Bella Gaffney + Katie Spencer – *AT YSJ UNI THEATRE*

Please Please You presents
Bella Gaffney
Katie Spencer
York St. John University Theatre
Saturday 6th November, Doors 7pm
Tickets are £10 in advance (more on the door) and are available online via See Tickets.

We’re chuffed to be programming our first concert at a brand new theatre on York St. John University campus, just near the SU on Lord Mayors Walk. Better still the show is with two good friends and extremely talented singer-songwriters Bella Gaffney (The Magpies) and Katie Spencer.

Bella Gaffney:

2016 Celtic Connections Danny Kyle Award winner Bella Gaffney hails from Bradford. She writes folk inspired songs which she performs along with her own original arrangements of traditional pieces. 2020 will see the release of Bella’s new album which is inspired by connections made over the lockdown period. In 2018 she was one of the first recipients of a Friends of Towersey Festival Award for music developmental support and opportunities. She has played many folk and music festivals over the last few years, including Celtic Connections, HebCelt, and the Gate to Southwell, to name just a few. 2017 saw the release of her solo album ‘Heaven Knows’ with Folkstock, to great reviews.

Bella also performs with sought-after celtic/bluegrass band The Magpies with Polly Bolton, Sarah Smout & Holly Brandon. 2020 got off to a flying start for the Magpies with a UK-wide album pre-release tour in March. This was sadly curtailed following the Covid 19 lockdown. Their debut album ‘Tidings’ was released on June 5th to glowing reviews in the Sunday Times, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express and more. They have recently been played on Mark Radcliffe’s Radio 2 folk show! 2019 saw them go to Folk Alliance International in Montreal, on tour in Ireland and to Costa del Folk in Portugal. They have played many esteemed festivals including Cambridge Folk Festival, Towersey Folk Festival and Glastonbury!

Katie Spencer:

Like the expressionistic brushstrokes of a landscape painter, Katie Spencer conjures vivid landscapes through the medium of song. Curating intimate studies using her unique finger picked acoustic guitar style and an assured warm voice, Spencer underlines the sense of space that surrounds her home by the sea in Hornsea, East Yorkshire.

The striking imagery that rings through her ethereal songs creates a universe of sound and storytelling. Her mesmerising live performances have seen her play world-renowned stages, at the likes of Cambridge Folk Festival and Celtic Connections as she assembles a dedicated fanbase from all corners of the country.

Last year saw Spencer embarking on a UK tour in celebration of her brand-new album Weather Beaten, a flawless and flowing ten track journey that encapsulates her intimate live performance style. Produced by Spencer Cozens, long-time collaborator of John Martyn and Joan Armatrading, the sound of the album is clear and bright, bringing a precision and boldness reminiscent of the best ‘ECM’ modern jazz albums which naturally pairs with the warm and hazy folk sound that envelops Katie’s style.

At just 23 years old Spencer has built up an extremely respected profile within the national acoustic music scene, sharing the stage with musicians of outstanding calibre such as Danny Thompson and Ted McKenna, and continuing to receive glowing reviews of both her live performances and recorded works.

‘Katie’s guitar playing has echoes of my dear friend the late great Bert Jansch. Like a musical weaver she threads her poetic lyrics through the guitar’s strings and produces little tapestries of song.’
Ralph McTell

‘She makes her own quietly ingenious musical statement through the notes and silences, making every note, phrase and musical punctuation mark count in a deft, elegant and intelligently undemonstrative fashion…Katie’s stylish blend of warmth and precision proves intensely captivating: I’d urge you to investigate her music soon!’
Folk Radio