CALSTOCK Arts is celebrating the arrival of spring with shows by three of the very best folk music artists from the UK and Ireland.

Singer and harpist Rachel Newton visits the Old Chapel on March 10. Rachel draws on poems and ballads that are hundreds of years old, working them into her contemporary compositional style to create a rich sound that is ambitious, orginal and unique.

In addition to her solo work, Rachel is a skilled collaborator and founder member of The Shee, The Furrow Collective and The Lost Words: Spell Songs. She has worked across various platforms including theatre and storytelling.

‘One of the standout musicians of ner congration... a really distinctive music maker’ — Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2

It’s commonly accepted that Dublin-born singer and bouzouki player Daoiri Farrell is one of most important singers to come out of Ireland in recent years and his appearance at the iconic Cornish venue on April 27 is hotty-anticipated.

A product of Dublin’s famous club An Goilin Traditional Singers, since launching his own solo live career at the 2016 Celtic Connections, Daoiri has gone from strength to strength.

On the verge of releasing his fourth solo album, he can boast numerous honours from BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards to ALSR Celtic Music accolades.

‘Daoini Farrell is singlehandedly spearheading a resurgence of the authentic in Irish folk music... he is rightly in demand all over the world’ — Irish Music.

Coming to Calstock on May 14, Jim Moray is amongst England’s finest interpreters of traditional song. His relentlessly innovative recordings can truly be said to have changed the sound of folk music since the early 2000s, and he has won fans and admirers far outside of the folk scene without ever betraying his traditional roots.

A five-time BBC Folk Award winner, his songs have been featured in a season finale or Greys Anatomy, he has appeared on-screen singing a specially composed song for Dr Who spin-off Class as aliens attack the earth, and he has presented documentaries on traditional music for BBC Radio 3.

‘A musician who knows the tradition inside out, but who can stand far enough back from it to see the architecture with the eyes of a newcomer.’ — Songlines.