Originally an all-female band, Rachel Unthank and the Winterset made their debut performance at Holmfirth Folk Festival on 7 May 2004, and launched their debut album 'Cruel Sister' at the same festival venue the following year, being awarded Folk Album of the Year by Mojo magazine. The follow-up, 'The Bairns', was released in August 2007, and was runner-up for the 2008 Mercury Prize. In 2009, the band became the Unthanks, led by sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank, who were born seven and a half years apart, and who grew up in Ryton, Tyne and Wear. Their manager Adrian McNally and his childhood friend Chris Price joined the group, releasing their first album under the new name in September 2009, with the "beautiful", "haunting", and "beguiling" 'Here's The Tender Coming' being awarded Folk Album of the Year by The Guardian and also by Mojo magazine. Their next album, 'Last', was released in March 2011, and with their popularity growing over the intervening years, it reached number 40 in the UK albums chart, and received a five-star review in the Sunday Express and four-star reviews in The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph. As well as traditional material, the album included McNally's 'Last', alongside a cover of Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan's 'No One Knows I'm Gone', and a stunning version of King Crimson's 'Starless'.
In a departure from their usual practice of showcasing material from their studio albums, the Unthanks performed two concerts at London's Union Chapel on 8 and 9 December 2010 consisting entirely of material written by Robert Wyatt and by Anohni of Anohni and the Johnsons, with the live album 'The Songs Of Robert Wyatt And Antony & The Johnsons' being released in November 2011. This was to be the first of a series of side-projects issued over the next few years under the title of 'Diversions', with the second in the series being a live recording with the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, performing new brass arrangements of songs from all four of their albums, as well as new material. 'Songs From The Shipyards', volume 3 in the 'Diversions' series, was released in November 2012, and was a studio-recorded album of songs from a soundtrack to the documentary film by Richard Fenwick about the history of shipbuilding on the Tyne, Wear and Tees. Their next band album was 'Mount The Air', which was released in February 2015, and received five-star reviews in The Daily Telegraph and The Irish Times, describing it as "their most ambitious work, which places them in the same league as the likes of The Gloaming and the Punch Brothers". The dominant figure on this record was Rachel's husband Adrian McNally, who not only played keyboards and percussion, but also produced the record and wrote much of the music, with 'Mount The Air' winning Best Album in the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
In December 2015 the band released 'Memory Box', a package containing a new CD, a Christmas 7" single (the first Unthanks single to be issued in this format) and other items to commemorate the band's 10th anniversary. In May 2017 they released two albums in the 'Diversions' series, 'The Songs And Poems Of Molly Drake' and 'The Songs And Poems Of Molly Drake: Extras', featuring songs written by the mother of Nick Drake. 'Lines', a trilogy of albums about the 1968 Hull triple trawler tragedy, poetry of the First World War and the poems of Emily Brontë, was pre-released on the band's website in November 2018 and officially released on 22 February 2019. Their next album, 'Sorrows Away', was released in October 2022 and received a five-star review in the Financial Times. Their most recent record, the double album 'In Winter', was a collection of Winter/Christmas themed music, and was released at the end of 2024, eliciting further four and five-star reviews in the UK national press. In 2014 the song 'Magpie' was featured in the BBC Four TV series 'Detectorists', and in 2019 the band composed and performed the soundtrack for the 2019 BBC production of the television drama series 'Worzel Gummidge'. The Unthanks are without doubt the best UK folk band currently in operation, and if you have the slightest interest in British folk and you haven't heard them then this collection of their best work in the perfect introduction.
Track listing
01 Because He Was a Bonny Lad (from 'Here's The Tender Coming' 2009)
02 Gan to the Kye (from 'Last' 2011)
03 Last Lullaby (from 'Mount The Air' 2015)
04 The Sandgate Sandling Song (from 'Sorrows Away' 2022)
05 Flutter (from 'Mount The Air' 2015)
06 Dark December (from 'In Winter' 2024)
07 Lucky Gilchrist (from 'Here's The Tender Coming' 2009)
08 Sorrows Away (Love Is Kind) (from 'Sorrows Away' 2022)
09 Starless (from 'Last' 2011)
10 The Bay of Fundy (from 'Sorrows Away' 2022)
11 Where've Yer Bin Dick (from 'Here's The Tender Coming' 2009)
12 Magpie (from 'Mount The Air' 2015)
13 The Snow It Melts the Soonest (from 'In Winter' 2024)
14 The Gallowgate Lad (from 'Last' 2011)
