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OLIVER BOOTLE is a fiddle player and singer in the traditional English style from the Hastings area of East Sussex. He learnt a large part of his repertoire from his father Roger Bootle, the Librarian at Cecil Sharp House in the early seventies. His fiddle playing was inspired by Barry Dransfield from whom he learnt to hold the fiddle lower down the chest for self-accompaniment.
Oliver was a finalist in the 1995 Young Tradition award and performed live on Radio 2, broadcast from the Purcell Rooms.
He was a founder member of the Leeds-based rock band SLUR with whom he toured France in 1992.
Oliver has played in a duo with Ben Dauncey, the melodeon player, also a Young Tradition finalist.
In 1996, Oliver performed at many folk festivals including the National Folk Festival and the Evolving Tradition Festival at the Barbican Centre. Oliver has played live on Radios 2 and 3 and has been on many local radio stations.
You can hear Oliver on the 1996 Britfolk compilation album Evolving Tradition 2 from Mrs Casey Music. His first solo album will be released in early 1997 on the PDCS record label.
Recording of Oliver's CD is now completed and it will be available by mid-February, 1997.
The tracks are English traditional songs, plus a medley of tunes, one by Packie Byrne and the other Irish traditional. Total playing time is over 48 minutes and there are 13 tracks. Guests include Ben Dauncey on the melodeon, Pauline Scott on piano, Charlie Gask on bodhran, and Paul Dengate on guitar.
Reviews of CD from Taplas, Rock 'n' Reel, Folk Roots, Folkwrite, The Sussex Folk Diary and The Hastings & St Leonards Observer.