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 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.
Meanwhile in 2009, Jon founded his band The Remnant Kings, 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
‘I didn’t count numbers but it was possibly even a larger aggregation than his previous band, Bellowhead…There were several ‘wow’ moments throughout and we were left in no doubt that Boden’s talents are multi-faceted and often bewildering… he’s fast emerging as a modern-day Richard Thompson or John Tams…with this big band he has reached another level. He may even have emerged as the premier UK folk artist of his generation.’ efestivals review of Shrewsbury Folk Festival