howdenjones play contemporary acoustic music at its best.
Reviews for 'Beautiful Again'
"This is a fine addition to the HowdenJones catalogue and goes to
show what a potent force they are both live and as singer/songwriters.
Kate & Paul have also chosen backing musicians who can compliment their
music and the album's success is in no small part due to the contributions
of these fine players."
Fairoaks Online, March 2004
"...this is a very good album, full of good songs well performed
and well recorded. What more can one ask for? If you have seen them live,
you will need no encouragement to buy this; if you haven't - why the hell
not?"
Gery Cooper, Blue Yonder, 2004
"..playing with a real edge of excitement, highlighting the beauty
of the lyrics and melodies. They're all on the top of their game ...with
guests Ken Nicol and Matt Canty adding their twopenn'orth, as and when
required. By the end - well after midnight - I'm left breathless by the
sheer glory of it all. A monumentally good concert which ..will translate
into one of the albums of the year.
Wayne Stote,Tykes News Spring 2004
Reviews for 'Silver Waters'
“....a CD that’ll help break them beyond their on borders and
win over a sizeable chunk of new audience.”
Simon Jones, Folk Roots Magazine
“Expression is simple and unselfconscious, using plain language clearly
enunciated, but there’s no lack of poetry or gentle compassion. The
well observed and crafted songs have an assuredly melodic quality."
Dave Kidman, Stirrings Magazine
Reviews for 'Room to Breathe'
"This is a good old fashioned album with boots on; it marches about
with big, warm-hearted intentions, stacked with tunes that borrow liberally
from anywhere, everywhere but particularly folk sources of the inspiring
kind."
Froots, January 2003
'Raven and Hare' and 'Yeppe Knave' could, however have been plucked from
a former time. Buy the album and see how.
Folk on Tap, January 2003
"Their own beautiful & moving songs were expertly crafted, their
fantastic fingerstyle guitar work regularly had us in awe of their expert
digital dexterity, and as for their harmony singing - oooooooh, it was a
pure joy!"
Dick Glasgow, Black Nun Folk Club, Ballycastle, Northern Ireland
“The best trio on the scene since the original John Wright Band”
Geoff
Smith, Folk North West
Autumn 2003
Kate Howden and Paul Jones met through their work with young people at a community music project, and immediately established an appreciation of each other’s approach to writing and performing original songs. This soon lead to them working closely together on a live set. They first performed together in July 1998.
Following this, they booked themselves into Ken Nicol’s studio in Preston “to see what happened”. The resulting debut CD “ Kate Howden and Paul Jones” was launched in April 2000 and though it outsold expectations was initially intended as a extended demo.
Through cold calling and mailshots, bookings began to increase. As well as Folk Club bookings, Kate and Paul supported established artists including Niamh Parsons, The Oysterband, Jackie Leven, Coope, Boyes and Simpson.
Returning to the studio in August 2000, Kate and Paul recorded “Silver Waters”, an album of 14 jointly penned songs. Released in March 2001, “Silver Waters” received highly complimentary reviews;
Since recording “Silver Waters”, Kate and Paul continued visiting folk clubs around the country, and establishing themselves as guests. Through a raised profile in the music press, and the creation of their website : www.howdenjones.co.uk, they attracted increasing attention from folk club organisers and festival promoters.
During the summer of 2001 Kate and Paul visited various festivals, including Saddleworth, Saltburn, Whitby, Clitheroe, Wombwell and Fylde, and in July met up with Tony Taffinder. A multi-Instrumentalist, Tony added guitar, bouzouki, whistles, bass guitar and also voice to a new line-up that became the trio Kate Howden, Paul Jones and Tony Taffinder. Kate Paul and Tony worked together for 18 months and recorded the third CD ‘Room to Breathe’ in April 2002.
In September 2003 Kate and Paul returned to playing as a duo for their autumn tour. During the tour, they were joined at various gigs by guest musicians. Laurence Canty on bass, Sarah Cheffins on fiddle and Trevor Wagstaff on percussion.
In November 2003, the combination of these musicians and the“howdenjones” songwriting
partnership recorded a live CD, ‘beautiful again’ released in
February 2004. Recorded at Glasson Dock by Dave Angus and Tom Roseburgh of
Big Sky Studios, Galashiels, this CD proves the power, beauty and honesty
of Kate and Paul’s songs and captures the roller-coaster ride of their
live performance.
The CD was a live compilation of the songs to date and from
it developed a new relationship with Sarah Cheffins as a permanent member
Playing Fiddle and Swedish Nyckelharpa, Sarah worked with Kate and Paul on developing new material out of which came the introduction of Mandolin and Cajon from Kate and new instrumental arrangements and tunes written by all three members.In her time with the band howdenjones worked more extensively on The Rural touring Network playing concerts in village Halls all over the country. Sarah's contribution to howdenjones can be heard on the live recording Out Of The woods which was released as a digital download in March 2008, which features her skill and personality.Sarah left howdenjones early in 2008 to persue things closer to home ,
"With great sadness I've decided to call it a day with Howdenjones. The last four years have provided good memories that will last a lifetime and gigging with Kate and Paul has been a greatly enriching experience and I wish them both all the best. Thanks also to all the fans who have been so supportive of me in my musical career - good on yer! Cheers, Sarah"
2008 has been a year of getting back to the roots of The Kate Howden and Paul Jones songwriting partnership. They have been writing and collaborating with other musicians developing new skills which has involved playing a lot of Irish tunes (thanks Sarah!) and Paul being seen very often with a fiddle in his hand. Their 6th album 'red diesel and Southwesterlies' was released in October 2008 .Plans are underway for 2009 with Kate and Paul playing a series of village hall concerts for Spring.
“Performed with great feeling and superb instrumental skill. This
was a splendid performance, and I can no better sum up than by saying that
I would travel a considerable distance to see Howdenjones again. Excellent!”
Steve
Fox, Bingham Folk Club
March 2005