Liverpudlian singer-songwriter Jamie Webster’s debut album We Get By has topped the first-ever Official Folk Albums Chart. The new monthly chart, compiled by the UK Charts Company, covered all streams and sales of registered Folk albums in the UK during the month of September.
Webster was also celebrating another milestone this week, with his musical love-letter to Liverpool, This Place, topping one million streams on Spotify. He took to social media today to thank fans for their ‘mind-blowing‘ support.
1 million streams for this place. Your support is mind blowing. Thank you ❤️.
My city, my people, my heart pic.twitter.com/Yh9jqsLYY4
— Jamie Webster (@JamieWebster94) October 19, 2020
Webster, who counts Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp among his biggest fans, spoke to the Official Charts website about his delight at securing the inaugural Folk Albums top spot: “I grew up listening to Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Johnny Cash…Whilst growing up I didn’t actually know that it was folk that I was listening to, I just liked the real-life stories that were being told in the songs. It was later on that I realised that it’s the stories and realities told which makes the songs folk songs. I’ve always tried to tell stories in my music and talk about real life issues, I think that’s the only way to do it. And to officially get recognition in this way is something I’m really proud of.”
The introductory Folk Top 40 show was presented by legendary DJ and author Mark Radcliffe, and streamed live on YouTube yesterday. The hour-and-a-half chart show served as a whistle-stop musical tour of the folk scene across the British Isles, with performances from Welsh chamber folk collective Vri, Scottish songwriter Kris Drever; Anglo-Irish duo The Breath; Belfast’s Joshua Burnside; and Yorkshire songstress Fay Hield.
Jamie Webster’s This Place headed up an eclectic top 40 which featured a mixture of well-established artists (socialist folk rockers The Levellers; Penistone singer Kate Rusby; Devon’s Seth Lakeman; veteran vocalist Shirley Collins) and performers whose stature on the scene has grown over recent years: including Bristol outfit The Longest Johns and Caernarfon group Bwncath.
The number two slot was occupied by Laura Marling and her Mercury Prize-nominated release Song For Our Daughter, which also peaked at number six in the main UK Albums Chart earlier in the year. The Berkshire product had switched record labels from Virgin EMI to Partisan/Chrysalis for the album; a move which she told Music Week had ultimately made for a perfect creative match.
Marling said “I was with Virgin for a long time, which was a very different world. Working with Partisan and Chrysalis on Song For Our Daughter was exactly what I hoped it would be in that there was a small, dedicated group of people working their hardest to serve the project. I’m not an obstinate person, but I’m not going to do many outlandish bits of promo and I’m not easy to market. I’m also a niche artist, but they were constantly coming up with creative ways that both met my comfort levels and their needs to see the fruits of their labour, so that was great.”
You can find the full Folk Albums Top 40 on the Official Charts website here. The Top 40 will be published online on the first Monday of every month, with the next official chart reflecting October sales due on Monday 2nd November.
