Luke Jackson, the acclaimed 18 year-old singer songwriter from Kent, has a raft of UK festival appearances booked for this summer, from Cambridge to Sidmouth, starting next month.

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Canterbury-based Luke was a double finalist in the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards -nominated for both the Young Folk Award and the coveted Horizon Award for the best emerging talent.

Having launched his dynamic debut album More Than Boys last summer, Luke has undertaken two UK tours supporting Welsh singer-songwriter Martyn Joseph, to whose label he is signed.

With a bold, show stopping voice and great guitar skills, Luke is a confident and captivating performer demonstrating an astonishing maturity. Honing his craft, his fast-rising career has also seen him support such luminaries as Show of Hands, Paul Brady, Chris Wood, Steve Knightley, Karine Polwart, Lucy Ward and Boo Hewerdine while in June he will be opening for Oysterband.

His 2013 festival season will include key appearances at some of the UK’s leading music events – the famous Cambridge Folk Festival (July) and in August, Shrewsbury Folk Festival and Sidmouth Folk Week.

His festival calendar of some 18 events between now and the end of the year kicks off at Guildford’s Trinity Folk Festival on May 4 continuing at Rochester Sweeps, Ireby and the Gate to Southwell Festival. He appears at London Folk Festival in July and later in the year will play the first Folkstock Acoustic Festival at Aldenham Country Park near Elstree, Hertfordshire, Derby Folk Festival and the Great British Folk Festival at Skegness.

A prolific songwriter, he will be performing new material whilst continuing to showcase his outstanding debut album More than Boys, produced by Martyn Joseph.

The album has been receiving plaudits from national critics and airplay on numerous radio stations. Luke has also appeared on BBC South East TV, guested on BBC Radio 2’s Good Morning Sunday, interviewed by Aled Jones, and was one of the artists appearing at Lancaster University’s PipeFest, hosted by Martyn Joseph.

The 11-track debut album is a riff- layered “rite of passage” CD that draws inspiration from memories of childhood camaraderie; a lyrical real-time journey from adolescence to young adulthood - in songs that are by turns powerful, passionate, poignant and pop tinged.

One of his lyrics “now it seems like all my childhood songs have been sung” seems to underpin the whole album mirroring Luke’s own journey into what promises to be a “tipped for the top” future.

Luke, who was also selected from around 1,000 entries as a finalist in the 2012 Beautiful Days Festival Singer Songwriter Competition will also play a growing number of solo arts centre and folk club gigs in the next few months, starting on April 30 at Basingstoke’s The Anvil and taking in locations from Liverpool to Exeter.  

On September 22 there will be a special double header show at Hitchin Folk Club with fellow young singer songwriter Blair Dunlop, who won the Horizon Award at this year’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

See Luke performing Fumes and Faith, as played on BBC Radio 2’s Good Morning here:

     

30th April                                Basingstoke –The Anvil

4th May                                   Trinity Folk Festival, Guildford

5th May                                   Rochester Sweeps Festival

23rd May                                Nottingham Guitar Bar

24th - 26th May                                  Ireby Festival

6TH June                                   Eastleigh, The Point (supporting Oysterband)

7th - 9th June                          Gate to Southwell Festival

12th June                                 Banbury Folk Club

13th June                                 Windsor Baptist Church

15th June                                 Folk on The Park Festival, Wem, Shropshire

22nd June                                Trefriw House Concerts

23rd June                                Birmingham Hare and Hounds

28th June                                 Liverpool Acoustic

29th June                                  Church Farm, Ardeley, Herts (Folkstock Arts Foundation

“Under the Stars” gig) www.folkstockartsfoundation.com/?p=88

5th July                                               Tom Thumb Folk Club, Margate

6th July                                               Ashford Festival in the Park

10th July                                 Biddulph Up In Arms

12th July                                 Bromsgrove Folk Festival

14th July                                 Sandwich Folk and Ale Festival

17th July                                 Ely Folk Club

19th July                                 London Folk Festival

20th July                                 Exeter Barnfield Studio

21st July                                  Dunster Castle Hotel

22nd July                                Brixham Theatre Studio

26th - 28th July                                   Cambridge Folk Festival

3rd Aug                                               Trelawnyd Folk at the Hall Festival

4th Aug                                               Sidmouth Folk Week

10th - 11th Aug                                  Reepham Festival, Norfolk

24th Aug                                 Shrewsbury Folk Festival

7th Sept                                   Sutton on Trent Festival

12th Sept                                 Uxbridge Folk Club

13th Sept                                 Havant Spring Arts Centre

14th Sept                                 Rowney Green Brightside Music

21st Sept                                 Folkstock Festival, Aldenham Country Park nr Elstree, Herts

22nd Sept                                Hitchin Folk Club with Blair Dunlop

4th Oct                                                Derby Folk Festival

1st Dec                                                Great British Folk Festival, Skegness