One of the highlights of this month’s Shrewsbury Folk Festival is the UK premiere of a new show that sees Scottish folk trio Talisk team up with Irish dancers the Gardiner Brothers. An energetic dance and music mashup, Unleashed is a collaboration which has been more than 10 years in the making - as Talisk leader Mohsen Amini and Michael and Matthew Gardiner explained to What’s On...

At first glance, Irish dancing phenomenon the Gardiner Brothers (one billion social-media views and counting) and Scottish folk band Talisk seem unlikely bedfellows...

The former are international sensations, having won more than 40 Irish dancing titles - including five world titles - and performed as principal dancers with Riverdance; the latter are a relatively modest instrumental folk trio, albeit with a growing following (15 million streams and counting) and reputation that means they regularly sell out shows across the globe.

The acts have now joined forces for Unleashed, a unique standalone extravaganza that showcases the best of both their worlds. The collaboration, according to Michael Gardiner, came about in the wake of a mutual admiration and then a friendship that has developed over the past 12 years.

“We were definitely fans of Talisk long before we ever worked together,” he explains. “We first came across them on Spotify. We’re huge fans of traditional Irish and Celtic music, and what immediately stood out to us was how they were pushing the boundaries of what that could be. Very quickly they became our favourite ‘trad’ band, to listen to and dance to.

“Initially we connected through social media and then through various events and performances - over time that turned into a friendship.”

Mohsen (‘Mos’) Amini, Talisk’s co-founder and concertina player, who was named Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio Two Folk Awards in 2018, says the idea of a joint project was “in the works for a long time” but the stars refused to align, not least as their friends’ career skyrocketed.

“The Gardiner Brothers would ask to use our music for their videos, and then, as they got bigger, we started asking them to use our music,” he laughs.

Michael agrees that the burgeoning careers of both acts delayed the inevitable collaboration, but thinks it’s ultimately been for the better.

“Looking back, it almost feels like we were on a path towards creating something together, but both groups needed time to build what we were doing individually first. Once we had established our own identities, it felt like the right moment to bring everything together.”

Initial seeds were sown in 2024, when Talisk invited the brothers and other dancers to join them on stage at Glasgow’s legendary Barrowlands Ballroom as part of Celtic Connections, the city’s annual folk, roots and world music festival.

“It was the biggest gig we’ve ever put on,” says Mos, “so we thought we’d just go all out, throw the kitchen sink at it and get dancers involved. We asked if they fancied putting together a couple of dances and coming on stage for it, and it went unbelievably well.

“We were sitting down in the festival club having a couple of drinks afterwards and just looked at each other and were like ‘This is going to be something, isn’t it?’”

That something is Unleashed, a full-length, high-octane show that fuses the music of Talisk with the Gardiner Brothers’ bold take on traditional Irish dance. Completely bespoke, the production “draws on everything we’ve all been developing individually over the last 10 to 15 years”, according to Michael Gardiner.

“One of the biggest creative challenges was staying true to what people love about both acts,” he suggests. “Talisk have always written and performed their own original music, and maintaining that authenticity was incredibly important to them. On the other hand, a huge part of what the Gardiner Brothers have become known for is dancing to modern pop music and finding creative ways to bring that music to life through dance.

“The challenge was finding a way to honour both of those things without compromising either, and I think we’ve found the perfect recipe.”

Thinking of the dancers when writing music has been a new challenge for Mos and fellow Talisk members Benedict Morris (violin) and Charlie Galloway (guitar) - but a discipline he says they’ve embraced.

“It’s not like you have to think completely differently,” he says. “Just like music, dancing has ebbs and flows as well - it’s not full pelt all the time, so you can have fast [numbers] as well as slow ones.”
The Gardiner Brothers wax lyrical about the “incredible music” the band have created for the show, which takes the dancers’ favoured pop styling and gives it a Talisk makeover.

“There are moments where audiences will definitely recognise influences from modern pop songs and familiar melodies, but everything has been completely reimagined through Talisk’s lens. It still sounds unmistakably like Talisk.”

The collaborative nature of putting the show together is something Mos says has expanded his own ideas about the creative process: “When you do this, you think, ‘Okay, now there’s five points of view as opposed to three.’ Everybody is very much respected and at the top of their art form, so it’s not like you’re catering to someone who just wants to have their voice heard. You’re catering to minds that know something that you might not.”

And if everyone carries equal weight, then the same goes for the performance. The lively movements of the Gardiner Brothers might inescapably be the focal point, but rather than hiding behind the dancers, the musicians are on raised platforms to accentuate their roles in the action - after all, Talisk fans attending the shows want to see Talisk.

“From the very beginning, this wasn’t a case of Talisk creating the music and us simply adding dance afterwards,” agree the Gardiners, quick to acknowledge the natural on-stage chemistry between the five performers.

“Every aspect of the production has been developed together. The music, the choreography, the lighting, the staging, the pacing of the show, even the way we interact with one another on stage has all been part of a collaborative creative process.

“We’re constantly looking for ways to make those interactions stronger. Every rehearsal seems to bring a new idea, a better transition, or a more interesting way for the music and movement to connect. The show is still evolving, which is one of the things that makes it so exciting for us.”

One evolution unlikely to take place is the dancers and musicians swapping roles - Mos won’t be handing over his concertina to throw some shapes any time soon.

“They leave the music to us and we leave the dancing to them,” he smiles, before acknowledging an unlikely coincidence that has led to the protagonists all playing the same instrument on stage: “During rehearsals we found out that we all play the whistle but no one ever talks about it - everyone played it in their closet! So there’s one number where four of us will play the whistle, but that’s as near to a crossover as we get.”

It’s just the sort of thing that goes down well at a folk festival, and while Unleashed clearly has professional production values - the show is set to tour US arenas again next year - the headline set should also go down well with a Shrewsbury audience primed for a knees-up.

“As performers, there are certain events that become bucket-list moments,” says Michael, “and this definitely feels like one of them. We know the adrenaline is going to be through the roof when we walk and dance out on that stage.

“What excites us most is the audience. Folk festival audiences are incredibly passionate about live music and performance, and that’s exactly the kind of environment where a show like Unleashed thrives. The energy between the performers and the crowd becomes part of the experience.”

Shrewsbury Folk Festival takes place at the DMOS West Mid Showground from Friday 28 to Monday 31 August, with the UK premiere of Talisk x Gardiner Brothers: Unleashed taking place on the Severn Stage on Friday the 28th.

For further information and to purchase tickets, visit shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk

By Steve Adams

on Wed, 22 Jul 2026

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright is one of the headline acts at this month’s Shrewsbury Folk Festival. The event comes at the end of a tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her debut album. But as much as she’s enjoyed looking back, she’s ready to start making new music too, as she explains to What’s On...

As the daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, and sister of Rufus Wainwright, American-Canadian singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright (she was born in New York, but raised in Montréal) is arguably the epitome of folk-rock royalty. But as much as family connections brought opportunities to perform and learn about the music industry, they also cast quite the shadow when it came to being seen as an artist in her own right.

“I had so much opportunity through nepotism to play and get seen, that’s for certain,” she says. “And I was associated with these great songwriters - Kate and Anna [McGarrigle, her mum’s sister], Loudon and Rufus - but I had to prove myself somewhat, even to myself.”

As a result, her self-titled first album, which is 20 years old this year, went through a lengthy period of gestation.

“It was a real process to get the record out, partly because the market at that time already had a couple of Wainwrights! And obviously Rufus’ first and second albums were so powerful and so strong, and I was a part of those records in that I was a backup singer. I sang on those records and toured a lot with him. It’s not that there wasn’t enough room for both of us, but I needed to pave my own way.”

That meant “almost 10 years of playing, doing gigs, making mistakes, writing songs”, releasing DIY cassettes and EPs, and fighting back against record executives who either wanted her to sound more folk, like her mother, or more pop, like Cyndi Lauper.

It was only after a chance meeting with producer Brad Albetta, who went on to become her husband, that the record finally got made. It was recorded over a period of 18 months when his studio was available. 

“We just kept on working and getting these great mixes out, and I’d send them to labels, but only after it was mixed and sequenced. It was a huge relief once it came out.”

Soon after that happened, she flew to the UK to appear on Later… With Jools Holland, earning instant critical acclaim as well as an audience she never really expected.

“For me, that was the real moment. It’s not like I got off the plane and people were screaming, but it was almost like that, in that I got to London and did a show for press - back then the press was so important - and pretty quickly I was getting a lot of attention.”

One of the tunes that prompted the most attention was Bloody Mother F**king Asshole (she kindly refers to it as “BMFA”), which was initially a tirade against her estranged father (among others, she says). It has since gone on to have a life of its own, to her great satisfaction.

“In some ways that song, from the first moment I sang it, was my most useful song but also least personal in a way. It seems bigger than me just writing a song about my feelings in that moment.”
It also earns the loudest singalongs - even at arguably demure folk concerts - and appeals to a greater number of people, she says.

“The audience, with their eyes closed, are shouting it back; usually the younger people [but] it seems to affect different people, different ages, and different walks of life too. Sometimes I see people in my audience who maybe wouldn’t listen to a classic singer-songwriter like myself, and maybe that song has brought them to my music because it has a broader appeal.”

Everyone likes a bit of anger and attitude from time to time, of course.

“Yeah, and I think there’s a swearing part that’s fun - but beyond that, the rest of the lyrics are interesting and it’s quite poetic… I don’t think it’s a feminist song and men can enjoy it too, but it has a powerful message that in some way people can click into. So it seems larger than myself, which is a great thing, as that’s sort of what you’re hoping for. As a songwriter you write these personal songs - or I write very autobiographical songs - and you hope they’ll go beyond that and have a life of their own.”

That debut album (“sort of the quintessential one”) has certainly lasted the course too. It was very much a case of planting a flagpole for how she saw herself as an artist.

“The first record set the tone or the stage for me as a songwriter in many ways, which I was happy for, because it was a record that was a long time in the making and has a variety of themes and styles that I’ve been able to build on over the last 20 years.”

Speaking of which, has performing songs that are 20, and in some cases 30, years old made her think about how they, and her life, have changed in the interim? And has the process of revisiting them provided any inspiration for new material?

“I think it’s done both. It’s thrown me back there, in that I had to try to remember how to play some of the songs and then practise them. So I was thrown back into that time, and primarily I was amazed that not much has changed and that I’m the same person.

“Now the bulk of the touring is over, I have this incredible want, and need, to write songs. I just started again, and I feel in some ways that they are informed by the first record and a return to the essence of who I was, and who I am, as a songwriter. So that’s been very comforting, and exciting. A lot of the shows have also been sold out, so that has motivated me and put some wind in my sail too.”

She believes playing festivals like Shrewsbury (“thanks for telling me how to pronounce it!”) can be a source of inspiration too, as they provide an opportunity - and challenge - to connect with people previously unfamiliar with her music.

“Playing for audiences where some of them don’t know the material is... I don’t wanna say more satisfying, but it can be. If you can win them over by the end of the set, then you’ve really accomplished something.

“For songwriters like me, and this is a terrible thing to say, a lot of my audience was also my parents’ audience, and a lot of those people are dying. I’m glad to see that people’s children are now invited to the show, and I see more people at the shows who are my age, hovering around 50. I think that’s because their kids are old enough that they can keep them at home!”

And given that she’s scheduled to play on two different days at Shrewsbury, will she be out there among them, checking out other acts and enjoying the festival vibe?

“Oh yeah, that’s a huge thing for me -  especially when I was younger but even now - because that’s where I discover a lot of music, or have in the past. I’m not always inspired to check out Spotify and new artists because I’m busy or on the road myself. I find that I’ve found most of my exciting discoveries by sharing the stage or seeing the person who’s on right before me or right after, because at a festival I have the opportunity to walk by. I’ve always enjoyed that. When you’re in a festival, you’re more open to the spirit of that kind of discovery.”

Martha Wainwright plays Shrewsbury Folk Festival on Sunday 24 & Monday 25 August.

By Steve Adams

on Wed, 23 Jul 2025

With an impressive 60-plus years in the music industry behind her and a phenomenal 20 albums under her belt, Elkie Brooks continues to hold (quite rightly) the title of British Queen of Blues. Kicking off her new tour, The Long Farewell, at Shrewsbury Folk Festival late this month, she recently took time out to chat to What’s On about playing live gigs, touring with the stars, and being a black belt in Aikido...

Singer Elkie Brooks is looking forward to headlining Shrewsbury Folk Festival this month, but she recalls that some of her early festivals were far from comfortable.

“Some places that I’ve done years ago were terrible backstage,” says Elkie, whose career has spanned more than 60 years. “I’ve been in the business a long time, and when I was in bands in the 70s, with Dada and Vinegar Joe, we were always doing festivals. You got used to the backstage, and I used to carry a little screen so that I could just go behind the screen and get changed in the same room as all the lads because they just never sorted out separate facilities. 

“And there have been times when I’ve done these festivals before as a solo artist, where I’ve actually changed in the van which belonged to our guy who did the PA equipment. That’s what it was like in those days.”

As a child, Elkie sang at weddings and bar mitzvahs, with her unofficial debut coming at a club in Manchester when she was 13. Her big break came at the age of 15 when she won a local talent competition.

She released her first single, a cover of Etta James’ Something’s Got A Hold On Me, in 1964 and since then has recorded a string of top-10 albums and singles, including Pearl’s A Singer, which reached number eight in the UK Singles Chart, and No More The Fool, which reached number five. Her 1981 album, Pearls, sold more than a million copies and charted for 79 weeks, making Elkie the biggest-selling female album artist in the history of the UK pop charts at that time. 

Known as the British Queen of Blues, her career has seen her working or touring with a host of top stars, including The Beatles, Small Faces, Cat Stevens, Robert Palmer and The Animals - so she’s had plenty of time to hone her live festival skills. 

“I have to appreciate that my fans will want to hear all my hits, and I’ll be doing most of them which are good live. I think I’d get lynched if I didn’t do Pearl’s A Singer, and Sunshine After The Rain, and Fool If You Think It’s Over, and Don’t Cry Out Loud. So I’ll obviously be doing all those, but I shall be incorporating a few other things as well which are good live songs to keep everyone going. 

“My attitude is one of complete and utter focus and concentration on the music, and if I deter from that I do not enjoy myself. That has always been my attitude. When you’ve been 19 years old and singing at The Beatles’ Christmas Show and having all these screaming girls just screaming all the way through your performance and wanting The Beatles and not really taking any notice of you, you become a bit tough about it all. My attitude is ‘I’m going to sing this, and if you want to enjoy it, then please, that would be wonderful, but if you don’t, I’m going to do it anyway!’”

Taking place at West Midlands Showground across the bank holiday weekend, Shrewsbury Folk Festival 2024 has a packed line-up which also features Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Gangstagrass and Eric Bibb, as well as a strong presence in terms of women performers; Jacqui McShee, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Kathryn Tickell, Mary Black, Ward Thomas and Mary Gauthier all feature on the bill.

Elkie admits that it wasn’t always easy being a female singer breaking onto the scene in the 1960s.
“Back in the day it was more or less what you looked like, and there is still an element of that now. But there have been, and there are, some wonderful singers who were incredibly talented, and their talent has seen them through. My first influences were women like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Dakota Staton. They were extremely talented, with great voices, great phasing and great pitching, and that’s how they got through.

“To me, the music has always been the most important thing; that’s what I care about. I think it’s wonderful that so many women are coming through and have always been there.” 

Elkie’s 2024 tour, during which she plays Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn in November, is called The Long Farewell - a wry look at the fact she turns 80 next year.

“I’m thankfully at the moment reasonably fit for my age. I work out most days - I do a good hour. I’m a black belt in Aikido. I took my black belt when I was 50 and I have continued training.

“So I am quite fit, but then I’ll have to judge it year by year. I still might be doing lots of shows in a couple of years’ time... I just have to take it as it comes, but it’s going to be a very, very long farewell tour, I hope.”

Not only does Elkie work on her physical fitness levels, she also ensures she continues training her voice. “For my 70th birthday my wonderful family bought me this fantastic piano, a baby grand piano, and I sit and play every night - and the neighbours are very happy,” she laughs. “I practise most days; very rarely I don’t do at least an hour sitting at the piano and singing. I have the routine that I do because if you don’t use it, you lose it.

“I would say to people who are starting out and want to be singers in the business that it really helps if you can play an instrument like the piano or the guitar. I’m not bad on keyboards, I can accompany myself and I love it, but I’m absolutely awful at the guitar. You know Phoebe - the woman who tries to play the guitar in Friends? I make her sound like Eric Clapton!”

Elkie is also keeping busy with new material - and festival-goers may receive a sneak preview.

“My son Jay and his wife Joanna manage me, and we’re working on an album. We’re releasing the album in sections - three or four songs, and then a few months later we’ll do a few more, and the album in its entirety hopefully by the end of the year; if not, the beginning of next year. So at the festival I might do some songs from the new album - along with lots of hits.”

Elkie Brooks plays the final day of Shrewsbury Folk Festival, which takes place at the West Mid Showground from Friday 23 to Monday 26 August. Elkie then returns to the region with The Long Farewell Tour, performing at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn on Wednesday 6 November and Birmingham Town Hall on Friday 28 February

on Tue, 23 Jul 2024