Americana folk duo Friction Farm to perform at Red Lion Folk Club

Friction Farm is a husband and wife team of traveling troubadours. Aidan Quinn and Christine Stay combine storytelling, social commentary and humour to create songs of everyday life, local heroes, and quirky observations. From ballads to anthems each song is filled with harmony and hope.

Friction Farm's lyrically rich, harmony-driven songs have earned them spots as Kerrville New Folk Finalists in Texas, and Falcon Ridge Emerging Artists in New York. They are winners of the South Florida Folk Festival songwriter competition, and have performed as official showcase artists at the Southeast, Southwest, and Northeast Regional Folk Alliance International Conferences.

Performing internationally and throughout the US, Friction Farm feels at home on the road and on stage. Audiences lean into their stories, laugh at their humour, are inspired to do a little good in the world, and sing along once in a while. Friction Farm is touring to support their new album, Stone By Stone, inspired by the recognition that ordinary people will make the changes that we need in this chaotic world.

With the release of a new album “Stone By Stone” Friction Farm lives up to their name, nurturing strong and beautiful songs from the creative fertile ground of a troubled world.

From the anthemic, Phil Ochs inspired, opener “Louder Than Guns” to the happy folk-pop “Spread A Little Sunshine” Friction Farm calls on listeners to participate. Not only to sing along, but also to take bold action. In "Every Drop Of Rain", and "American Dream" they ask us to face the harder truths that life's inequities are often by intention. But, as in "Everything Will Be All Right", Friction Farm always delivers a road map to higher ground.

Friction Farm's previous album was released one year after Covid gave the world a time out. Christine and Aidan scratched the hard ground and found Evidence of Hope in small and mundane things during those days. As the world rebounded, prospects seemed ripe for joyful, exuberant songs. But the never ending storm clouds of American politics gathered. The foundations of our institutions, which we had believed were built of stone, turned out to be made of sand. Rather than look for hope, Friction Farm planted seeds of hope. Seeds of action, of community, and of faith in one another.

For the recording of "Stone By Stone" they dug deep into their own musicianship and relied on a few members of their closest community. In addition to keyboard player Pete LeVine and engineer Mark Dann who have been a part of all Friction Farm recordings, Aidan and Christine literally reached out to neighbors. What gift to have a neighborhood filled with so much talent. The album is a bit more stripped down than earlier recordings, but is also much deeper and richer.

• Venue: Red Lion Folk Club, Vicarage Road, King’s Heath B14 7LY

• Date: October 1

More details available at frictionfarm.com