Rachel Unthank and the Winterset
Encyclopedia
The Unthanks are an English folk
group from Northumberland
, known for their eclectic approach in combining traditional English folk with other musical genres.
in August 2004 and, on 11 May 2005, launched their debut album Cruel Sister
at Holmfirth
Folk Festival.Cruel Sister received support from a number of DJs on BBC Radio 2
and was subsequently awarded Folk Album of the Year by MOJO magazine
.
Their follow-up album, The Bairns
, released on 28 August 2007, was nominated for the Best Album award at the BBC Folk Awards
2008 and also nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize
. The album debuted in the UK Top 200 Albums Chart
at number 178 in the week after the Mercury Prize award ceremony.
Reviewing The Bairns for BBC Music
, Mel Ledgard described it as "an album with a cinematic quality, huge in dramatic atmosphere".
The band were nominated for three further BBC Folk Awards in 2008 (Best Band, Best Live Act, Horizon Award), and were successful in one category, receiving the Horizon Award at the ceremony in The Brewery, London.
, released on 14 September 2009, was Folk Album of the Year for The Guardian
and also for MOJO magazine. Sid Smith, of BBC Music, described it as an "astonishing record", "beautiful”, “haunting”, and “beguiling". For The Guardian, Colin Irwin said: "This album may not be quite as bleak as The Bairns, and the sound is more sophisticated, but they still sound like nobody else... Tracks build slowly and mysteriously, but all are in service of the song. Their arrangement of the title track − a traditional song about the emotional devastation wrought by press gangs − brilliantly encapsulates the story's fraught desperation. Their version of Nobody Knew She Was There, one of Ewan MacColl's lesser-known songs about his mother, painstakingly paints a similarly dramatic backdrop with more atmospheric brass, and they put their own stamp on the Nic Jones classic, Annachie Gordon."
Their fourth album, Last
, was released on 14 March 2011, reaching number 40 in the UK albums chart
, and was well received by the critics. Sid Smith, for BBC Music, said that "Proving once again that sad songs are very often the best, their fourth album is brimming with material that is as haunting as it is beautiful."
Robin Denselow, for The Guardian, described it as "a bold and highly original set". Thomas H Green of The Daily Telegraph
said it was "string-laden and luscious but also delicate, wistful and melancholy".
Writing in NME
, Anthony Thornton
said that the album "proves the mix of Rachel and Becky’s voices to be one of the true wonders of 21st-century music". As well as traditional material, the album included a song written by band member Adrian McNally ("Last"), and versions of songs by Jon Redfern ("Give Away Your Heart"), Tom Waits
and Kathleen Brennan
("No One Knows I'm Gone"), King Crimson
("Starless
") and Alex Glasgow
("Close the Coalhouse Door").
In a departure from their usual practice of showcasing material from their studio albums, the Unthanks performed two concerts at London's Union Chapel
on 8 and 9 December 2010 consisting entirely of material written by Robert Wyatt
and by Antony Hegarty
of Antony and the Johnsons
. The concerts were recorded, and The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons
, a live album
based on these recordings, was released on 28 November 2011 to coincide with a UK tour.In a four-starred review, The Guardian called the album "A triumphant excursion".
In February 2011 The Unthanks performed live, at Newcastle upon Tyne
’s Tyneside Cinema
, a soundtrack they had composed to accompany the showing of a film about the history of shipbuilding on the Tyne
, Wear
and Tees.
In July 2011, starting with concerts at Durham Cathedral
and at London's Barbican Hall, they began a UK tour with the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band
, performing new brass arrangements of songs from all four Unthanks albums, as well as new material.
. Rachel graduated from Glasgow University and Becky went to Manchester Metropolitan University
. Their father, George Unthank, is a well-known local Northumberland folk singer in a group called the Keelers, named after the boatmen who sailed the Tyne.
Rachel is married to group member Adrian McNally who is also the group's manager, musical arranger and producer. They have a son, George, born in 2011.
Folk music of England
Folk music of England refers to various types of traditionally based music, often contrasted with courtly, classical and later commercial music, for which evidence exists from the later medieval period. It has been preserved and transmitted orally, through print and later through recordings...
group from Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, known for their eclectic approach in combining traditional English folk with other musical genres.
Rachel Unthank and the Winterset
Originally an all-female band, Rachel Unthank and the Winterset made their debut performance at Towersey Village FestivalTowersey Village Festival
Towersey Village Festival is an annual festival of folk and world music and traditional dance held in the village of Towersey in Oxfordshire, England. It has taken place every August bank holiday weekend since its founding in 1965....
in August 2004 and, on 11 May 2005, launched their debut album Cruel Sister
Cruel Sister (Rachel Unthank and the Winterset album)
Cruel Sister, the first album by English folk group Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, was launched on 11 May 2005 at Holmfirth Folk Festival....
at Holmfirth
Holmfirth
Holmfirth is a small town located on the A6024 Woodhead Road in the Holme Valley, within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Centred upon the confluence of the Holme and Ribble rivers, Holmfirth is south of Huddersfield and from Glossop. It mostly consists of...
Folk Festival.Cruel Sister received support from a number of DJs on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
and was subsequently awarded Folk Album of the Year by MOJO magazine
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
.
Their follow-up album, The Bairns
The Bairns (album)
-Rachel Unthank and the Winterset:* Rachel Unthank – voice, cello, ukelele, feet* Becky Unthank – vocals, feet* Belinda O'Hooley – piano, voice* Niopha Keegan – fiddle, voice-Additional musicians:* Neil Harland – double bass...
, released on 28 August 2007, was nominated for the Best Album award at the BBC Folk Awards
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British radio station BBC Radio 2....
2008 and also nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize
Mercury Prize
The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize and currently known as the Barclaycard Mercury Prize for sponsorship reasons, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was established by the British Phonographic Industry and British...
. The album debuted in the UK Top 200 Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
at number 178 in the week after the Mercury Prize award ceremony.
Reviewing The Bairns for BBC Music
BBC Music
BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....
, Mel Ledgard described it as "an album with a cinematic quality, huge in dramatic atmosphere".
The band were nominated for three further BBC Folk Awards in 2008 (Best Band, Best Live Act, Horizon Award), and were successful in one category, receiving the Horizon Award at the ceremony in The Brewery, London.
The Unthanks
In 2009 the band became The Unthanks, and their manager Adrian McNally and his childhood friend Chris Price joined the group. Their third album (the first under The Unthanks moniker), Here's the Tender ComingHere's the Tender Coming
Here's the Tender Coming, the third album by English folk group The Unthanks, and the first under The Unthanks moniker, was released on 14 September 2009. It was Folk Album of the Year for The Guardian and also for MOJO magazine...
, released on 14 September 2009, was Folk Album of the Year for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and also for MOJO magazine. Sid Smith, of BBC Music, described it as an "astonishing record", "beautiful”, “haunting”, and “beguiling". For The Guardian, Colin Irwin said: "This album may not be quite as bleak as The Bairns, and the sound is more sophisticated, but they still sound like nobody else... Tracks build slowly and mysteriously, but all are in service of the song. Their arrangement of the title track − a traditional song about the emotional devastation wrought by press gangs − brilliantly encapsulates the story's fraught desperation. Their version of Nobody Knew She Was There, one of Ewan MacColl's lesser-known songs about his mother, painstakingly paints a similarly dramatic backdrop with more atmospheric brass, and they put their own stamp on the Nic Jones classic, Annachie Gordon."
Their fourth album, Last
Last (Unthanks album)
Last, the fourth album by English folk group The Unthanks, was released on 14 March 2011. It reached number 40 in the UK albums chart and was well received by the critics.-Reception:...
, was released on 14 March 2011, reaching number 40 in the UK albums chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
, and was well received by the critics. Sid Smith, for BBC Music, said that "Proving once again that sad songs are very often the best, their fourth album is brimming with material that is as haunting as it is beautiful."
Robin Denselow, for The Guardian, described it as "a bold and highly original set". Thomas H Green of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
said it was "string-laden and luscious but also delicate, wistful and melancholy".
Writing in NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
, Anthony Thornton
Anthony Thornton (writer)
Anthony Thornton is the Group Digital Editor of IPC Inspire Men & Music. From 1998-2003 he successfully edited NME.COM, it became Europe's most visited music news website under his editorship. During this time he twice won the Online Editor Of The Year at the British Society Of Magazine Editors...
said that the album "proves the mix of Rachel and Becky’s voices to be one of the true wonders of 21st-century music". As well as traditional material, the album included a song written by band member Adrian McNally ("Last"), and versions of songs by Jon Redfern ("Give Away Your Heart"), Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
and Kathleen Brennan
Kathleen Brennan
Kathleen Brennan is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and artist. She was born in Johnsburg, Illinois, as noted by her husband and musical collaborator Tom Waits, in the song of the same name. Brennan and Waits met in 1980 during the filming of the Francis Ford Coppola film One from...
("No One Knows I'm Gone"), King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
("Starless
Starless
"Starless" is a piece by British progressive rock band King Crimson. It was featured on the Red album in 1974.The lyrics and melody for "Starless" were written by John Wetton. He originally intended the song to be the title track of the group's previous album Starless and Bible Black...
") and Alex Glasgow
Alex Glasgow
Alex Glasgow was a singer/songwriter from Low Fell, Gateshead, England. He was educated at Gateshead Grammar School where he founded the Caprians, a choir that, 55 years on and still counting, is thriving. He graduated in German at the University of Leeds...
("Close the Coalhouse Door").
In a departure from their usual practice of showcasing material from their studio albums, the Unthanks performed two concerts at London's Union Chapel
Union Chapel
-United States:National Register of Historical Places*Pine Orchard Union Chapel, Branford, CT, listed on the NRHP in Connecticut*East Raymond Union Chapel, East Raymond, ME, listed on the NRHP in Maine...
on 8 and 9 December 2010 consisting entirely of material written by Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...
and by Antony Hegarty
Antony Hegarty
Antony Hegarty is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the band Antony and the Johnsons.-Early life:...
of Antony and the Johnsons
Antony and the Johnsons
Antony and the Johnsons is a music group presenting the work of Antony Hegarty and his collaborators.-Career:British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Antony's music through his Durtro label. The debut album, Antony and the Johnsons, was released...
. The concerts were recorded, and The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons
The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons
The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons, the fifth album by English folk group The Unthanks, was released on 28 November 2011. Its extended title is: Diversions, Vol. 1: The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons - Live from the Union Chapel, London...
, a live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
based on these recordings, was released on 28 November 2011 to coincide with a UK tour.In a four-starred review, The Guardian called the album "A triumphant excursion".
In February 2011 The Unthanks performed live, at Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
’s Tyneside Cinema
Tyneside Cinema
The Tyneside Cinema is an independent cinema in Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the city's only full-time independent cultural cinema, specialising in the screening of independent and world cinema from across the globe...
, a soundtrack they had composed to accompany the showing of a film about the history of shipbuilding on the Tyne
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England in Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'.The North Tyne rises on the...
, Wear
River Wear
The River Wear is located in North East England, rising in the Pennines and flowing eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea at Sunderland.-Geology and history:...
and Tees.
In July 2011, starting with concerts at Durham Cathedral
Durham Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham is a cathedral in the city of Durham, England, the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Durham. The Bishopric dates from 995, with the present cathedral being founded in AD 1093...
and at London's Barbican Hall, they began a UK tour with the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band
Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band
The Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band was formed in 1881. It is based in Brighouse, in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.-History:The Brighouse and Rastrick Band is regarded by many as the best and most consistent ‘public subscription band’ in the world...
, performing new brass arrangements of songs from all four Unthanks albums, as well as new material.
Personal lives
Rachel and Becky Unthank are sisters, born seven and a half years apart, who grew up in Ryton, Tyne and WearRyton, Tyne and Wear
Ryton is a semi-rural small town near the western border of Tyne and Wear, England. Once an independent town in County Durham it became incorporated into the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear and the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead in 1974. It has a population of 15,742.- Location :Ryton lies...
. Rachel graduated from Glasgow University and Becky went to Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
. Their father, George Unthank, is a well-known local Northumberland folk singer in a group called the Keelers, named after the boatmen who sailed the Tyne.
Rachel is married to group member Adrian McNally who is also the group's manager, musical arranger and producer. They have a son, George, born in 2011.
Discography
| Album | Release date |
|---|---|
| Cruel Sister Cruel Sister (Rachel Unthank and the Winterset album) Cruel Sister, the first album by English folk group Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, was launched on 11 May 2005 at Holmfirth Folk Festival.... |
11 May 2005 |
| The Bairns The Bairns (album) -Rachel Unthank and the Winterset:* Rachel Unthank – voice, cello, ukelele, feet* Becky Unthank – vocals, feet* Belinda O'Hooley – piano, voice* Niopha Keegan – fiddle, voice-Additional musicians:* Neil Harland – double bass... |
28 August 2007 |
| Here's the Tender Coming Here's the Tender Coming Here's the Tender Coming, the third album by English folk group The Unthanks, and the first under The Unthanks moniker, was released on 14 September 2009. It was Folk Album of the Year for The Guardian and also for MOJO magazine... |
14 September 2009 |
| Last Last (Unthanks album) Last, the fourth album by English folk group The Unthanks, was released on 14 March 2011. It reached number 40 in the UK albums chart and was well received by the critics.-Reception:... |
14 March 2011 |
| The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons, the fifth album by English folk group The Unthanks, was released on 28 November 2011. Its extended title is: Diversions, Vol. 1: The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons - Live from the Union Chapel, London... |
28 November 2011 |
| EP | Release date |
|---|---|
| "Lucky Gilchrist" (Single edit) (Adrian McNally) / "Tar Barrel in Dale" (Live) (George Unthank) / "Sexy Sadie Sexy Sadie Sexy Sadie may refer to:* "Sexy Sadie", a song by The Beatles* Sexy Sadie , a Spanish pop rock group from the island of Majorca* Susan Atkins, one of the Manson Family killers who went by the name "Sexy Sadie"... " (Lennon and McCartney) |
30 November 2009 |
| Single | Release date |
|---|---|
| "Last" (Radio edit Radio edit In music, a radio edit is a modification to make a song more suitable for airplay, whether it be adjusted for length, profanity, subject matter, instrumentation, or form... ) (Adrian McNally) |
13 June 2011 |