Dubbed 'Manchester's "Queen of Folk and Blues" by the Manchester Evening News, Mary was a regular performer in Manchester and the Northwest and occasional tours in Holland and Belgium in the seventies and early eighties.

Mary was once approached by a major record company to record with them but asked her to change her name to MARY CHRISTMAS!

Since the reissue of "Closing Time' there has been considerable interest in the songs including a group based in Switzerland recording their version of "When Marilyn Monroe died Blues".

People have asked us if Mary is likely to play again but unfortunately Mary hasn't had good health recently and nothing is planned for the immediate future. However, there is a little pub in Stockport where Mary can be seen sitting in occasionally at the local singaround sessions. Check out websites for 'Manchester Pub singarounds' perhaps?

Reviews

Colin Irwin:
"..her voice - impassioned with an underlying coarseness, and a bluesy quality that's utterly gripping…"STAGE FRIGHT & "CLOSING TIME" are works of real class and maturity".

Ian Anderson (currently editor of fRoots) wrote
"in FOLK REVIEW "Mary has a knack of singing songs in a way which tears your emotions to shreds, raises your goosebumps and then scours the tops off!".

Steve Heap (Mrs Casey Music):
Festival promoter and agent claimed "he would walk over burning coals to get a CD version of "CLOSING TIME".

Mike Harding:
loved the title song 'CLOSING TIME' so much not only did he record it himself a few years back but he played MARY's version twice on his programme - THE MIKE HARDING SHOW - on BBC RADIO TWO.

Miriam Backhouse started singing in British folk Clubs in the mid seventies and quickly gained a big reputation as a new young performer of traditional material. Miriam plays guitar to accompany herself but her debut album has the addition of keyboards and bass arrangements by Brian Etheridge and Stephen Delft on dulcimer.

At the end of 1979 Miriam moved to South Africa with her then new husband, musician John Erasmus.They quickly built up a solid reputation as performers,recorded several albums and featured on many television programmes.

Miriam returns to England in 2008 with gigs in UK .email us for more details.
GYPSY WITHOUT A ROAD (mum1203) (first rleased in 1977 on vinyl) features four English trad itional songs alongside two ROSIE HARDMAN SONGS beautifully sung and arranged.and a haunting version of Will Williams' "THE FARMERS HAVE GONE EAST"

Gypsy Without a Road has been reissiued in 2006 with 2 bonus live recorded tracks from 1977.
Please note the vinyl version of this album is now valued above £100 !!! to collectors. 

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Scots trio Mirk hail from the northern most part of Scotland in Caithness.
Ian and Margie Sinclair along with Ray Crompton recorded MODDAN'S BOWER in 1979. Ireland's Tommy Makem & Liam Clancy were so taken with Ian Sinclairs' song BOWER MADDEN they recorded it as a single and on an album.

Another of Ian's songs on this album is "Take the King's Shilling" recorded by many Scottish groups and singers.
A beautiful debut album of traditional and contemporary songs with an earthy Scots feel to it.
As Dick Gaughan's sleeves notes point out MARGIE SINCLAIR must surely be one of Scotlands' finest singers.
At present this album is only available in original vinyl format.

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Saffron started singing around the London folk clubs in the early seventies. She was soon invited to join FAIRPORT CONVENTION spin-off band TRADER HORNE and although the group recorded several tracks for DAWN records the album was never released.Trader Horne gigged in London and France and recorded JOHN PEELS' "SOUNDS OF THE SEVENTIES' on the same show as rock band "FREE!". Saffron remembers hearing FREE's fans screaming so loudly outside the studio during rehearsals that she couldn't hear herself sing!

Trader Horne split up and Saffron continued her solo career. After several attempts at recording songs for several record companies including EMI getting her to record a 'pop' song called "The lonely Ones" she decided to produce her own record.

Mother Earth Records was set up and Saffron's first two albums were also leased to Polydor and Negram in Holland and Germany.

"SALISBURY PLAIN"
'FANCY MEETING YOU HERE!"
Now available on one CD reissue "THE EARLY YEARS"

She gained considerable recognition in the UK , Europe and made several trips to The States.
After two decades of 'being on the road' Saffron decided to take a break from singing and studied photography at Central London Poly in the early nineties.

Some of her photographic work included shooting sleeves for other folkies such as JOHN KIRKPATRICK,THE WATERSONS,STEAFAN HANNIGAN and CLAIRE HAMMILL. She was also a photographer for the Evironmental Picture Library - a part of Greenpeace's set up.

In 1993 Saffron was asked to record an album for BREWHOUSE RECORDS "WHOSE LAND IS IT ANYWAY?". This album featured musicians KATHRYN LOCKE and STEAFAN HANNIGAN and allowed Saffron to record some of her favourite songs including the Hungarian traditional song LASZLO FEHER .The album received stunning reviews (see reviews).and put Saffron back on the musical map. Brewhouse allowed Saffron to retain the copyright and it is now on the Mother Earth Music catalogue.

The Stonemasons' Dream"…
Latest album from Saffron released in in 2002 and features TANERA DAWKINS on cello and ROBERT JARVIS on Trombone. Beautiful arrangements of seven new songsalong with one traditional song and Patrick Kavanagh's 'On Raglin Road'.

In the summer of 2003 Saffron was hoping to work on an album of British traditional songs with ace Fiddler DAVE SWARBRICK but due to Dave's current ill health it is on the back burner as they say.  Saffron is currently working on a new album 'South Coast Sounds' for summer 2005.

Reviews

Froots...'Excellent singer, excellent songs, words like class,cool and maturity spring to mind...' Time Out...beautiful words, beautiful melodies, delicately constructed...' Scotland's Herald on Sunday...(review of The Stonemason's Dream)...'fine songs here ,a blend of UK and US folk flavours lightly peppered with jazz, blues and world-music accents...

For more information on Saffrons' current projects and gigs see:
www.saffronsummerfield.co.uk

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