Virtuoso musician Phillip Henry, recognised as one of the leading slide guitarists and beatbox harmonica exponents in the UK, has composed and performed music for a prime time BBC Two TV show that will recreate one of the Wild West’s great voyages of discovery. 

Starting Sunday, January 5, Operation Grand Canyon is a two part documentary presented by Dan Snow. A real white knuckle ride, it will follow nine men setting out in antique-style wooden rowing boats to emulate the 1869 first ever exploration of the mighty, rapids-strewn Colorado River as it runs through the Grand Canyon. The 19^th century adventure, led by one-armed civil war veteran Major John Wesley Powell, has never been repeated since, until now. 

Devon-based Phil, who, with Hannah Martin, has been nominated for Best Duo in the 2014 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards to be held at the Royal Albert Hall in February, was contracted as a composer for the programme after being initially approached by Exeter maritime historian Dr Sam Willis who is one of the expedition team and director Martin Johnson.

Says Phil: “They were looking for some authentic American roots music for the programme and I composed and played quite a lot of the instrumentals and soundbites on both dobro and harmonica. It is great to be involved in such a fascinating programme.”

The theme music for the end credits is Phil’s new arrangement of the old gospel blues classic Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning which he re-recorded especially for the show.It originally appeared on his 2010 solo album Live in the Living Room and is a beatbox harmonica tour de force. Watch the video here.... 

Another main theme song is Sam Willis’s The Canyon Song which features Phil on dobro and harmonica. Both songs will be available as downloads from www.philliphenryandhannahmartin.co.uk

Being screened at 9pm on Sunday, January 5 and Sunday, January 12, in hour-long episodes, Operation Grand Canyon proved a challenging shoot for the production team led by series producer Cameron Balbirnie. More information about the programme and a trailer can be found here.

From Chorley in Lancashire Henry studied in Calcutta with India’s premier slide guitarist DebashishBhattacharya and is seen as a figurehead for a new generation of folk musicians. Playing dobro, bottleneck slide, lap steel, chatturangui (Indian slide guitar) and mesmerising beatbox harmonica, his original compositions reveals myriad influences from traditional British folk music, to American blues and Indian classical melodies.   

This autumn he and partner Hannah Martin released one of the most acclaimed and innovative folk roots albums of the year - the moving and mystical Mynd- which received 4* reviews from the likes of The Daily Telegraph, Financial Times and Guardian and 5 * from Songlines Magazine. 

Complementing Henry, Brixham-born singer-songwriter Hannah is a skilled fiddler, viola and banjo player with a real lightness of touch, a haunting voice and a knack for tapping traditional music veins to create contemporary songs.

Winners of Best Folk Act in the 2012 South West Music Awards and Best Duo in the 2013 Spiral Awards, this class act played the biggest venue of their career last year, when they supported Show of Hands at the Royal Albert Hall while this summer they played Glastonbury, Cambridge and Broadstairs festivals and were the biggest selling artist at the Trowbridge Festival CD tent.

In addition to their BBC Radio 2 Folk awards nomination, Phil and Hannah have also just been nominated as Best Duo in the 2013 FATEA Magazine Awards – winners will be announced in early January.

With a busy 2014 in their sights, Phil and Hannah will kick off the year with performances in Germany and the Netherlands before returning to the UK.

PHILLIP HENRY & HANNAH MARTIN 2014 GIGS 

February

21st: Milverton Music Club, Somerset www.milvertonmusic.co.uk/

23^rd: Marnhull Acoustic Sessions, Dorset  www.marnhullacousticsessions.co.uk/

March

7^th: Wigan Parish Church

8^th: Sheffield Greystones

13^th: Garstang, Kenlis Arms www.garstangunplugged.com

16^th: Saltaire, The Live Room

20^th: Coffinswell, Devon: World Unlimited

21st: Bow Village Hall, Devon

25^th: Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury

28^th: Aylesbury, Limelight Theatre

30^th: Birmingham, Kitchen Garden Café

April

1^st  Dartford Folk Club

2^nd: LONDON, Slaughtered Lamb www.theslaughteredlambpub.com/

3^rd: Abingdon, Unicorn Theatre

4^th: Wareham, The Corn Exchange

5th: Bath, Chapel Arts

13^th: Hitchin Folk Club

29^th: Exmouth Folk Night, Devon

May

3^rd: Malmesbury Acoustic Sessions

4^th Bristol Folk Festival

10^th: Calstock Arts, Cornwall http://calstockarts.org

16^th: Oldham- Playhouse 2, Shawwww.playhouse2.org

18^th: Horsham Folk Club, Sussex

June

14^th: Cambridge – Acoustic Rootswww.acousticroutes.co.uk/

27^th: LONDON, The Ivy House Nunhead SE15 www.ivyhousenunhead.com/