"From her first gig in May 2013 Kelly Oliver seems to be getting on everyones radar, from that gig to Cambridge Folk fest, radio play and a record deal within a few months marks her out as someone pretty special. She has just released a new version of the song ‘He Walked On The Side Of The Sea’, from her ‘Far From Home’ EP. This new version brings in BBC Folk Award nominee Will Pound for a gorgeous harmonica duet." Spiral Earth http://www.spiralearth.co.uk/news/story.asp?nid=8427 "The finished article sounds like perfection" Rob Powell, Band of Badgers Presents "Surprisingly, "Far From Home" is both Kelly Oliver and Folkstock Records' debut release, though from the moment your hear the first chord, you know better bigger things await both of them as this very accomplished release shows.The clear and crisp production ensures that the delivery is about as pure as you'd want it to be without it being sterile, i.e. you can hear the personality of the artist bursting forth in the song and you can't ask any more of an artist than that. Folk is getting well into the third revival and showing that it's a music for the twenty first century and it's artists like Kelly Oliver that will help drive it forward, hopefully to wider and wider audiences". Neil King, FATEA Magazine “I fully expect Kelly to be receiving nominations and picking up gongs for Best Newcomer, if not Best Vocalist and Best Song/EP outright, when the awards season returns at the end of the year”. In Kelly Oliver the British folk music scene is witnessing the emergence of a bright new star. What a coup it is for the new independent label Folkstock Records to have her debut EP as its first release. “ Noel Cowley Reviews “With themes ranging from acutely observational to intensely personal and a voice that is rich and natural, silvered and sensuous, her debut EP ‘Far From Home’ will seduce your ears”. Tim Carroll, FolkWords Kelly is a folk singer/songwriter, guitarist and harmonicist, influenced mainly by acoustic music and traditional Irish folk music. After graduating from Royal Holloway University of London, working for a year, and then travelling around Europe, Argentina and Brazil, she decided in April 2013 to pursue her enjoyment in music. She began by playing gigs in Stevenage and Walkern, and then she expanded to playing gigs in Camden, Kilburn and Chelsea's King's Road in London. She started to teach herself the harmonica in April in order to provide an extra accompaniment to her music, and has featured it in her own songs, and also in the traditional folk songs that she plays. This led to Kelly securing harmonica sponsorship with the leading international brand Hohner. Hohner, via Sutherland Trading will now be the sole suppliers of Kelly’s harmonicas, which she will use when playing live and in the studio. In order to promote herself online, she launched a personal Facebook band page in May, created a youtube channel in August and then a website in October : www.kellyoliver.co.uk. She began to establish herself as a folk singer through performing at various folk gigs, and was lucky enough to secure a gig with the award-winning Hitchin Folk Club in June, as a support act for mother and daughter duo Chris and Kellie While. After the successful first gig, she was asked back by the Hitchin Folk Club to support Miranda Sykes and Rex Preston in July, which was again very successful, and led to her being asked back a third time and fourth time, to support The Urban Folk Quartet in October 2013 and Gilmore & Roberts in March 2014. The summer of 2013 saw Kelly perform at her first festivals, including the prestigious Cambridge Folk Festival, the largest folk festival in Europe. She took her 15 minute set, where she peformed before folk and roots singer Luke Jackson under the Hitchin Folk Club's slot, as an opportunity to perform some original songs, and it was this performance which won her a slot at the first Folkstock Festival in September, through winning a singer/songwriter competition. By opening the Folkstock Presents stage, Kelly had industry professionals watching her perform, and because of this, has since been invited to play on various folk radio stations, including a live interview on Nick Coffer's BBC Three Counties Radio show, an interview on Genevieve Tudor's BBC Sunday Folk show and Gaby Roslin's BBC Radio London show. Since the Folkstock Festival, she was offered the chance to professionally record her first EP, which was released on 26th November 2013, by Folkstock Records. The 5 track EP, entitled Far From Home, consists of 5 original songs, and includes vocals, harmonica and guitar parts, all played by Kelly. The EP can be purchased on bandcamp – folkstockrecords.bandcamp.com/album/far-from-home, and is also available to listen to on soundcloud - www.soundcloud.com/kellyoliver. Far From Home has had a very enthusiastic reception, with it's first FM radio play within three days of being finished. The single 'He Walked on the Side of the Sea' features BBC Folk Award Nominee Will Pound and was released on 17th March 2014. Kelly is also a St Albans Folk and Roots New Music finalist of 2014. Kelly has more gigs lined up in 2014, take a look at her Calendar on her website: http://www.kellyoliver.co.uk/calendar/ Booking enquires : helenmeissner@hotmail.co.uk Contact Kelly : kellyboliver@hotmail.co.uk