Karine
POLWART
BIOGRAPHY:
Banknock born Karine Polwart first picked up a guitar before she reached
double figures. It may have taken another 20 years before she became a professional
musician, but a long and varied apprenticeship has allowed her to develop her
own style, and at her own pace. Studying Politics at Dundee, followed by more
studies in Canada led to a degree in Philosophy. Returning to Scotland, Polwart
formed Edinburgh folk act Malinky, and
was a member of The Battlefield
Band between 2001 and 2002.
Her debut solo album, "Faultlines"
was released in January 2004, and featured her brother (and ex-member of Why
Bradley) Stephen Polwart on guitar. Despite an increasingly busy touring and
recording diary, Polwart still works as a music tutor in community projects across
Scotland.
2005 saw Polwart visit Oman for some dates. She then went on to
collect three prizes at the BBC Folk Awards (best album, best song, best emerging
artist) and play a long string of dates around the UK, with a backing band containing
Mattie Foulds (drums), Corrina Hewat (harp / vocals), Kevin McGuire (bass / vocals),
Aiden O'Rourke (violin), Steven Polwart (guitar / vocals, ex-Why
Bradley) & Inge Thomson (accordion / vocals). Sessions were completed
for BBC Radio Two and BBC Radio Four at about this time as well, and Polwart sang
on some (as yet) unreleased Future Pilot AKA tracks. May 2005 saw her marry drummer
Mattie Foulds, and the end of the year saw the release of a limited edition EP
entitled "Pulling Through". The five track CD was on sale at her gigs throughout November, and was the first recording that she had made for her
own imprint "Hegri Music" ("Hegri" is the Shetland word for
heron - her favourite creature). The EP featured her regular band, as well as
violin from Greg Lawson and her younger sister Kerry Polwart (later of The
Poems) on glockenspiel.
A successful year was rounded off with a couple
of nominations at the Scots Trad Music Awards 2005 for "Best Folk Band" and "Best Composer".
2006 saw her
begin with some dates at Glasgow's Celtic Connections festival in January, followed
by a short English tour and a nomination for Folk Singer Of The Year at the BBC2
Folk Awards. This was quickly followed by Polwarts second album, "Scibbled
In Chalk" in April, which was licensed to Glasgow label Shoeshine Records.
The album saw her raise her profile further, with live sessions on prime time
BBC Radio. This was followed by an extensive UK tour throughout May, June &
July, and a feature on BBC2's "Culture Show". July saw the band supporting
Joe Jackson on his European tour, around the same time as Polwart guested on the
debut solo album by Roddy Woomble. In August, Polwart played a couple of dates
supporting The Beautiful South.
In October Cockburnspath Primary School in
Berwickshire and Castlefield Primary School In East Kilbride adopted her song
"I'm Gonna Do It All" as their new school anthem!
2007 began with
some dates at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, as well as at the European
Parliament in Brussels. The band then received another BBC Folk Awards nomination for the song "Daisy",
which was also playlisted on Radio 2. After a couple of months doing preparation
work for her third album, Polwart took most of the year off to have her first
child, who was born in May.
Polwart was back on the road again for an acoustic
UK tour in November / December, and she released a quiet acoustic album of Scottish
traditional songs called "Fairest Floo'er" at this time.
2008 started
busy, with an extensive UK tour in March / April, to promote her next album, "This
Earthly Spell". Live dates continued throughout the year, and she finished
off with nominations for best album and folksinger at the BBC Folk Awards.
She
began 2009 with four dates at the Celtic Connections festival, including a Jamaican
Burns night with the legendary Sly & Robbie.
2010 saw Polwart release a couple of EP's, "Build Your Own Cathedral" and "Evergreen", the second in conjunction with the folk band LAU, whilst taking time out to have her second child. That summer, Polwart released an album with her "indie pop meets carnival rock" side project, The Burns Unit, entitled "Side Show".
RELEASES:
"Faultlines"
(CD album, Neon Records, 2004, UK charts #163)
"Pulling Through" (CD EP,Hegri Music,
2005)
"Scribbled In Chalk" (CD album, Shoeshine Records, 2006, UK Charts #111)
"I'm Gonna' Do It All" (CD single, Shoeshine Records,
2006)
"The Pulling Through EP" (CD EP, 2006)
"Fairest Floo-er" (CD album, 2007)
"This Earthly
Spell" (CD album, 2008, UK charts #94)
"Build Your Own Cathedral" (CD EP, 2010)
WITH LAU: "Evergreen" (CD EP, 2010)
GUEST APPEARANCES:
Cathy Ryan, "Somewhere On The Road" (CD album, Seannachie Records, 2001)
Corrina Hewat, "My Favourite Place" (CD album, Foot Stompin' Records,
2003)
Dean Owens, "My Town" (CD album, Vertical Records, 2004)
Roddy Woomble, "Silence Is My Secret" (CD album, Pure Records, 2006)
"The
Ballad Of The Books" (CD album, various artists featuring Polwart, 2007)
LAU, "Arclight" (CD album, 2009)
Kris Drever, "Mark The Hard Earth" (CD album, 2009)
WEBSITES:
http://www.karinepolwart.com
http://www.myspace.com/karinepolwart