Jackie Oates, John Spiers

It’s possible to remain a newcomer in folk music for far longer than in any other genre, but after 17 years and seven solo albums Jackie Oates must surely be considered one of the mainstays of an accomplished, informed and stylistically individual English traditional music scene that began in the early 2000s and continues to thrive.

John is undoubtedly one of the best melodeon players of his generation. Over the past decade or so he has straddled the line between the traditional and contemporary, performing under the guise of Spiers & Boden and with folk super group Bellowhead.