Chris While & Julie Matthews - Here And Now

Chris and Julie's latest release Here And Now is simply the duo and the songs in their most exposed and honest form. This is While and Matthews' sixth release and once again they've filled an album with songs that are brimming with freshness and originality. Every emotion is explored here, from the uplifting opening bars of the first track On My Way, on to the heart-rending Steady Breathing, through the playful and celebratory Feel Good List and concluding with the tender and fragile So Long Old Pal.To date their songs have been covered by a range of artists including Mary Black, Frances Black, Barbara Dickson, Christine Collister and Fairport Convention. They have received six nominations in the BBC Folk Awards since the Award's inception in 1999. The nominations have been in the best song, best duo and best live performance categories. Chris was recently invited to take the late Sandy Denny's role as lead singer with Fairport Convention as the band celebrated the 40th anniversary of the album 'Liege and Lief' at the Cropredy Festival and at the BBC Folk Awards.Julie has recently written 10 songs for the groundbreaking Radio Ballads series currently being aired on Radio 2. Says Matthews, This album is about stripping everything down to just the duo and presenting the songs as we would on stage.