Awards delight for Harrogate Music Festival act The Unthanks

One of the acts festival organisers booked, the folk group The Unthanks, have just won the BBC2 Folk Awards, album of the year for their most recent release, Mount The Air.

The Unthanks, who appear at the Royal Hall in Harrogate on Friday, July 22, closed the awards ceremony at London's Royal Albert Hall, by playing the 10-minute title track, complete with clog dancing.

The Unthanks were handed their prize by Sherlock star Martin Freeman, who said: "Their original material is already very close to being classic."

The Unthanks have garnered remarkable critical acclaim in the music press, and are notable for their legion of celebrity fans.

Adrian Edmondson also said of their music, “It hits you in your soul rather than your head. I love them.”

The band's Adrian McNally, pianist, musical director and record producer - is married to the music in more ways than one – Rachel Unthanks is his wife.

The face of The Unthanks is a beatific one – the sisters, Rachel and Becky. Their accents root the band as the face of the North East, but there’s a strong Yorkshire influence behind the scenes as Adrian and Chris Price, bassist and guitarist, grew up in a mining village in South Yorkshire.