Friday, September 17, 2010

BBC Four launches month-long celebration of the singer-songwriter

Something worth watching on the TV at last.

BBC Four today announces an exciting month-long celebration of the singer-songwriter, led by a new series of specially commissioned concerts titled Songwriters’ Circle.

The celebration, which starts on Friday 1 October, presents an insightful and varied array of programming and features some of the world’s best pop and rock singer-songwriters, including Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega, Lyle Lovett, Joe Ely, Chris Difford, Elton John and Cat Stevens amongst many others.

The channel celebration also includes, Singer-Songwriters At The BBC, alongside classic BBC In Concert shows and recent concert acquisitions such as James Taylor & Carole King at The Troubadour.

Richard Klein, Controller, BBC Four, says: "BBC Four is the home of contemporary music and to have some of the best singer-songwriters playing for us in specially created concerts is a real delight"

In the new series, Songwriters’ Circle, the singer-songwriters perform their classic songs in turn, while helping each other out musically with harmonies and the odd guitar part. The four shows are filmed live in a small London concert venue, with the artists only meeting an hour or two before going onstage. In between performances, the artists take the viewer inside their work, chatting about their songs, their history and background.

Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega and Loudon Wainwright kick off the series, swapping songs at West London’s Bush Hall, including signature tunes like Thompson’s "Vincent Black Lightning", Vega’s "Luka" and Wainwright’s "The Swimming Song".

Thompson helps out with acoustic guitar fills throughout and Wainwright and Vega duet on a ’countrified’ song on the impact of the recession on failing marriages and couples who can’t afford to divorce, in "House".

Loudon Wainwright and Richard Thompson together in concert.

1 comment:

Linda said...

Might even get me to turn the telly on - it's will have been off for a whole month by then :)

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