Australian Carus Thompson - "20 Years in Europe/UK Tour"

Australian folk songwriter and storyteller Carus Thompson returns to the UK to launch not one but two albums: 2019’s Shakespeare Avenue and 2022’s Neon Folk.

Shakespeare Avenue was recorded in 2019 in Dartmoor, in the South-West of England with Mercury nominated producer Sean Lakeman. The album takes its name from a street in Bath, Somerset where Thompson’s late Grandfather lived, before he left his home for Australia. In the reverse of his Grandfather’s journey, for Shakespeare Avenue Thompson moved his family to Dartmoor to write and record with a new approach that delved further down the folk path, spurred by his connection with good friend Seth Lakeman.

Thompson has opened for Seth Lakeman on four UK tours across the years and when it comes to embracing folk traditions you couldn’t ask for a better guide. Seth, his brother Sean, and Sean’s partner the sublime Kathryn Roberts all feature on Shakespeare Avenue.

Thompson was set to launch the album with a tour in May 2020, but due to COVID this was cancelled. Thompson was living in Melbourne at the time, which became one of the most locked down cities in the word. So, what does a singer-songwriter do? Make a new record of course.