
Hartlepool
folk
Festival
3 - 5 October 2025

From the Ground

From the Ground is the exceptional new project from two musical forces of the Scottish folk and roots music scene.
Mandolin player and singer Laura-Beth Salter and piper, guitarist and whistle player Ali Hutton have come together to create a Scottish soundscaping masterpiece with a powerful message at its core. Cinematic, contemporary and captivating, From the Ground is an ode to nature and its infinite power to heal.
Scottish piper, whistle and guitar player Ali Hutton is a familiar face to anyone who follows the Scottish traditional music scene - and to anyone who joined us for Hartlepool Folk Festival 2024. Best known for his part in the Treacherous Orchestra and Old Blind Dogs as well as his partnership with Ross Ainslie, his name constantly crops up in the credits of numerous albums, not just as a musician but also producer and co-producer.
Like Ali, Laura-Beth Salter is equally at home in the band settings of The Shee and Kinnaris Quintet as she is as a duo with Jenn Butterworth. Raised in Lincolnshire, she is also very much influenced by the American old-time and bluegrass music that her parents played.
The band is rounded out by Patsy Reid on fiddle & vocals (Breabach, Mark Knopfler) and Owen Sinclair guitar & vocals (Inyal, Westward the Light, Ryan Young).