Originally
from Tasmania,
Australia, John and Caroline along with
their talented fiddle playing son, Malcolm now live Northumberland in the North East of England.
They are
highly regarded performers in Australia,
and have worked widely with ABC radio and television. With their band Tantallon, they have toured Scotland twice and performed at festivals around Australia
and at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient, Brittany in 2006.
Their
original songs and tunes have won awards in Australia
and some of their music has been used for the soundtrack of an American community TV progamme about Scottish
immigration.
For many
years they along with their Irish band Finnegan's Wake, they were the mainstays of the Tasmanian Folk revival. They inspired
many future musicians to take up the music, many of whom had not been exposed to traditional music before. One exceptional
musician, Luke Plumb, now playing with Scottish band Shooglenifty was inspired to play the music after seeing Finnegan's Wake
perform at the Tasmanian Celtic Winterfest in Hobart. The
rest they say is history.
Finnegan's
Wake went on to perform at Festivals and Clubs in Tasmania and Australia. They were the first Tasmanian band to record an album of traditional
music. The album was simply called Van Dieman's Land.
John and
Caroline were also involved with the founding of the internationally acclaimed Tasmanian Folk Festival held annually in January
from 1977 until 1986. This festival as well as their folk club, The Bothy, were instrumental in attracting and introducing
many of the top line English, Irish and Scottish musicians to a Tasmanian audience.
Originally
from Cornwall, with Welsh and Scottish ancestry, Caroline
plays the gut-strung Celtic harp and the whistle. She was a member of the Tasmanian Harp Orchestra before moving to the UK.
She also
teaches harp and is a fine singer.
Born in
Tasmania with a strong Scottish background, John started
singing the songs of Robert Burns at the age of 6! He is a talented multi-instrumentalist playing a wide variety of instruments
as well as being a fine singer . John is also a musical instrument maker and repairer and most of the instruments (apart from
bagpipes) that he and Caroline play were made by him.
John plays
Scottish smallpipes, Scottish lowland pipes, Northumbrian smallpipes, whistles, bouzouki and guitar.
John has
also been involved with the book design and CD production and design in 2005 for The Halliard's Broadside
Songs CD and book passage and in 2006, the mastering, layout and design of the Halliard's Last Goodnight CD. These
are available from Mollie Music at www.nicjones.net
They have
recently finished their new CD recording Borderlands. The CD features a mixture of traditional and original music and song.
It was recorded in their own studio, Shearwater Digital in Wylam, Northumberland and released on their own label, "Shearwater
Records"
In 2006
they competed in the Lowland and Border Piping completions and gained two 3rd places and a second. Later that year John won the Lowland Pipes competition at The Rothbury Traditional Music Festival.
John & Caroline
are available NOW for Folk Clubs & Festivals.
Gigs:
March 14th 2008:
Stonehaven Folk Club, Scotland
Clennell Hall Folk Festival Alwinton May 9th - 11th 2008
September 26th 2008: The Hearth Main Road, Horsley