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Jon Boden has become the ‘stand out performer of his generation’ (The Guardian) of traditional folk artists, but one whose repertoire extends far beyond the boundaries of the genre.
He is best known as the lead singer and main arranger of the progressive folk juggernaut Bellowhead who have achieved a quarter of a million album sales, seven singles on the Radio 2 playlist and selling out hundreds of venues, notably the Royal Albert Hall. Bellowhead also perform the theme tunes of The Archers on Radio 4, the new BBC 1 TV series Beyond Paradise and Jon provides the theme for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Show.
Jon is also featured in the Hollywood movie ‘About Time’ performing ‘How Long Will I Love you’. His version of the song has more than 22,000,000 plays on Spotify.
Jon founded his band The Remnant Kings in 2009, originally formed to perform the album ’Songs from the Floodplain’, the first in his post-apocalyptic trilogy of albums. The performances combined the post-oil concept of the album, with other songs that might survive the apocalypse. In this genre busting mix, Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings performed concerts where folk songs, Bach, pop and jazz all rubbed shoulders with Jon’s own songs. This was all augmented by the use on stage of two wax cylinder players, which played specially recorded material.
The band went into hibernation for several years whilst Bellowhead hit top gear, but were reunited and relaunched to record ‘Afterglow’ in 2017, and have since contributed to the album ‘Rose In June’ (2019) and performances of Jon’s final album in the trilogy, ‘Last Mile Home’ (2021).
Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings features the talents of Bellowhead band-mate Sam Sweeney, Leveret’s Rob Harbron, Ben Nicholls from King of The South Seas, and new members Sally Hawkins and M. G. Boulter.
“Resurrects the brassy swagger of Bellowhead” – Financial Times
“Ambitious, genre-busting folk” – The Guardian
’Recalling Gabriel-era Genesis with a dash of Bush and Bowie’ – The Observer
‘Springy fingerpicking and rolling drums convey the thrill of an anarchic street celebration.’ – The Independent
‘Vivid lyrics, striking imagery, challenging arrangements.’ – fRoots