Roots and Wings offers Shoreham church concert

Roots and Wings is the title of a concert coming up in Shoreham on Saturday, May 4 at 7.30pm (doors open at 7pm).
Roots and Wings - Alex, Emily, ChrisRoots and Wings - Alex, Emily, Chris
Roots and Wings - Alex, Emily, Chris

Concert organiser Alex Urquhart, who will be on fiddle, said: “Emily Barden (singer and songwriter on guitar, piano and vocals), Chris Eaton (dobro and vocals) and I will be getting together for a performance at St Nicolas’ Church.

“My mother Lena has played the organ and directed the choirs at the church over the years and suggested that we offer a concert as part of their successful series. I’ve been familiar with this lovely church since childhood and have recently returned to help direct the choir in the Christmas services, and so it’s an opportunity to help out a beloved venue as well as an excuse to make some music together! There are no tickets: it’s free entry, with a retiring collection for the church. There will be a bar and refreshments available to buy in the interval.

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“The concert is called Roots and Wings, after one of the songs, written by Emily, that we’ll be performing. The concert will consist of roots music, Celtic and American folk music and original numbers.

“The band doesn’t have a name, although we regularly play together in all permutations and sometimes we’re lucky enough to get together like this. We began performing together at The Chichester Inn in 2017 and recently played at the Cellar Arts Centre in Worthing. We were brought together originally by working with young people: inspiring the next generation of musicians and at the same time being inspired by each other to work together. We’re really looking forward to playing at St Nicolas’ and performing the music that we love in a great acoustic, while hopefully bringing our sound to new audience members as well as to familiar ones.”

Emily Barden works professionally as a singer and composer and has toured with artists from the worlds of rock through to opera, as a backing vocalist and choir director. Emily is also an experienced choral leader and runs several adult community choirs.

Chris Eaton has performed widely at festivals on the slide guitar and has performed with members of Radiohead and Robert Plant’s Band as well as in support slots for Seasick Steve, Peter Green and Buddy Guy. Chris has also taught at many leading guitar schools, including ACM, the International Guitar Foundation and BIMM.”

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Alex Urquhart has played professionally as a viola player in several of the London Orchestras, the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Santiago, Chile. She played on the album Bad Blood by Bastille and performed with the band at several festivals including Glastonbury. She now plays regularly with the Titanium String Quartet.

Fiddling is a more recently fulfilled ambition, which she has been able to devote time to since moving to Chichester from London in 2016.

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