JACK HARRIS
Genre: Folk, Singer-Songwriter
Location: London (UK)
Discography: Broken Yellow (2006) The Flame & The Pelican (2012), The Wide Afternoon (2016)
Record Label: Jack Harris Music, Tridimensional Jazz
Website: http://jackharrismusic.com/
In 2005, aged 19, Jack Harris was the first British winner of the prestigious New Folk Competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival, Texas, joining an elite band of previous winners that includes Nancy Griffith, Lyle Lovett, Gillian Welch and Devon Sproule. He has also featured as a showcase artist at the South by South-West Festival, Austin, Texas and at the Green Man Festival in the UK.
Singer-songwriter Jack has shared the stage with some of the most important names in folk music, including Martin Carthy, Dave Swarbrick, Dick Gaughan, Kate Campbell, Eliza Gilkyson and Eric Taylor. He performs regularly around the UK and Ireland, bringing literate story-telling and lyrical delivery to many appreciative audiences and has played extensively in the United States. Recently he completed a tour of Northern Italy and Switzerland.
Steeped in myth and mystery his songs bring the narrative tradition of folk and blues music into the here and now. His debut album, 'Broken Yellow', received great acclaim in song- writing circles. Influenced by the old country blues masters and folk singers of the British Isles, his performances are a riveting display of soulful, smoky vocals and intricate, finger-style guitar playing.
These have won him considerable acclaim. The Telegraph voted his album ‘The Flame and the Pelican’ #5 in their top 10 Roots/Folk albums of 2012. Q magazine praised his ‘unique lyrical mind’, and Maverick UK awarded the record its full 10/10 rating. His writing and performance has also led to a great relationship with the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), through whom he has been the recipient of a creative bursary award to write new songs in the old Folk idiom.
Coping with the dramatic potential of the stage infinitely better than with the vicissitudes of real life, Jack is happiest when playing live. He has brought his music to a loyal, ever-growing audience, at festivals, venues and skating rinks across the world. On occasion he has opened for some of Folk’s biggest names, including Anais Mitchell, Cara Dillon and Dick Gaughan. His live show is a riveting mix of song craft and theatrical story-telling, delivered with warm voice, dry humour and nimble, string-picking fingers. Come on out of an evening. You’ll see.
Jack’s new album, ‘The Wide Afternoon’, produced by Gerry Diver (Sam Lee, Lisa Knapp, The Speech Project), will arrive in 2016.
‘Jack Harris' mastery of the guitar and his passionate singing frame the delivery of some of the loveliest language in contemporary song. .....Mr. Harris is a born poet, and it would be a mistake to say he is destined for greatness. He is already there.’ (Andrew Calhoun of Waterbug Records)