Phoebe Rees

Phoebe is now 31 years old, and her life was strongly influenced by music. Her mother worked in a music store and she bought home clarinet, concertina, accordion, recorder and ocarina. Phoebe grew up listening to Schubert, Bob Dylan and traditional Bolivian dance music; she worked in a community arts project in São Paulo, Brazil, and as a volunteer director for a choir for poor children in Mumbai, India. Phoebe also drew inspiration from various Celtic, English and American folk traditions, living and playing music in the Scottish Highlands, studying classical viola in Edinburgh and a growing and passionate commitment to social justice. It was no surprise that legendary long-time organiser, American musician and brilliant songwriter Si Kahn was so impressed by her recording of his ‘Mississippi Summer’ that he invited her to record her first full-length album to celebrate his 80th birthday and to carry his music forward long after he is gone.

Bring In The Light was recorded and mixed at Studio Doornenburg in The Netherlands and has 14 tracks of Si’s wonderful songs, boosted with Phoebe’s assured voice, her viola, fiddle and her piano; Janos Koolen accompanies her with banjo, guitar, accordion and bodhràn, Lucas Beukers is on acoustic bass and Sophie Hanna harmonises on vocals. From the opening ‘High On a Mountain With Ola Bella Reed’ and ‘In Afghanistan’, through ‘When the War Is Done’, ‘Peace Will Rise’ and ‘Molly In the Mill’ to the closing ‘Freedom Is a Constant Song’ and ‘People Like You’ – and last but not least, ‘Mississippi Summer’ – the whole album is a sheer delight.

Phoebe’s performing style is energetic, engaging and quietly charismatic. She’s a lovely person; in these troubled times, she helps to lift up that light, giving us all a reason to believe. In fact, the respected hammered dulcimer wizard and American folk singer John McCutcheon gives us the finest compliment: “Phoebe’s considerable musicianship, both as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, completely inhabits this project.” And that, folks, is really saying something. The album is called Bring In the Light: Si Kahn’s Songs of Courage and Resistance.

“In these troubled times, Phoebe Rees helps lift up that light, giving us all a reason to believe.”
– Folk Wales Online Magazine

Phoebe Rees
Bring In The Light – Si Kahn’s Songs of Courage and Resistance
SCR-91