Multi-award-winning folkrock pioneers Fairport Convention will release a brand new album on Monday 11 April 2011. Titled Festival Bell, it is the band's first studio album for four years.
The album will be released on Fairport's own Matty Grooves Records label and distributed to retailers by Proper Music Distribution.
Featuring thirteen brand new songs and tunes (plus a revival), Festival Bell is recorded and mastered by young sound engineer John Gale, giving it a bright contemporary feel without losing Fairport Convention's trademark sound.
Rock'n'roll legend Joe Brown and comedian Frank Skinner feature as guest instrumentalists on the album. The tracklist includes compositions by Fairport members Chris Leslie, Ric Sanders and Dave Pegg, two new songs by renowned singer-songwriter Ralph McTell, and three other guest compositions. There is also a reworking of Sandy Denny's classic Rising For The Moon, a song Fairport first recorded in 1975 on their LP of the same title.
The title track, Festival Bell, celebrates the new church bell inscribed 'Fairport Convention Festival Bell' in the tower of St Mary's Church in the village of Cropredy in Oxfordshire. The bell (pictured on the album packaging) was funded by generous donations from fans attending Fairport's annual music festival in Cropredy.
New Fairport album released
