Little Ray
Little Ray originated on a farm in a valley next to a river, where songwriter Louise Shields, whilst looking out of her window upon woodland, wrote most of her songs.
Spending her summers in Cornwall, living in a caravan, she began singing around a campfire with Danielle Galway. The two friends with their compatible voices and intuitive harmonizing, formed a duo and began playing the summer festivals. Before long they realised they needed a band and thanks to a fortuitous meeting in a field with Matt Kelly and Nigel Bunner and later the inclusion of Dan Best, the band was finally complete.
The music of Little Ray takes it’f folk influences from both sides of the Atlantic, with a retrospective love of artists such as Simon and Garfunkel and also an interest in what is happening in today’s modern folk scene, with bands such as Akron Family and Fleet Foxes. This is perhaps what has promopted Louise to hold her own folk night, ‘Indoor Picnic’. Each third Thursday of the month, various bands get together and play in the fairylit and foliaged Wilmington Arms in London.
The New-Year brings exciting new developments for Little Ray, their first long-time-coming EP is set for release shortly followed by an album.And don’t forget to look out for them next summer, when you will be able to catch them playing live in the Twist and Spout tea tent in various festival locations. Indoor Picnic also has plans to grow, branching out into different venues and becoming a more frequent date. – Article by Moonpie (Magpie magazine)
