Odette Michell is an award-winning British singer-songwriter, guitarist and bouzouki player with rich foothold in the folk tradition. A dynamic live performer, Odette has performed alongside the likes of Show of Hands and Seth Lakeman, and has opened for folk legends Martin Carthy, Phil Beer, Boo Hewerdine, Nancy Kerr, Reg Meuross and BBC R2 Folk Award nominees Ninebarrow amongst others.
Born in Yorkshire with an Irish heritage, Odette grew up in a musical household and first picked up the guitar at fifteen. Inspired by the resurgence of folk and acoustic songwriters at the time, she began writing her own songs when she was just sixteen years old. Growing up in the vibrant city of Cambridge allowed Odette to take advantage of the many stages and performance venues there, including two early club stage appearances at the Cambridge Folk Festival – her first appearance there being when she was just 22 years old. Having been recently based on a rural 18th century dairy farm in the English countryside, Odette draws on these rich influences and life experience and weaves them together to form the basis of many of her songs.
In January 2020 Odette won Female Artist Of The Year at the FATEA Awards, following in the footsteps of previous winners Kitty Macfarlane and Cara Dillon; and in May 2020 Odette was nominated for a Rising Star Award at the 2020 Folking Awards. In January 2021 Odette was invited to perform at Celtic Connections as part of the legendary Danny Kyle Open Stage.
Odette is currently working on a new full-length studio album due out in 2024 which is the follow up to her acclaimed debut ‘The Wildest Rose’.
John Ward has achieved an excellent reputation as a writer of powerful, thought-provoking and witty songs that draw upon his life in a gritty port town, his wider travels in the world, and often capture the spirit of the times.
John performs in folk clubs, festivals and theatres across the UK and beyond, mainly with wife, Lynne, and band mate, Les Woodley, as the imaginatively titled John Ward Trio! This line-up delivers powerful 3-part harmonies, with acoustic guitar, bodhran, harmonica, double bass, mandolin, accordion and recorder to bring a fuller sound to John’s excellent songs. The Trio also draws on its wider repertoire of traditional and contemporary folk tunes and songs, many of them suited to communal singing. The Trio’s performances are authentic and heartfelt, engaging audiences with their choice of material, thoughtful arrangements, versatility and humour, not to mention John’s blistering bodhran solos, which all blend to delight and entertain folk audiences in intimate venues and bigger stages alike.