McNiff's Folk Sundowner: Sue Harding

Jason McNiff’s legendary weekly acoustic strand with a different featured guest every Friday.

This week Jason is joined by Sue Harding, a wonderful singer-songwriter inspired by a long love affair with Celtic and American acoustic roots.

Entry is always free but contributions towards the players are welcome.
Under 18s welcome before 7pm

ABOUT SUE HARDING

” That English Arcadia where the shadows lie, the music a
dappled amalgam of Nick Drake and Virginia Astley…”
The Financial Times (2023)

Born in London but brought up in the Cotswolds, Sue doesn’t remember a time when she couldn’t sing; falling in love with roots & folk music initially when studying English in Manchester. Later, when living in Wales & then Bath, Sue found sessions & folk clubs, learning traditional songs & developing her craft along the way.

“Flight” was Sue’s first album of original songs, released in 2016. It was well received with stripped back arrangements & intimate vocals, influenced by a love of American folk music & the poets of the 1960s. Neville Farmer, Music Journalist said, “Wonderful! We felt as if we were hearing the spirit of Laura Nyro, Joan Baez, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Woodie Guthrie and more all rolled into one.”

“Darkling”, Sue’s second album, returns to gentle romanticism with a contemporary folk feel. It celebrates a renewed connection to the English landscape & late Victorian poetry, which inspires so much of it. “Hauntingly beautiful – A fine example of the new revival in English-style traditional folk music” – Julie Nash, Folk & Tumble

Sue’s third album, The World (working title) is due

ABOUT JASON MCNIFF

Jason is a troubadour who has made nine albums which people call Folk, Americana, or Alt. Country. There is an Englishness in his guitar playing however, and you might like to think of Bert Jansch or Wizz Jones meeting John Prine & Townes Van Zandt. Time Out writes, ‘McNiffs quiet, intimate, fragile-sounding vocals draw you into his world, an almost timeless place, through which he drifts, a romantic loner, a dreamer, at home with the blues.’ He is often touted as one of the UKs most overlooked musical treasures.

​’I love Jason’s version (of Fisherman’s blues)’
Mike Scott, The Waterboys

‘Jason’s versions sound so fresh, whilst staying true to Bert’s timeless music’
The Bert Jansch Foundation

One of the UK’s best kept secrets”
Mojo

“A superior singer/writer “
No Depression

​”A fantastic body of work”
Shindig!

“A bounteous mix of the finest roots music has to offer”
Folk Radio UK

​”Deft finger-picking style against a wonderfully atmospheric vocal”
Clash

​”Britain’s greatest contemporary fingerstyle guitarist”
Guitar Quarterly

​”A triumph of English-Americana”
Time Out

“The nearest thing out there to Bob Dylan and the Band”
Sean Rowley, BBC Radio London

​”Dark songs of drunkenness and murder!”
The Independent

​”A troubadour and one of the best singer/songwriters we have in this country”
Morning Star

​”Not just a good songwriter, a truly great one”
Americana UK 9/10

​Album of the Year for 2nd album Nobody’s Son
as voted for by the staff at Americana UK

https://www.jasonmcniff.com/