An Unfamiliar Place

We have enormous pleasure in announcing the release of An Unfamiliar Place - The debut CD by Barbara Helen a collection of enchanting songs which never fail to leave you moved and inspired. Barbara has been a long standing favourite of ours here at North East Live having played for us at our Acoustic Sundays at Borders Bookstore on Teesside Park, Whitby Pirate Day last September and more recently providing the support for Harvey Andrews at The Marton Country Club.

On Tuesday 20th January Barbara will be appearing live at Doctor Browns in Middlesbrough to launch her CD with support from Brother Crow, Martin Nesbitt and Blind Summat. This line up promises to provide one of the finest evenings of entertainment this area has seen in a long time and should appeal to a wide audience. Hopefully this will prove to be the first of many gentler evenings we will be holding at Doctor Browns!

Brother Crow have are an acoustic duo from Weardale who have been delighting audiences up and down the country with their original narrative songs about the people, places and historical events of their local area and beyond. Andrew Davison, who plays guitar and ten-string bouzouki, is the duo’s lyricist and main songwriter. He combines powerful rhythm and delicate finger-style to dramatic effect and uses his evocative lyrics and strong sense of narrative to paint imaginative pictures for the audience. Graeme Carroll is an accomplished mandolin player and accompanist. His playing has a complexity which combines affection for traditional tunes/playing with a modern melodic style.

Brother Crow’s live performances have been described as intense, captivating, haunting and passionate. The dark nature of some of their songs being counter-balanced by a strong stage presence, a natural sense of humour and fun and a deep knowledge of their subject matter. Recently, the duo won the Klondike Folk Arts Competition at Ryedale Folk Weekend for their song "As Children We Would Run" and the Tommy Armstrong Best Song Trophy at Durham Traditional Music Festival for “Once Their Were So Few”. For further information please check out their MySpace site or Website.

Blind Summat are a Folk & Blues band from North Yorkshire made up of Wendy Arrowsmith who is establishing a name for herself on the Northeast Folk scene as a fine singer of traditional songs (Scottish, Irish, English & American) and as writer of folky style songs with a real sense of place and history. Joolz Cavell who is also well known on the North Yorkshire Folk Scene as a writer of fine contemporary folk songs, a talented percussionist and for her solid guitar style. Rebekah Findlay is another fine singer & musician and burgeoning songwriter and finally Paul Arrowsmith who completes the line-up as the banjo player. Check out their MySpace site for more info.

An Unfamiliar Place will be available to purchase on the evening but if you can't wait that long then you can also buy a copy now at the following outlets.

Confidential Records

Barbara's Myspace - Paypal

And via I-Tunes and other outlets in the new year.


Barbara is possibly one of the finest solo singer / songwriters we have had the pleasure of seeing perform in a long time. Not only does she have a beautiful voice she also performs all of her own material in her act. With heartfelt lyrics and a varied repertoire, Barbara quite literally puts her heart and soul into her performance - beautiful, inspiring and enchanting. Don't just take our word for how wonderful this lady is here is what other people have had to say about her:

"We are all big Barbara Helen fans at the Station but we are not alone, Barbara converts anyone with ears, her songwriting is wonderfull and she is a great guitar player as well (damit). She has a new CD coming out soon and it is going to be GREAT."

Ian Swinburne, Loftus Open Acoustic   

"A voice like pure crystal"

Bob Fishcer, Fischers' eye   

“Last nights folk show was another wonderful night of recorded and live music. The attractive and very talented, smooth voiced Barbara Helen gave us six amazing songs, and you don't have to take my word for it, e-mails from around the country, and the world paid tribute to her song writing skills and professional delivery, from such places as Texas, and from fellow myspace artists. Both Phil Graham and I sat transfixed in almost a hypnotic state as she sang love songs and songs personal to her life, many of which will feature on the new cd, which she is in the process of recording today.”

Terry Ferdinand.The Folk Show Bishop Fm Radio   

Entry to the launch night is free and the entertainment will begin at 8pm.

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