The Albion Band

Blair Dunlop inherited The Albion Band from his father, Ashley Hutchings, who founded the group in 1971, and if this show at The Old Market was anything to go by, he is treating his inheritance very well. Fronted by Dunlop and fiddler Katriona Gilmore, the six-piece combined fiddle and melodeon with guitar, bass and drums to produce a polished and modern folk-rock set with a few tongue-in-cheek nods to the original Albion Band. They proved to be both competent re-interpreters of well-known Albion Band material and talented songwriters in their own right, and you didn’t need to be familiar with previous incarnations of the group to appreciate this fantastic show. If anyone can reignite folk-rock for the twenty-first century, it’s The Albion Band.

The Old Market, 3 October 2013

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