Today sees the release of The Rakes of Adair, a new EP from BBC Folk Award winner Ben Walker. The record takes the listener on a charming trip from England to Ireland and back again with five tunes first set down in the 1700s or earlier.

The Rakes of Adair is released both digitally and as a limited edition CD via the Folkroom Bandcamp page today. By no small accident, November 5th is also ‘Bandcamp Friday’, the monthly day upon which the website waives its fees so that artists can take 100% of sales. All proceeds from The Rakes of Adair will be donated to Macmillan Cancer Support, in memory of a close friend of Ben’s who passed away from cancer last year. Buying the record today helps ensure that all of the money you pay for the record goes directly to that good cause.

Ben says of the record: ‘I’m still fascinated by what was happening in the eighteenth century and how people started to value these old tunes and write them down for us to find. I spend a lot of time with English music but I often play a couple of Irish songs at gigs just because they’re so fun to play – not being on the road I’ve finally had time to record a few! Some of them made their way across the sea and back again. When you play in Ireland you feel the music very close to the surface, every pub feels on the cusp of a session; there’s usually a story behind the tune, too. Hopefully we can all enjoy live music together again soon.’

Buy The Rakes of Adair here.