Musicians for Musicians: a fundraising campaign and an album with an eclectic line-up, in support of Help Musicians UK

The shutdown of live events has hit freelance musicians hard, and Help Musicians UK has been doing a lot to support those in need. Musicians for Musicians is a fund-raising campaign started by violinist Amelia Conway-Jones, with the aim of supporting Help Musicians UK. There is a fund-raising campaign via JustGiving, but the idea is that there will also be an album, with half the proceeds going to the artists and half to Help Musicians UK.

The performers on the album are an eclectic mix, with folk, rock, world music, singer songwriters, electronic, reggae, jazz and hip-hop. The album will be released physically on 3 July 2020, and will be available via BandCamp.

There are three classical artists contributing, all three violinists! Rachel Podger will be recording something, Fenella Humphreys will be contributing a work by Alison Berry called Caged Bird, and Madeleine Mitchell [see my 2017 interview with Madeleine] will be premiering a new piece by Richard Blackford [see my review of the recent London premiere of Richard Blackford's Pieta], which was written especially for the project; it is a 3-minute solo violin piece called Worlds Apart

The full list of contributors to the album is as follows:

Folk: Jenn Butterworth, Vicki Swann & Jonny Dyer, Urban Folk Quartet

Rock: Axes, Alpha Male Tea Party, Field Music
Classical: Rachel Podger, Madeleine Mitchell, Fenella Humphreys
World Music: Iyatra Quartet
Singer/Songwriters: Chloe Foy, Matthew Robins, Lemon & Paice, Zoe Konez
Electronic: Dommix
Reggae: The Skints
Jazz: Mike Chillingworth
Indie-Pop:Sun Silva

See the campaign's YouTube video; Full details from the Musicians for Musicians JustGiving page