My Favourite Folk Act

About 18 months ago I wrote a blog post about O’Hooley & Tidow, a duo from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, saying how impressed I was with their music having listened to them on Spotify and iTunes. I also caught them online in 2021 when the Holmfirth Festival of Folk was broadcast on Facebook Live.

Fast forward to June 2022 – had kept checking the gigs page on their website and as they generally played gigs close to home I decided to tie in a gig with a visit to family in Yorkshire (my dad lives in Holmfirth and my brother and his family live in Leeds). My dad and brother were both interested in a gig at the Early Music Centre in York so I booked tickets. Problems ensued however – a train strike during the week of the gig meant I had to travel by coach, a journey that took twice as long as it would have done by train; then my brother’s family tested positive for Covid so my brother was unable to go.

So after a drive to York on a warm summer evening I was not disappointed. They opened with my favourite song of theirs, “Colne Valley hearts” and were even more spell-binding in person than on record. The close harmonies were faithfully reproduced on stage, and the stories they told in between songs were just as entertaining. There was also the opportunity to sing along with a few traditional folk songs while Belinda played accordion. I bought the CD Shadows from Heidi in the interval who recognised me from the blog post that I had written about them, a sign that they take notice of fans who contact them.

And there’s more – my dad, impressed by their performance, took his new partner to see them perform in Slaithwaite about a month later; his partner bought two of their CDs. And I enjoyed that first gig so much that I booked tickets for their annual Christmas gig at St Bartholomew’s Church in Marsden near Huddersfield. This time I was accompanied by my dad, his partner, my brother and my nephew, who is studying for a Masters degree in Music Composition at Liverpool University having achieved a first class honours degree in Music and History. He was impressed by Belinda’s piano playing. They gave a performance of “Chimneys, moors and me”, a song written during lockdown which my dad’s partner took a shine to, and the premier live performance of “The ballad of Anne and Ann” which they recorded with Suranne Jones following the renewed interest in ”Gentleman Jack”. I bought the CD Fragile – my favourite track is “The last polar bear”.

In the new year I discovered that their tour to promote their next album Cloudheads includes a gig in May at the Turner Sims Hall on the university campus in Southampton. So the next person I am introducing them to is my husband Steve – I hope he is suitably impressed. And I can’t wait to hear the new album. Thanks Heidi and Belinda.