Sam Sweeney - Announces 'The Unfinished Violin' UK tour

Bellowhead man is coming to a town near you

Sam Sweeny has certainly been at the forefront of the folk music scene for a while now. Having been with Bellowhead for a decade before they called it a day in 2017, Music Trespass were lucky enough to be present at a few of their gigs too so can attest to the fact that it was of wonderful musicians, including Sam of course.

During his time with Bellowhead, from 2014 to 2017 Sam was also touring his own acclaimed show ‘Sam Sweeney’s Fiddle: Made In The Great War’ which has been expanded upon for ‘The Unfinished Violin’. ‘The Unfinished Violin’ is more than just an album and tour, it is a piece of history, or at least the telling of such.  When he was nineteen Sam Sweeney came across a violin in Roger Claridge’s shop in Oxford, made but not assembled by one Richard S Howard of Harehills, Leeds in 1915.

Roger Claridge had come by it at auction, in pieces, in an old manila envelope, and put it together and put it on sale. It’s the instrument Sweeney has used for numerous albums and countless gigs, and in time he set about digging into its history, and uncovered the fateful tale of Richard Howard, a music hall performer called up in 1916 to the Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment to fight and lose his life in the Battle of Messines on the 7th of June 1917.

Since then they have visited the battlefield and then Richard Howard’s grave with members of his family present.  Since his story has been told the grave has visited by many people paying their respects to the one who created the instrument. All this also gave rise to an album by the same name which is to be perfomed at the concerts, some of which also have a talk attached telling the story in more detail. It should be a wonderful night of emotive, thought provoking music a highly talented and respected musician, certainly not a night to be missed.

Sam Sweeney 'The Unfinished Violin' 2019 UK tour dates Below:

May
01st - Cardigan, Theatre Mwldan
02nd - Bury, The Met
03rd - Milton Keynes, Wavendon, The Stables
04th - Gateshead, Sage
05th - Derby, Theatre
06th - York, National Centre for Early Music
07th - Oxford, North Wall Arts Centre
08th - Brighton, All Saints Church (Brighton Festival)
09th - Liverpool, Philharmonic Hall
10th - Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire Music Centre
21st - Gloucestershire, Ruskin Mill, Nailsworth

Check Out! the Video for 'Unfinished Violin' Below...