Well, this is some excellent news. Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage have signed to Topic Records, the announcement of which is celebrated today by the release of their lead single ‘A Winter’s Night,’ taken from their forthcoming album, Ink of the Rosy Morning, due for release on April 1st via the iconic Topic Records.
The song will be familiar to many, also known by its more extended title: A-Roving on a Winter’s Night by the late Doc Watson. Ben explains, “I learnt this [song] from the inimitable Doc Watson. The opening imagery has always appeared so vivid and detailed in my mind’s eye. Sometimes you’re like an actor singing in the first person, but when I do that song I am totally that person. I know exactly where I am, what the girl looks like and what I’m drinking…”
Listen below; it’s also in our Regular Folk playlist on Spotify.
Hannah and Ben first graced these pages as a duo in 2016 with their debut album Before The Sun, followed by an even more accomplished collection in 2018 titled Awake.
Both Hannah and Ben’s musical ideals have been shaped by multiple styles and influences (from Hannah’s teenage years in a touring family band and a lengthy sojourn in America to Ben’s study of the dobro and successes playing with The Willows), exceptional songwriting skills and the array of instruments they can both turn their hands to. Yet way back, both had also been initially fired up by the music and culture of East Anglian folk clubs, and this was the music to which they instinctively gravitated. And thus, ‘Ink Of The Rosy Morning’ is a magnificently intimate and engaging successor to their previous albums.
Ink of the Rosy Morning was very nearly a different beast entirely. Before lockdown, they already had their third album almost ready to roll: finished tracks, guest artists and everything. Then the world changed. And so did their mindset. And with it, their music. “It was,” says Ben Savage hesitatingly, “liberating!”
Choosing instead to record in a quiet former schoolhouse by the sea in Hastings for a few days, they sat in the dining room, lit the fire, opened a bottle of wine, set up a few mics and played. Nothing pre-arranged. No grand scheme. No pre-production. No demos. No thought of releasing anything from it.
All of this makes what they emerged with, Ink Of The Rosy Morning, out April 1st, all the more extraordinary. Pre-Save the album here.
Keep an eye on Folk Radio for the accompanying video, which is set for release next week.
They are also on tour in March/April 2022; check out their dates here: https://www.hannahbenmusic.com/shows
Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage Sign to Topic Records - Folk Radio UK
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