Pirate tales and Morris dancing, fiddles and squeezeboxes, Tom Waits and Benjamin Britten: John Spiers and Jon Boden take their influences wherever they find them to givetraditional English folk a kick in the pants. Loud, proud and with just a few acoustic instruments, Spiers and Boden create a multitude of textures upon which they present traditional stories and dance music.

It’s an approach that’s led to them fittingly bagging a duo of BBC Radio 2 folk awards for best duo, as well as a choice nomination at the BBC World Music Awards. Add to that swag the gongs picked up as big band success Bellowhead (BBC Folk Awards for Best Live Act in 2005, 2007 and 2008, and a place in the Observer Top 20 Albums of 2007), and it’s a packed trophy cabinet round chez Spiers and Boden.

The audience at the duo’s performance at Harrogate Theatre on Sunday 22 April are in for something special. Singer and fiddler Boden and concertina andaccordion player Spiers aren’t afraid of spontaneity, which is what makes their concerts so exhilarating. Spiers originally studied genetics at Oxford, but having swapped textbooks for a melodeon and teamed up with Boden, he’s creating an exciting world that, while based in English heritage, is all Spiers and Boden’s own.

Tickets for Harrogate Theatres spring season are available now and can be booked securely online at www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk  or through the Harrogate Box Office on 01423 502 116.

By Andy on April 11, 2012