Sixth Former’s Folk Success

Newport’s very own up-and-coming folk musician Danny Pedler showed off his unique talent by winning the prestigious ‘New Roots’ competition at the St. Albans Folk Festival this past April. Held in Hertfordshire, the annual event looks to promote the greatest young prospects in the increasingly popular genre of folk music.
Accompanied by his partner Rosie Butler-Hall, the two performed an acoustic set, Danny playing his famous hurdy gurdy and accordion along with Rosie on the fiddle and vocals. Explaining the road to the competition, Pedler emphasized the lengthy process that had to be taken to get the chance to perform at the event. ‘Firstly, we sent through a CD to the organisers of the festival featuring three of our tracks. We were accepted into the final along with six other groups and each of us played a 15-minute set to a large audience. To our surprise, we were selected by a panel of judges as the winning act!’ This success will now give the duo the opportunity to play at a variety of different festivals across the country throughout the remainder of the year, including gigs in Walthamstow and Loughton. Danny revealed ‘We are looking forward to the chance to perform across the UK following our success at St. Albans and hope to spread more enthusiasm for folk music.’ Look out for Danny and Rosie in years to come!
By Lucy Oliva Year12