We seem to have lost a day in bringing you this news, so apologies for the slackness but the winners of the Radio 2 Folk Awards 2017 were announced in a ceremony broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall, London on Wednesday evening. Now in their 18th year, the Awards, the BBC say “are a key highlight of the folk music calendar and serve to raise the profile of folk music. Talent, new and old, received accolades including Folk Singer of the Year, Best Duo, Best Album, Musician of the Year, Young Folk Award and more. Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to Ry Cooder and Al Stewart.” Woody Guthrie was rightly inducted into their Hall of Fame which was very cool, but hey, the Folk Awards had Tony Blackburn and we had Bob Harris for ours – read into that what you will. Here’s that list of winners.
Full list of winners
Folk Singer Of The Year presented by Sharleen Spiteri: Kris Drever
Best Duo presented by Peter Lord of Aardman Animations: Ross Ainslie and Ali Hutton
Best Group presented by Sir Ray Davies: The Furrow Collective
Best Album presented by Mark Kermode: Songs Of Separation by Songs of Separation
Horizon Award presented by Rachel and Becky Unthank (of The Unthanks): Daoirí Farrell
Musician Of The Year presented by Gus Unger-Hamilton from Alt-J: Rachel Newton
Best Original Track presented by Susie Dent: If Wishes Were Horses by Kris Drever
Best Traditional Track presented by Pauline Black of The Selecter: Van Diemen’s Land by Daoirí Farrell
BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award presented by Simon Nicol of Fairport Convention: Josie Duncan and Pablo Lafuente
Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Tony Blackburn: Al Stewart
Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Nick Lowe: Ry Cooder
Hall Of Fame Inductee: Woody Guthrie
