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We are delighted to welcome HANNAH SCOTT to Otley.

?Your music moved me to tears.?

This is the refrain contemporary folk artist Hannah Scott regularly hears as she leaves the stage.

The best stories make us feel deeply and in the 15 years she has been writing and performing, Hannah has become an exceptional storyteller. Her music is shaped by human connections, with family, in all its chaos and glory, sitting at the heart of her work. Her lyrics are powerful and poignant, and her voice feels strangely familiar, though you can?t quite put your finger on why. Her writing may be deeply personal but her music has a universal appeal that goes beyond the melodies you catch yourself humming in the days after listening to her songs.

The connection she builds with her audiences is most evident in the stories shared by audience members after her performances: the woman whose elderly mother lost a sibling in childhood and is moved to tears by Boy In The Frame; the young father who, upon hearing My Dad & I, realises he wants to spend more time with his small children; the adoptive parents who, like Hannah as a step-parent, may not have been the first person to hold their child, but Love You Like I Did. A deep-rooted desire for this connection has always been the driving force behind her songwriting and live performances.

Hannah?s career highlights include having her song No Gravity featured on the hit international TV series Grey?s Anatomy, recording a live session on BBC Radio 2 with Dermot O?Leary and opening for Madeleine Peyroux, performing to an audience of two thousand. She has also shared the stage with folk luminaries such as Seth Lakeman, Cara Dillon and Fairport Convention and has performed at festivals including Cambridge, Sidmouth and Manchester Folk. Equally at home in small venues, she thrives on the intimacy of performing in spaces where she can look audience members in the eye, and, of course, speak with them after the show.

Hannah has just released ?Absence Of Doubt?, her third studio album and the first she has self-produced alongside acclaimed engineer/producer Adrian Hall (Tori Amos, Anna Calvi). These songs are inspired by the greatest of human emotions ? love, parenthood, grief ? and an unwavering yearning for life, even during its darkest moments.

?I?m sorry, but also not sorry,? Hannah replies to the audience member moved to tears, so pleased her songs have connected in just the way she hoped they would.

?She reduces women and children to tears ? in a good way.? The Guardian
?And grown men.? Tom Besford, CEO, English Folk Expo & Richard Haswell, Liverpool Philharmonic
?This is beautiful.? Dermot O?Leary, BBC Radio 2


This gig is part of Otley Music Festival 2025 and superb support will come 3 excellent local acts:

REUBEN AND THE BRIDGE are a fabulous and very dynamic folk duo who perform a mixture of well known covers as well as songs of their own. They combine fantastic folk fiddle and powerful vocals, performing tasteful arrangements of quality repertoire for real music lovers.

CHRIS MANNERS is a Yorkshire-based singer, song-maker and guitarist who?s been honing his craft for over forty years. His work?s deeply rooted in the English folk tradition. Chris is a great entertainer with a commanding stage presence.

TIM MARSHALL is a superb Otley-based singer/songwriter with a style all of his own. He is undoubtedly one of Otley's best kept secrets!

Description

2 Westgate,

Otley,

West Yorkshire,

England,

LS21 3AS.