Little Red the Oxfordshire / Berkshire (Reading) based alt-folk trio to perform at BBC Countryfile Live

One of the main attractions is the live stage shows, which will be hosted by the Countryfile presenters we know from the telly.

But aside from the big names, Countryfile live is embracing it’s local scene by putting some of the best talent in the area centre stage. Our own Little Red will take to the Stage on Saturday August 5th with their six-piece lineup.

Little Red are an Oxfordshire / Berkshire based alt-folk trio, formed by Hayley Bell (vocals), Ben Gosling (vocals; bass; guitars; drums; keyboards; production) and Ian Mitchell (vocals; guitars). They formed in 2014 and have released four records so far. Their most recent EPs, `The Huntsman’, and a remix EP `Teeth, We Have’, featuring re-workings by the likes of Tiger Mendoza and Foci’s Left, were released last month on local label All Will Be Well Records.

Influenced by artists such as Tom Mcrae, Nick Cave, Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan. Little Red perform songs inspired by traditional Folk and Americana. Tales of visceral knife crime and woodland hauntings are delivered with driving melodies in three-part harmony.

To book tickets, click here.

Address
Blenheim Palace will provide the breath-taking backdrop for Countryfile Live this year.
The Grade I listed country manor is located in Oxfordshire, England.
You can attend the four-day summertime event from August 3 to August 6.
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Testimonials
“New track ‘Siren’s Song’ with it’s bewitching Bluegrass edge, suggests this band are just getting better and better”
– Nightshift Magazine – Nov 2016

“This hit exactly the spot I needed. I was sat in a very comfortable chair in a quiet room, listening to a trio playing acoustic Americana-tinged folk music and getting it exactly right. There’s nothing flashy here, but there’s warmth, peace, variety and just enough menace to keep things interesting. Highly recommended.”
– Calum A Mitchell – Oxjam – 2016

“Oxford’s premier dark-folk band” – Dave Gilyeat – BBC Radio

“A band well worth following” – Ronan Munro – Nightshift Music Magazine.

“Their musicianship is tight as you could want, the songwriting sharp, vocals engrossing and the lyrics striking.” Charlie Elland – Folk Words

“Little Red are definitely worth listening time and I can only recommend you take the opportunity”

Neil King – FATEA Magazine

“Sticks and Stones is a cool album with a cool groove.”

Bob Meyer – Bob’s Folk Show

“It (Sticks and Stones by Little Red) is damn fine ……There is a real atmosphere created and the songs have a surprising depth to them.”

Ed Dyer – The Ocelot

“Little Red take to the stage with warm, story-telling songs. They lull their audience with pretty harmonies”

Celina Macdonald – Nightshift Magazine

“‘What Say You’, is just charming. From a clean
finger-picked guitar figure, that has a whiff of the cosy, unflurried ’70s library music style that Trunk Records christened Fuzzy Felt Folk, closely entwined male and female vocals bob on a charming little melody, like a toy boat on a choppy duckpond. It sounds limpidly lovely, but like so many great folk tunes, the jaunty music hides a black heart, the lyrics telling of betrayal, disappointment and visceral knife crime. There is a wonderful moment where the guitar drops out to let the vocals declaim the chorus unaccompanied, that structurally seems to owe more to club bangers than any folk tradition, and in all, the song is a micro-epic, hinting at a full and macabre tale in its 1’48” running time.””

David Murphy – Music In Oxford

“Time for something a bit more restrained. Even Little Red’s name suggests timidity and they are indeed a slightly mousy folk outfit: pretty, dappled, traditional-sounding harmony-based songs that peek out from their safe little nest into the bigger, scarier world of rock’n’roll just occasionally. The threesome are at their best when they strip things down and stick to rustic wanderings and wonderings, the male-female vocal interaction keeping things fresh, though they’d do well to give Hayley Bell a more prominent role for the most part. `The Garden’ sees them bring almost surfy electric guitars to play, which suits them well, and the autumnal `Cures’ is sweet”….” we’re grateful for a few moments of simple, unpretentious music that’s hard to dislike.”

Ronan Munro – Nightshift Magazine

“Praise for the new Little Red track “The Cause”: “Ian Mitchell hands lead vocal duties to multi-instrumentalist Ben Gosling for this bittersweet ballad – his Neil Young-esque tenor blends effortlessly with Hayley Bell’s backing vocals in a way that’s reminiscent of Robert Plant’s collaboration with Alison Krauss.””

James Bandenburg – Folkgeek.net