Glymjack
Biography
“As good as contemporary folk comes”
– Acoustic
“Folk with attitude”
– Froots
“Life-affirming”
- Folk Radio
Glymjack is one of the most exciting emerging artists in UK folk music.
The folk-roots project of award-winning songwriter Greg McDonald, Glymjack sees McDonald’s hard-hitting vision lit up by Gemma Gayner’s lightning fiddle and Radio 2 Folk Award nominee Saul Bailey’s melodeon on songs BBC DJ Tom Robinson says “remind you why you got into music in the first place.”
Featuring Show of Hands legends Phil Beer and Steve Knightley, debut album Light the Evening Fire has enjoyed airplay across BBC radio, and rave reviews, with Acoustic declaring Glymjack “as good as contemporary folk comes”.
Live, Glymjack’s touring acoustic line-up of Greg, Gemma, Saul and bassist Dickon Collinson plays acclaimed original songs and dynamic English folk music leavened with plenty of laughs and bonhomie, while the Glymjack Festival Band sees pianist Art Toper and drummer Paul Richards join the line-up to create a sound more reminiscent of the E Street Band, with a take-no-prisoners energy which has brought the house down at festivals from Cambridge Folk Festival to Larmer Tree.
Greg’s award-winning songs have been called “passionate, powerful and poetic” (Rolling Stone), “inspired” (The Times) and “captivating” (Q magazine), and featured in films and TV shows such as Alan Partridge and Match of the Day. Away from Glymjack, Greg also plays in The Phil Beer Band.
The term “Glymjack” is Victorian criminal underworld slang for a street child who led strangers through the streets of London at night with a lantern.
“As good as contemporary folk comes… and with all three members of Show of Hands onboard, although Light the Evening Fire is no tribute album, Greg’s are the kind of finely crafted songs Show of Hands have long made their own”
Acoustic
“Virtually every song is a tour-de-force… the overall sound is very much in the English folk tradition but it’s the songs that make Glymjack such a spectacular listen and what songs they are… if you like music that has substance, quality and style then this is for you.”
Maverick
“Leading the enlarging environs of folk… Light the Evening Fire is well on its way to becoming a classic”
Folkwords
“Album of the month, absolutely gorgeous”
CJ Thorpe-Tracey, Midnight Campfire Folk Show, Totally Radio
“Glymjack is an acoustic folk-roots trio with attitude… inspired by and heavily involving Messrs Steve Knightley and Phil Beer… big hearted and determinedly wide-scale social commentary”
Froots
“For fans of proper folk-rock, in the Fairport / Bellowhead vein, there’s plenty to get their teeth into, but McDonald’s poetic, literate, raw, unadorned songwriting is what hits best”
The Arts Desk
“Amazing original songs and some strange and lovely traditional music”
Genevieve Tudor
“Roots-rock anthems… the songs sparkle”
Living Tradition
“Greg McDonald is a great singer, a great guitarist, but above all he’s a great songwriter”
Phil Beer
“A powerful sound”
Rock’n’Reel
“Greg McDonald reminds you why you got into music in the first place”
Tom Robinson, BBB 6music
“One of the best debuts I’ve heard”
Andrew Wegg, Acoustic Sessions
“Like encountering the Show of Hands Academy Team’s stars of the future” Roger Pettit, Roots and Shoots
“Heart-wrenching… Gemma Gayner is dazzling on violin”
Morning Star
“Fantastic”
Bev Harris, Mainly Folk Show
“Top English folk music”
Fatea
“Skilled story-telling and haunting fiddle”
Bright Young Folk
“Superb narrative song-writing… captivating”
Q
“Passionate, powerful and poetic… Greg McDonald is a genius song-writer”
Rolling Stone