Jez Lowe - Musical Partner of the 1980's

Jez Lowe (guitar, harmonica, cittern, and piano) is an English folk singer-songwriter who was born and raised in County Durham. Jez is known primarily for his compositions dealing with daily life in the North-East of England, particularly in his hometown of Easington Colliery. He performs both as a solo artist and with his backing band, The Bad Pennies.

Witnessing the decline of the coal-mining industry that had defined the region inspired Jez to compose songs about the industrial decline, and the social repercussions. Songs like "Galloways," "Nearer to Nettles," and "These Coal Town Days" are among songs that directly address the economic conditions. Jez is also known for his social compositions like "Big Meeting Day," "Greek Lightning," and "Last of the Widows." (written in 1991 to mark the fortieth anniversary of the pit disaster at Easington Colliery.)

In 2006 Jez contributed to the BBC Radio 2’s 'Radio Ballads' documentary and in 2008 was nominated as 'Folksinger of the Year' in the Radio 2 Folk Awards, but lost the category to Scottish singer and instrumentalist Julie Fowlis.

Most recently in March 2009 Jez was invited to collaborate with seven other songwriters on the prestigious 'Darwin Song Project' co-ordinated by Shrewsbury Folk Festival in celebration of local connections to Darwin's birthplace in the bi-centennial year of his birth.

Jake and Jez set up a part time musical partnership after meeting at the Pontardawe 'Celtic Festival' in Wales in 1980. They had spent the 1970's playing in a variety of groups and duos, and had just embarked on solo careers with the release of their solo albums. Jake had a background with the leading singer/songwriters of the 1960's and 70's in Cornwall, and Jez served his folk apprenticeship in his native North-East England. Their backgrounds were hardly similar! But despite this it was the breadth of their music that gave Jake and Jez their popularity.

The duo understood 'Traditional' music and were both accomplished singer/songwriters in their own right, (with their material being covered by many artists) but Walton and Lowe had a certain magic that made them stand out among others. Their music seemed to be influenced not only by the 'British folk scene but by the Breton and Spanish Celtic traditions as well. Jez Lowe's use of the cittern and bouzouki and Jake Walton's use of the dulcimer and hurdy-gurdy (hurdy-gurdy virtuoso Nigel Eaton first heard it played at one of Jakes concerts) their music was ground-breaking and introduced a unique 'Celtic' feeling and instrumentation into British music.

Over the next decade Jake Walton and Jez Lowe became stalwarts of the folk music scene playing to audiences not only in the UK, but in Holland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the USA. Two A Roué recorded in 1986 (and re-released with three bonus tracks in 2001) was among Folk Roots top 5 albums of that year.

Now for the first time since 2005, Jake and Jez are set to do a tour of Germany in March and April of 2011 playing some of their old favourites and some new songs as well.....