AWARD-WINNING Dorset-based folk duo Ninebarrow will perform a special concert next week.

Jon Whitley and James LaBouchardiere began their rise to prominence after being crowned winners of the Larmer Tree Breakthrough Music Award in 2013.

Now they are widely acknowledged as one of the best harmony singing duos in the UK adn will be taking their live sounds in a new direction with their long-term musical collaborator, Lee Cuff, on cello.

With their third album being recorded throughout the autumn, this concert will not only provide an opportunity to hear brand new material from the forthcoming record, but also new arrangements of some old favourites from the duo’s critically acclaimed 2014 and 2016 albums.

Jon told the Daily Echo: "We’re so looking forward to it. We’ve collaborated with Lee for years on our recorded material, so be able to deliver a live set that encapsulates the sound that people associate with our albums is really exciting. "Lee’s so good though, it’s sometimes hard to concentrate on what Jay and I are playing!"

Ninebarrow were nominees at this year’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Award in the Horizon category for Best Emerging Artist. One of the highest accolades in their genre, it is made even more exceptional because it was only twelve months ago that Jon Whitley and Jay LaBouchardiere gave-up careers in teaching and medicine to pursue their unique brand of folk music.

Since the release of their debut album in 2014, Ninebarrow (Jon Whitley and Jay LaBouchardiere) have been rapidly fulfilling Shire Folk Magazine’s prediction that they will ‘become a major force in English folk music’, having received high praise from the likes of Mike Harding and folk legends, Seth Lakeman and Kate Rusby.

In March 2016, Ninebarrow independently released their second album to high critical acclaim – receiving a raft of glowing reviews, including five stars from both Maverick Magazine and EDS Magazine (produced by the English Folk Dance and Song Society). Receiving airplay on a host of national radio stations across the country, including multiple plays on Mark Radcliffe’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Show, it was also listed in the Telegraph’s ‘Top Folk Albums of 2016’ and featured in 5 other ‘Top 10 Album of the Year’ lists.

It is the multi-award-winning duo’s innovative take on the folk tradition that seems to be captivating audiences across the country. Jon and Jay combine breath-taking vocal harmonies and melodies, delivering songs and that are inspired and rooted in the landscape, history and folklore of the British Isles. Not only exceptional singers and musicians, they are also equally passionate about the stories behind their songs. It is this melding of excellent musicianship and their passion for storytelling that is, in the words of Shire Folk Magazine, taking this duo ‘up to the top’ of the UK folk scene.