 Described by The Guardian as “the finest instrumental duo on the traditional scene” and twice winners of the BBC Radio 2 folk award for Best Duo, John Spiers and Jon Boden have made the genre of spontaneous, punky English folk very much their own stomping ground.
They first started playing together in 1999 and have released 5 CDs. In 2004 they formed the wildly ambitious 11 piece Big-Band folk phenomenon Bellowhead. The duo appeared on the BBC4 “Fire & Ice” Christmas session.
Loud, proud, and with just a few acoustic instruments, they create a multitude of textures upon which they present traditional stories and dance music which are as much at home on the main stage of a Folk Festival as they are in a lock-in at the local pub.
John and Jon are winners of the Best Duo category at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in both 2004 and 2006, and a Critic’s choice nomination at the BBC World Music Awards. Jon Boden is up for Best Album and Best Original Song in the 2010 Spiral Awards. Bellowhead have been nominated in the Best Group and Best DVD categories.
John Spiers (melodeon, concertina) has taken the traditional squeezebox styles and has created an infectious acoustic groove which has an amazing effect on the uninitiated. Born in Birmingham, John grew up in Abingdon (home to one of the few truly traditional morris sides) with a morris dancing father and a mother who was a big fan of Nic Jones and Martin Carthy.
Jon Boden is an English fiddle player and folk singer born in Chicago but grew up in Winchester, England. With John Spiers he plays fiddle, guitar, sings, duet concertina and stamps out the rhythm on a piece of board.
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