Northumberland musician launches new album thanks to £36,000 Crowdfunding campaign

Stunning contributions from his bandmates in KAN, and Baltic Crossing, plus Kathryn Tickell, Alastair Anderson, Emily Stephenson, Dreamers Circus, Chris Stout, and many more highly regarded names from the Folk Tradition, add to the depth and range of this magnificent work.

Alongside the album, Ian has released a Tune Book, containing over 50 pieces.

Recording The Return to Helsinki was made possible by launching a Kickstarter Project.

I am proud to be one of the huge number of people who wanted to support, and donated to Ian’s Crowdfunding campaign, which – quickly going viral - raised a remarkable £36,000!

The books and CDs have been posted out to supporters all over the world.

Ian’s work is internationally recognised. The album has already been acclaimed: “One of the instrumental folk albums of the year” (Bright Young Folk). Personally, I have rarely heard a more haunting and spine-tingling tune, than the title track.

The oldest tune in the book comes from 2000 when Ian was just 17 years old and performing with ‘422’, a band which won the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award that year.

Ian was born in Dewsbury, in 1982, and brought up in Selby, North Yorkshire. He comes from a very talented musical family. His parents play violin, nyckelharpa, guitar and melodeon – and, like Ian, love folk music.

Ian went to a school which valued and promoted music. The whole family loved being part of local folk festivals, it was a family affair when they performed, notably at the Whitby Folk Week, and the Beverly Folk Festival.

I asked Ian what life was like at school.

"At high school I was a very distracted child, always talking in class, and counting down the days till the next folk festival or workshop. I had a lot more friends at festivals who were similarly musical and geeky, and interested in folk music too. Those friends turned into a band called ’The Pack’, a large ensemble of all kinds of instruments - we had lots of fun, all self-organised, and did gigs at festivals around the country in exchange for free tickets.”

Ian’s talent, knowledge and skills evolved at university, where he studied for a degree in folk and traditional music.

“I had a lot of inspiring tutors; I loved the music and instrument lessons. Alastair Anderson founded the degree course – he became a great friend, and I have much to thank him for.”

As part of his studies, Ian went on an exchange to the renowned Sibelius Academy, in Helsinki, Finland. (Hence the title of the CD).

Ian mostly plays the guitar, melodeon, Northumbrian pipes, double bass, piano, harmonium and pipe organ. He has always loved learning – and uses to his advantage his ‘propensity for getting obsessed with things’.

This aspect of his personality has helped him become a very fine musician of many instruments, and a sensitive and interesting composer of tunes, for himself, and for others. Many musicians include his tunes in their repertoires.

"There’s no greater compliment,” Ian admits.

Since moving to Thropton, Ian has launched a large commercial recording studio within the converted church building, which belongs to the Coquetdale Music Trust. Simpson Street Studios is a highly successful venture, and Ian quickly became pretty much a full-time record producer.

However, things changed. In 2023 Ian was diagnosed with a brain tumour. He had been having hearing problems, especially worrying for a musician, and he was given an MRI scan to see what might be causing the problem. Imagine how hard it was to receive the result; a tumour was growing. To a young man, with a wife and two young children, this was a frightening time.

“They operated to remove the tumour and it was found to be a grade and type that you really don’t want to have,” Ian explained.

The most recent tune on Ian’s album, ‘You’ll find me by the ocean’ was written during his radiotherapy treatment, and refers to his intended final resting place by the sea.

After the news, Ian realised that he would not be able to work in the usual way, while he was undergoing treatment. He thought about all the tunes he had written, but not recorded. About all the tunes he had written, but not published.

Sitting on the Daft as a Brush bus, with his laptop open, he used these travel and waiting times to think through this most courageous and creative project.

“The diagnosis, in a strange way, spurred me on to live my life to the fullest, ticking off bucket list activities and setting myself the challenge of writing the book and recording the album,” he says.

Thankfully Ian is doing well. He has been extraordinarily brave and honest, in documenting his ‘health journey’ publicly, on his Facebook page. Such honestly, and, often, profundity, has greatly endeared Ian to the whole community of Coquetdale. Everyone is rooting for him, and we are all delighted with the success of his crowdfunder, to enable the release of this remarkable album.

It was great to hear from Ian recently, when he announced: ‘It’s finally done and I’m proud of it! The crowdfunders have all had the CD for a while, they got it early! But it’s now going out on digital streaming services too.’

You can purchase the CD and Tune Book from Ian’s website: https://www.ianstephenson.me/

You can hear Ian being interviewed by Mark Radcliffe on The Folk Show https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002cmjp