Oysterband

Once the bad boys of folk and rock, Oysterband have grown over the past five years into the role of musical custodians and godfathers of folk. The ‘house band’ role Oysterband played for part of these years drew on the group’s formidable musical skills, rather as The Last Waltz did once upon a time for The Band.

“We had to go back to the essential impulse that’s kept the band kicking for almost 30 years - making new songs for ourselves,” says violinist Ian Telfer. “Meet You There is the most consistent thing we’ve done as a grown-up band. It has what I like to think of as Oyster trademarks - a folk ear for a great vocal tune; strong lyrics; wry politics; and a sort of deep-down musicality that can afford to take itself fairly lightly. It’s essentially acoustic, essentially folk-based I suppose. But we try to put it over with big dynamics and a sense of musical theatre.”