Eggibred
I will be playing a number of dates this year as acoustic-folk duo Eggibred with Stephen Skey. (see www.eggibred.co.uk). As well as the album Postcard from the Eggs, available on CD and download, (See www.talkingelephant.co.uk) Eggibred recently contributed our version of The Hiring Fair to the new Festival of Folk Volume One released by Talking Elephant Music.
Stephen Skey and Chris Lea aka Eggibred
Eggibred has been one of the five regular hosts at the ARK Club (Acoustic Roots Klub) which meets on Sunday evenings at The Green Room, The Sports Pavilion, Rugby Club, Punchcroft Road, New Ash Green, Longfield, Kent DA3 8HS.
Seaside Folk, Summer Folk and Winter Folk
During 2009 Eggibred, contributed music to three folk compilation albums: 'Seaside Folk', 'Summer Folk' and Winter Folk. Other artists featured include Fairport Convention, Ashley Hutchings and Vikki Clayton. CDs can be purchased from Talking Elephant Records ( www.talkingelephant.co.uk) or through Itunes and Amazon.
Previously Eggibred provided incidental music for the film Tea Time, documenting a year in the life of Blackheath Tea Hut. For more information go to www.teatimemovie.com.
The album by Eggibred - 'Postcard from the Eggs' features guest percussionist Clive Stagg. Released through Talking Elephant Records (www.talkingelephant.co.uk) it is available through Talking Elephant, iTunes (www.Apple.com/iTunes) and Amazon (www.Amazon.co.uk). It contains the following 19 tracks (15 original folk songs, two covers and two traditional):
Ye Mariners All (Trad.arr. Chris Lea, Stephen Skey) - Collected by H E Hammond in 1907 from Mrs Marina Russell, Upwey, Dorset.
Call to Arms – Victory (Chris Lea, Stephen Skey) – Written to mark the 200th anniversary of Trafalgar.
Postcard (Chris Lea, Stephen Skey) – Looking back on seaside holidays at Broadstairs.
The Quaggy (Millennia Past) (Stephen Skey, Chris Lea)- A symphonic poem for two instruments, named after the river in SE London, reflecting the time before man.
Penelope (Chris Lea, Stephen Skey) – A tragic tale of the press gangs.
326 (Chris Lea, Stephen Skey) – Or ‘The Negotiations 7th to the 11th May 2010, following the General Election’. To win the election the ruling party/ parties had to have a parliamentary majority of 326 seats. It’ll all end in tears?
The Hiring Fair (Ralf McTell, Dave Mattocks) – A Beautiful tale in a pastoral setting.
And We’ll Drink The Night Away (Chris Lea, Stephen Skey) – It is a little known fact that the stepping off point between this life and the next, resides in a bar in the American mid west.
Fair Trade Wind (Stephen Skey, Chris Lea) - A little ode to the progress of paying a fair price. The singer is the son in the first verse becomes the father in the last. With a little reference to the age of sail.
The Pardoner’s Tale (Chris Lea, Stephen Skey) Putting Chaucer’s dark Canterbury Tale to song.
The Lean and Unwashed Tiffy (Cyril Tawney) - A song of losing out to a fellow sailor with a cleaner post.
Gaol Song (Traditional) - An English song collected by H.E.W. Hammond in 1906 from William Davey, Beaminster Workhouse, Dorset,
Never Coming Home (Chris Lea, Stephen Skey) – A tribute to those who gave their lives in war, set in the trenches of the First World War.
Bonus Tracks
Too Fat to be an Elf (Chris Lea, Stephen Skey) – Inspired by the casting policy on Peter Jackson’s cinematic masterpiece, and Chris’s waistline.
The Bird Suite (Chris Lea, Stephen Skey) – Our homage to prog rock, Vivaldi and a hint of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Four pieces combining the seasons, four different feathered friends and a woman’s life.
Spring – Spring Ascent – Birth and childhood.
Summer - Hirundo's Dance - The youthful lass, full of high spirits.
Hirundo Rustica is Latin for Swallow.
Autumn - Head South for Autumn – Drawing on the Autumn Celtic festival of Samain, and the opportunity of a second chance.
Winter - The Wise Old Owl – To recognise the wisdom and knowledge of those in the winter of their years. 
Eggibred appears on the new album 'Festival of Folk Volume One' released by Talking Elephant (www.talkingelephant.co.uk) . Details below.
What the experts say:
Various Artists - Talking Elephant’s Festival Of Folk: Volume One
Probably the best recent folk collection
Talking Elephant has, for many years now, amassed a rich catalogue of folk and folk-rock issues from many of the best in the business, and this new collection kicks off what will become a four-disc set sampling the best of their fare.
What’s immediately striking here is the fine ordering of the tracks, mixing newer artists with well-established folk acts. We start with Mary Jane’s bold and confident Eve, which precedes the first of two tracks each from Fairport Convention and the rougher-hewn Little Johnny England. Phil Beer’s Blind Fiddler is a strong story-song, while Andy Steele’s This Year’s Summer Progress is a delightfully light evocation of summer. Elsewhere, Ashley Hutchings’ professorial influence is felt on both The Rainbow Chasers’ Brambles On A Hill and The Albion Band’s live cover version of Big Yellow Taxi.
One of the strongest tracks comes with Kimber’s Men’s Don’t Take The Heroes, which has all the qualities of a mature song that will last, while the wonderfully named Eggibred make a fine fist of Ralph McTell’s Hiring Fair. Each of these 14 tracks are sheer quality, and whet the appetite for future volumes.
