Top-flight Scots-English folk duo Winter Wilson are heading to Essex on the back of a triumphant tour of Canada.
Lincolnshire-based married couple Dave Wilson and Kip Winter say they are "just delighted to be back on the road" after almost two years at home due to the pandemic.
They were on tour in Germany when the pandemic hit.
“We agreed to cancel all the remaining gigs, rebooked the ferry and set off driving back up from the south of Germany towards Calais,” said Kip.
"It felt really strange, with borders literally closing behind us, and messages coming in from friends in similar situations who were having problems getting back into the UK.”
The couple settled down at home for what they thought would be “a few weeks’ rest” in lockdown.
“How wrong can you be?" said Dave.
"After a couple of weeks, we decided to do a bit of a live stream on Facebook, as much as anything to give ourselves a focus, but also to keep in some kind of contact with the outside world.”
It was destined to become a 60-week odyssey, renamed 'Live from the Lounge', bringing fun, music and friendship to regular viewers from across the world, and raising more than £5,500 for charity.
It became an on-line community all of its own, and continues monthly to this day.
Dave said: “One week it was all original songs, then the next all covers. We genuinely did everything from Dylan, Tom Waits and Randy Newman to Crosby, Stills and Nash and Lady Gaga.”
But even learning over 500 songs couldn’t completely fill the void for a couple who have lived their life on the road for more than 11 years.
So during the summer of 2021, alongside performing at those festivals which did go ahead, Kip and Dave wrote and recorded their ninth studio album, The Passing of the Storm, which was released in September 2021.
With a musical style ranging from traditional folk to blues and up-tempo Americana, and subject matter from the intensely personal to hard-hitting social comment, it was an album very much for our times.
Kip said: "The reviews have been brilliant, and audiences seem to really like the new songs too, which is always a relief."
Winter Wilson are appearing at Hedingham Castle from 7pm on Thursday, October 12. For more details and tickets, go to winterwilson.com/dates.
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