Quotes


"This is a truly satisfying production"
     - Colin Bailey, R2 Magazine ROCK 'n' REEL.

"...truly beautiful in its execution. This really is a fantastic record."
     - Allan Wilkinson, Northern Sky

"a definite five-star rating, no question"
     - Tim Carroll, FolkWords 

"There is not a weak track among the 14”
     Martin Chilton, The Telegraph 

"A songwriting peak... heartbreaking... entertaining and highly imaginative"
     - Martin Townsend, The Sunday Express

"Poised, precise, sublime, intricate...a revelation!"
     - Martin Townsend, The Sunday Express 

“A collection of unfailingly listenable, self-penned acoustic songs”
     - Colin Bailey, R2 Magazine ROCK 'n' REEL. 

"A collection of her own songs which sound as if they might be traditional. These are proper folk songs"
     - Ian Croft, R2 magazine 

"perfectly played and produced by one of the finest folk voices... a remarkable record"
     - Boff Whalley, R2 Magazine 

"a moving celebration of Lakes Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge"
- Martin Chilton, The Telegraph 

"Enthralling and Beautifully Sung"
     - Martin Townsend, The Sunday Express 

"An album that marks the arrival of a new star in the folk firmament."
     - Americana UK 

"It's a gorgeous listen"
Americana UK 

"Ange Hardy is one of our finest writers and performers"
- Allan Wilkinson, Northern Sky Magazine 


“Deeply rooted in the folk tradition yet bursting with originality and invention... continuing proof, were any needed, that Ange Hardy ranks among our most meaningful and respected folk musicians... faultless... inspired.”
 
    - FolkWords

"a truly exquisite album... a consummate performer and an extraordinarily talented writer, musician and interpreter of traditional folk song"
     - Northern Sky Magazine

"one of the best folk albums of 2017 … Her poetic outpourings in all her songs currently provide solace for many people who are still fully engaged in their search for a carefree future. This album "Bring Back Home" will undoubtedly make an important contribution to this."
    
- Rootstime

This is yet further testament that she’s a shining beacon illuminating the byways of traditional folk for today’s landscape, you should be beating a path to its door!"
     - Folk Radio UK

"As an album for the here and now I think you would struggle to find better, as for the future, this one is here for the years to come"
    
- FATEA Magazine

Ange Hardy is somebody I have the utmost respect for not only as a songwriter, but also as a musical-arranger, and someone who has a sheer beautify of a voice. It's remarkable... I don't care if she wins awards or not, she's way ahead of most of the rest! She is a great, great writer. Bring Back Home is an album I love."
     - Frank Hennessy, BBC Radio Wales

"Once again folk singer Ange Hardy releases one of the finest folk albums of the year in-house. Just like predecessors Findings (2016, with Lukas Drinkwater) and Esteesee (2015), the English on Bring Back Home shows her special talent for writing, producing, arranging and singing songs in an extremely authentic sounding classic folk style"
     - Heaven Magazine

"Her song writing and ability to infuse her compositions and arrangements with a magical essence is mesmerising.... the emotion and feeling Hardy can muster is astonishing... and her ability to tell a story and create characters along with the world they inhabit is unrivalled"
     -
Danny Farragher, Folk All

When you first hear this album, the songs don’t sound new. They are more like old favourites you somehow have forgotten... If you haven’t listened to this album yet, I am excited for you... for the musical treasure you are going to discover."
     - Stephen Leatherdale

"Lyrically, musically and through the arrangements... it’s at the heart of the tradition... Deft, delicate, precise... If you fancy the idea, there are under three weeks to get a folk song to Number One for Christmas... It’s a fine album”
    
- Mike Wistow, Folking.com

“One of this counties best songwriters and interpreters... I couldn’t recommend it highly enough”
   
  - Michael Brocken, Folkscene, BBC Merseyside 


"A quality duo. There's frankly so much to admire, but the main thing is it sounds beautiful"
     - Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2

"Findings is complex yet simple, passionate, powerful and ultimately the real deal"
    
- Mike Harding, The Mike Harding Folk Show

“Top of the class! Fabulous musicianship, stunning vocals, outstanding writing, and all beautifully presented, I loved every second, all the tracks have something special about them. Findings is a real turning point, I think, in the careers of Ange Hardy and Lukas Drinkwater. Well done to them!"
    
- Frank Hennessy, BBC Radio Wales

"A superbly wrought and finely crafted  album, beautifully played by all involved, that is certain to loom large in the end of year folk awards"
     - Folk Radio UK

"Hardy is an incredible musician and songwriter and her voice deserves her place among the other wonderful song maidens the folk scene has produced... Drinkwater adds a whole new dynamic, not only with his undeniable skill as a musician but also bringing harmonies which marry with Hardy's voice seamlessly."
    
- FOLKALL

"Two multi-instrumentalists that know how to bring a striking vitality out of music's building blocks."
     - FATEA Magazine

"The wholepackage is a masterclass in how to do it"
     - The Readifolk Radio Show

"It's an album of the highest quality, an absolute triumph"
     - The Gary Hazlehurst Folk Show

"An extrodinary piece of work, absolutely splendid"
     - Strange Brew with Steve Clarke

"a watershed album, a seamless fusion of old traditional folk and new original music"
     - Laurely Canyon Music

The work that they put in to this release is phenomanal, not only musically but recording wize and the packaging too"
     - Roots and Fusion with Richard Bolland

"Rustic and organic - a unique and creative whole. The age of discovery is alive and kicking"
     
- Bright Young Folk

"Not to belittle its predecessors but Findings could be Ange’s best album."
     - Folking.com

"just marvelling in the magnitude of this project will broaden your mind, engage your listening senses and add immense value to your overall enjoyment of music."
     - Three Chords and the Truth UK

"One of the finest voices to come out of the West Country (or anywhere else for that matter) in a long time."
     - The Living Tradition

"she has created a masterpiece"
     - PTMQ (Phil The Music Quill)

"A joy for the ears – I honestly wish I’d been introduced to Coleridge this way when I was at school...a fine introduction to the life and work of Coleridge and a great advert for Somerset and Exmoor"
     - Jan Hall, Folk Roots Radio

"one of the great traditional folk albums of the 21st century."
     - Andy Barnes, Sonic Bandwagon

Ange Hardy's last work was without doubt outstanding, this release is a masterpiece. Not many people have the gift that she has, a lot of people work hard to attain it, I know she works very hard but her genius shines through and lifts her above the rest, like Rembrandt, Mozart, Burns and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This is not a throw away statement, I truly believe that within the next few years her name will be amongst the greats. 
     - Stevie Connor , CEO Blues & Roots Radio

"this is without question one of the folk albums of the year."
     - Mike Davies, Roots and Branches

"Ange Hardy is one of our finest writers and performers"
      - Allan Wilkinson, Northern Sky

"One of the most original and notable albums of 2015"
     - Danny Farragher, FolkAll

"Esteesee will doubtless also prove every bit as addictive as the opium and laudanum on which Coleridge himself dosed."
     - David Kidman, Folk Radio UK

 "a true dynamic masterpiece"
     - Band of Badgers

"Her recruitment of some of the best musicians in the land and her effective use of their talents to enhance her own highly orginal material is pure genius... A very clever album indeed, which hints strongly that Ange Hardy is going to become a sought-after producer in years ahead" 
     
- Mike Weaver, Armandaleg

"Simply put 'Esteesee' is a highly original, beautifully produced and seminal UK folk album, which will be treasured for years to come."
     - Laurel Canyon Music

"The musicianship, singing and performance on this album, hits the marks time and time again"
     - Neil King, FATEA

"One of the very best albums I have heard this year"
     - Doug Welch, BBC Kent Folk

"you’d be pushed to hear a finer folk song this year." 
     
- Mike Ainscoe, Bright Young Folk

"A lesson in literature, history and music in an exquisite package from Ange Hardy. The music is as beautiful as the packaging. A must-have for collectors of folk music."
     - Trevox, Folk At Five

"It’s rare that I’ll play a CD twice through without a break even for the purposes of a review. Esteesee is an exception."
     - Dai Jeffries, Folking

"One of those rare albums where every track is a winner - and beautiful packing to boot!" 
     - Peter Aston, Forest Folk

"a tribute to the craft that is modern traditional folk"
     - West Country Folk

"I would say there's a great chance we could be listening to the album of the year, next year. It is that good." 

     - Gary Hazlehurst

“Another album that’s made an impact this year is ‘The Lament of the Black Sheep’ by Ange Hardy. Everybody in the studio was genuinely surprised to learn this new single was her own song, because it sounds like a song that’s been around for a hundred years or more. It’s a really neat trick to write songs that sound almost traditional!”
     – Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2

“Bare Foot Folk is an excellent album”
     - Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio2 Folk Show

“I think one of the most interesting, powerful and talented singers - and songwriters - to come out of the last couple of years has been Ange Hardy. She’s rapidly gained an enormous following all over the country.”
     - Mike Harding 

“She performs with a warmth that is both disarming and inspirational. Her songs of life and the countryside feel traditional and she augments voice and guitar with very effective use of a loop pedal to add harmonies or extra instruments. It is a great feat of perfect timing”
     -  Ian Croft, R2 magazine

"Ange Hardy's one of the bright stars of the new wave of folk singers. What I like about her work is that while it is all new, all new written stuff, it seems deeply rooted in the story telling tradition. It doesn't have any element at all of pastiche it just seems to work incredibly well. She tells new stories in an age old way, I think it works terrifically well.'
     - MIKE HARDING, The Mike Harding folk Show

"One of the hardest working people in the folk world" 
     - 
Ian Freedman, Readifolk,

"Ange’s guitar technique and especially her voice are also major factors in the spectacular success of The Lament Of The Black Sheep."
     - Simon Holland, Folk Radio UK

"If last year’s album marked a triumphant return to the folk world, this firmly consolidates her position as one of the finest contemporary-traditional voices in the field, and were I Eliza Carthy or Cara Dillon I’d be looking over my shoulder very carefully."
     - Mike Davies, Folking.com

"By far my favourite album of 2014"
     - Gary Hazlehurst, The Folk Show, StaffordFM

"this is a startling piece of work. Forty five minutes of beautifully crafted and performed music and it’s simply just a treat to sit back and let the whole Lament experience wash over you a few times before delving deeper into the songs...the name of Ange Hardy and her Lament Of The Black Sheep are going to feature prominently on the end of year Best Of’s - get your money down now."
     - Mike Ainscoe, bright young folk

"a wonderfully written and arranged album which does the task that folk music loves to perform, and that is telling stories"
     -  Paul Rawcliffe, English Dance & Song Magazine (www.efdss.co.uk)

“It's great, I'm gonna be playing more from Ange!”
     - Kathryn Tickell

"My Album of the week"
     - Iain Anderson, BBC Scotland

"She has such a wonderful voice, Splendid. "
     - Frank Hennessy, Celtic Heartbeat ~ BBC Wales 

"A really interesting album it is too. She's really very talented. 'The Sailor's Farewell' ...what a beautiful, sad song, really moving I thought."
   
  - Frank Hennessy, Celtic Heartbeat ~ BBC Wales

"A really promising artist with great expression in her song delivery"
   
 - Bruce Mac Gregor, Traveling Folk ~ BBC Scotland

"Beautiful. Lovely voice"
    Bruce MacGregor, Travelling Folk ~ BBC Soctland 

“Isn't it beautiful. I like the fact that you can imagine she was born and raised in her early years in Somerset and then went of to Ireland for a few years and learnt all that craft and then brought it back to Somerset again...It just screams of rural upbringing in England and Ireland as well. Great, and evocative of the old times.”
     - Charlie Taylor, BBC Introducing in the West

"This lady burst into my consciousness very recently, she's called Ange Hardy, The CD's called 'The Lament of The Black Sheep' and this is a lovely one, what a cracker!"
     - Genevieve Tudor's Sunday Folk, BBC Shropshire

"Simply beautiful. My 'album of the week'."
     - Emma Britton, BBC Somerset

"Great songs that are all written by her and they sound almost as if they were written a hundred years ago...There isn't a duff track on the album" 
     - Doug Welch , BBC Radio Kent

"I cannot find fault with her songs at all, they had me gripped to my seat, hanging on to every word."
     
- Maverick Magazine

"Album's like Ange Hardy's "The Lament Of The Black Sheep" are a genuinely once in a blue moon album ... not only is she an incredible vocalist, she is also damned fine with the pen, the result is songs that could move a statue"
     - Neil King FATEA Magazine

"Ange's bursting onto the scene last year wasn't just down to her extraordinary talent as both a writer and performer, but also her willingness to put in the graft. Not only is she a true creative in her craft, she realises that in order for that to be truly appreciated, you need to make sure that you're being heard"
 
    - Neil King, FATEA Magazine

"Mightily impressed." 
     -  Mike Norris, EFDSS Classic Folk 

"The songs are so immersive that you end up yearning for that vanished age, maybe it is an unrealistic rural idyll...brilliant second album" 
     - Spiral Earth

“The unbelievable music of Ange Hardy...I will be very very surprised if it isn't on dozens of best of the year lists it's that good, it's one of those albums that just grabs you instantaneously. Every track is an absolute winner.”
     - Rick Stewart, Roots and Fusion

"a towering talent of our folk scene with a huge and broad repertoire."
 
   - Tamsin Rosewell, Radio Warwickshire

"extremely well sung and extremely attractively presented (nay, a work of art): it’s a really special record"
     - 
David Kidman, The Living Tradition

"The album is, like Ange's voice, just delightful. Please give it a listen. I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I have done."
     - Graham Hobbs, Shire Folk

"another phenomenal female folk singer to add to my favourites list alongside the likes of Kathryn Roberts,Kate Rusby and Cara Dillon."
     - 
Rob Powell, Band of Badgers

"It is gorgeous. It is a very, very fine album indeed. It's all self written, she wrote every song on it herself, but it just soaks up and exudes folk music of the very best sort with lots of imagination and lots of very good stuff going on throughout it."
     - Steve Clarke, CuilinFM

"Very very clever, Very talented lady"
     - Chris Bowden, Radio Wimborne

"the album is keenly anticipated by folk writers and radio presenters up and down the country. Without doubt, this CD is going to do well."
     - 
Mike Weaver, Armandaleg

"This breathtaking collection of contemporary and personal folk songs can stand alongside anything by Kate Rusby or Kathryn Roberts. It has proved to be an album to which I've returned time and again."
      - Albion Magazine

"This is a gem of an album from a lady with the voice and the vocal skills to regain the truth of folk music in telling tales, opening minds and making us laugh."
     - Irish Music Magazine

"This lady and CD is one of those 'proper' folk CD's and quality folk singers, totally underrated, outrageous talent, beautiful vioce and loads of promise" 
     - The Richard Harris Folk and Blues Show

"Lush. A lovely thoughtful album, all about roots and about grounding."
     - Phil Widdows, FolkCast

"Bare Foot Folk and is full of really interesting songs, Ange Hardy takes folk tales and creates new folk songs that sound traditional around the story. This is one she's called mother willow tree, it's beautiful"
     - MIKE HARDING, The Mike Harding folk Show

"I've had a good listen to the album, there's some cracking tracks on it. She seems to get folk themes going in her mind, and writes new songs that sound sometimes for all the world as though they are in fact deeply traditional"
     - MIKE HARDING, The Mike Harding folk Show

"If I were putting the album of the year show together today, this would be it.... watch out for Ange Hardy... she's bursting onto the scene fully formed" 
     - 
Ian Freedman, Readifolk,

"Ange’s sound itself is sweet, that is the only real word for it. Sweet as in pleasant to hear and leaves you wanting to have just one more. The album is all her work so the extra voice dubbing is a good addition as it gives her already strong voice an extra magical hold over the listeners."
     - 
Paul Rawcliffe, Bright Young Folk

“She writes some very very nice stuff, well worth a listen, another one i'd like to go and see”
     - Alan Morley, FolkRise

"Pure acoustic magic"
     - Armandaleg Music

"The melodies are unadulterated, the guitar work mouth-watering, the vocals enchanting with laid-bare harmonies. What forges the surprise is these are all self-penned songs that are at once ancient then ageless; from three hundred years ago or from yesterday." 
     - Tim Carrol, FolkWords

"I always find myself wishing I could be at a live performance of this kind of music. Ange Hardy makes you want to sit at her feet while she takes you into her confidence. Straight and pure singing with a simple effective accompaniment, Ange Hardy has a sweet soft voice and her guitar playing is just right."
     - Annemarie de Bie, The Living Tradition magazine 

"Ange was beautiful, lovely songs well crafted and played with a delicate precision of gentle finger picking that complimented her singing perfectly.  The songs she played could have been old traditional folk songs of England but were all written and crafted by Ange herself, sung with a warm and welcoming voice with a depth and feeling in-tune with the likes of Kate Rusby, Caroline Herring, Gillian Welch, Gretchen Peters, Kirsty McGee and Patsy Matheson" 
     - Richard Harris, The Richard Harris 'Folk and Blues Show' Somer Valley 97.5FM

"a brilliant cd, one i haven't tired of playing over and over at home and on the FOLK SHOW"
     - Terry Ferdinand, 'The Folk Show' Bishop FM 

"Her music acknowledges and showcases a range of emotions. Her voice is crisp and mesmerising yet familiar, like a warm single malt with a caramel finish"
     - Peter Taranaski, She Dances in the Mind

"An album about loss, love, search for self and belonging, it closes with the lovely Appalachian hymnal Heaven Waits, a ‘called home’ acceptance that, as she puts it, the trials of this life on earth are but a part of our eternity. Having taken time off to raise her family, she’s starting to re-establish herself on the folk circuit again, with an album like this as a calling card, she should have little problem getting bookings."
     - Mike Davies, NetRhythms 

"Absolutely gorgeous voice, brilliant album and you need to check it out."  
     - Rick Stuart, Roots & Fusion

"Up there with the best of them"
     -Terry Ferdinand, BishopFM

"Sylvan-voiced Somerset folk singer who has an incredible writing talent including a great sense of humour. Her hugely varied and consistently good output has been recognised by the FATEA website recently naming Ange as female vocalist of the year 2013."
     - Roots of the World

"You only have to listen to ‘The Lament of The Black Sheep’ to hear the living heart of folk music beating throughout."
 
    - Tim Carroll, FolkWords

"Ange has the rare ability to be able to write convincingly in a ‘traditional’ style which sounds genuinely  authentic."
     - Alan Morley, UK Folk Music

"Is that beautiful, or what? I love Ange Hardy, she's great... I haven't even lined up the next tune I've been so enthralled by that CD!"
     - The Richard Harris Folk and Blues Show

"Ange is very well liked among presenters, she's got a lovely voice, she writes her own songs but there's such a traditional feel. Absolutely stunning."
     - Liz Franklin, Folkal Point 

"Brilliant, the album really is excellent."
     - Brian Player, Acoustic Music Radio

"I love it. I got a chance to listen to the entire album and it's so melodic and it's also very introspective, every song tells a story. Ange is a very family orientated person from what I can garner about her and the album seems to draw from personal experience and even the liner notes, everything feels like you're being shown a private part of someone's life. The album title itself comes from something her son used to say, the whole album as a package is just fantastic and I thoroughly recommend you go pick up a copy."
     
- Alex McKay, Monday Music Lab

"Very very lucky, pleased and honoured to have a copy of the album it's absolutely gorgeous. I tell you one thing as well, I strongly recommend that you go on to Ange Hardy's website and look at the section called Ange's story. I don't think I've ever read such an honest open account of someones life laid bare for all to see on a website like that. It explains why her song writing is so stunning because it is just real, like her, she is a phenomenon and the only thing I can follow Ange Hardy with really is another Ange Hardy!"
     - Rick Stewart, Roots & Fusion

“One of the most impressive one's of the lot, Fantastic stuff. Great listening, quality songwriting and briliant harmonies from Ange as usual … get it and watch out for her.”
     - Alan Morley, FolkRise  

"Ange Hardy continues the tradition...Fourteen songs, assumedly Hardy-penned, and every one reaching deep. Nice, nice stuff."
     - Mark Tucker, FAME

"The vision which emerges from this beautifully textured album is that heritage is as much about the soul we carry with us as it is about the physical landscape that we spend our lives roaming across."
     - Piers Ford, The Art of The Torch Singer

"Another gem from Hardy, anticipating the prospect of even more exciting musical development."
     - Colin Bailey, The Bailey Beat


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