The Musicians

Andy Bole - guitar, bouzouki Andy toured Europe with Alan for several years with The Late Night Band, recording two albums together. Whilst retaining a lifelong passion for traditional music, his eclectic tastes and virtuosic skill as a string player and composer have led to work with musicians as diverse as Eurythmics, Fairport Convention and Electric Light Orchestra. He has recorded several well-received albums including Rainbow Crow, a bouzouki album recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios.

Paul James - saxophone, vocals, whistles, border pipes Paul   and   Alan   met   at   school   aged   eleven.   They   started   singing   and   playing   music   together   soon   after   and   have   a common   repertoire   of   traditional   music   and   songs   going   back   over   half   a   century.   Paul   has   an   international reputation   as   a   leading   innovative   traditional   musician   and   composer,   running   Blowzabella   for   over   forty   years. His   other   bands   have   included   Evening   Star   with   Patrick   Bouffard   and   award-winning   Belgian-based   Threo.   Paul composed   the   music   for   the   masque   Comos   for   Shakespeare’s   Globe   Theatre,   and   for   several   years   was   Director of   the   National   Centre   for   Folk   Arts   at   Halsway   Manor.   He   now   lives   in   Belgium   and   plays   with   The   Sea   Band   for some of our larger festival bookings each year.

Penny McCarthy - clarinet, vocals, renaissance recorders, euphonium Originally from the port city of Liverpool, Penny started playing traditional music with her family as a girl, touring in England, France and Belgium. A period at the University of Rennes and membership of the Circle Celtique de Rennes led to an interest in Breton traditional music. Penny also collected many tunes from old players in the Vendee and Auvergne in the 1970s. In the 1990s, she founded Live Wires, a collaboration with Folk South West, working with young musicians in the West Country to raise the profile of musical traditions in the region.

Alan Lamb - m elodeon, crwth, fiddle and cello, vocals Alan’s   family   has   had   a   fiddle   player   in   every   generation   back   to   1740.   Alan   was   born   in   Ireland,   and   as   a   young man   farmed   and   dredged   for   oysters   on   the   west   coast   of   Galway.   Alan   now   lives   in   the   Welsh   Marches,   the borders of England and Wales. Alan’s   discography   includes   two   albums   with   the   Late   Night   Band,   tracks   on   the   album   English   Fiddle   Players, and   albums   with   Cliff   Stapleton,   Rod   Stradling,   Agnes   Burnell,   Chris   Wood   and   Andy   Turner.   He   also   features   in the   Anglo/French   melodeon   tune   book   Liasons   Diatoniques,   along   with   Andy   Cutting,   Marc   Peron,   Frederic   Paris and Bruno le Tron. Most   recently   he   has   played   with   Boldwood,   and   can   be   seen   in   a   periwig   playing   dance   music   for   the   BBC’s   epic Cornish series Poldark. Alan founded The Sea Band in 2017 with Penny McCarthy and Graham Jenkins.