The Garden Sessions celebrates it's 1st birthday and Frank and Dave spent a good few minutes on a cake...

In May of last year, Jack Foster, Tom Harland & Dave “the angles” Gimble got together to start something which might well revolutionise the Scottish Folk scene and the traditional scene in general. In early 2006 Internet “podcasting” was a fairly new phenomena, and the distinct lack of accessible programming in the Folk & Traditional genre sparked the beginnings of ‘The Garden Sessions’.

Since last May, the project has grown massively into a multi-faceted online portal designed to promote new song writing, folk & traditional music. The website (www.gardensessions.co.uk) features free downloads from many local and international musicians, folkie news and reviews. But it is the fortnightly Internet radio show (or Podcast), which is truly the driving force. Over the past year, 30 hour-long episodes have been released, exposing listeners to over 100 new artists, with 18 exclusive live featured artist sessions as well as coverage of the Edinburgh Festival, Knockengorroch’s World Ceilidh, The Feis Rois Ceilidh Trail, The Broom Farm Cider Festival, Celtic Connections and slightly more whimsical pieces like the Coigach ‘Handba’ which featured in the New Year Special. The Garden Sessions listenership has grown steadily since last May to around two & a half thousand listeners, based, practically on word of mouth alone.

When Jack Foster was asked how the Garden Sessions differed from it’s more mainstream rivals (i.e. Archie Fisher’s Travelling Folk) – he had this to say: “Travelling Folk is an institution, and without it I would doubt that Garden Sessions would exist. I fear though, that a lot of audiences might be put off by the very serious way in which it is presented. It’s great for the hardcore folkies, but if you’re trying to bring more people into the fold, it has to be more accessible.”

One of the most successful features on the show is ‘Dave’s Angle’, in which Dave Gimble presents us with a traditional (or occasionally contemporary) song, and deciphers the plot within. These medieval tales more often than not cover the familiar ground of sex, murder and so forth. Previous songs he’s angled through include ‘Jock o’ Hazeldean’, ‘Matty Groves’ and ‘Tamlin’.

So what lies ahead for the Garden Sessions? After having been syndicated by Radio BritFolk and closer to home – Edinburgh’s Leith FM, things are looking good for the year ahead. Tom Harland intends to go one better than his ‘Folk Odyssey’ of last year where he delved into the folk scene of the far Northwest of Scotland. This year he plans to start a full scale ‘Folk Odyssey’ on Asia and Austral-Asia beginning later this year, and he’ll be sending back reports every 2 weeks. Meanwhile, the Garden Sessions will continue to remain at the heart of the Scottish folk scene, and it is becoming harder and harder to deny the beginnings of another Folk revival in Scotland.

Listen: The Garden Sessions, Episode 30 (1st Anniversary Special)

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Contact the Garden Sessions Newsdesk at news@gardensessions.co.uk