The Poozies

Infobox musical artist
Name = The Poozies


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Genre = English folk music, Scottish folk music
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Years_active = 1990-
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Associated_acts = Sileas
URL = [http://web.mac.com/sallybarker/poozies/Home.html]
Current_members = Sally Barker, Patsy Seddon, Mary Macmaster, Eilidh Shaw, Mairearad Green
Past_members = Kate Rusby, Karen Tweed, Jenny Gardener
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The Poozies are an all-women band that produce folk music of English and Scottish traditions. The band perform traditional and self-composed material. Contemporary songs written by Sally Barker also feature heavily in the current live set. The band will record a new album in the Spring of 2009.

Biography

The Poozies formed in 1990. Mary Macmaster (harp) and Patsy Seddon (harp) were performing together as the duo Sileas and worked with Sally Barker (guitar and vocals) on her solo album. Together they decided that an all-women folk group was a good idea, and when Barker met Karen Tweed in Hong Kong she agreed to join the project. Fiddler Jenny Gardener was the original fifth member of the group but left before the band recorded their first album (on which she appears as a guest on the track 'Foggy Mountain Top').

After the release of "Dansoozies" (1993) and "Chantoozies" (1995), Sally Barker left the group in 1996 in order to start a family. Kate Rusby joined the band as lead vocalist, and this lineup released one EP, "Come Raise Your Head" (1997), and a full-length album, "Infinite Blue" (1998). However, as Kate Rusby's solo career took off, she was replaced on vocals by Eilidh Shaw, also an accomplished fiddler.

In 2000 the band released "Raise your head: A Retrospective" to celebrate ten years of The Poozies, and in 2003 released "Changed Days Same Roots". In 2006 Sally Barker rejoined the group to make it a five-piece again, and they toured with this lineup until December 2007. Karen Tweed left the band in December 2007, and was replaced by Mairearad Green from the band, the Unusual Suspects.

Current lineup

*Sally Barker (guitar, vocals)
*Mary Macmaster (electro-harp, metal-strung harp, percussion, vocals)
*Patsy Seddon (electro-harp, gut-strung harp, fiddle, percussion, vocals)
*Eilidh Shaw (fiddle, vocals)
* Mairearad Green (piano accordion, pipes, vocals)

Discography

*"Dansoozies" (1993)
*"Chantoozies" (1995)
*"Come Raise Your Head" (EP) (1997)
*"Infinite Blue" (1998)
*"Raise your head: A Retrospective" (2000)
*"Changed Days Same Roots" (2003)

External links

[http://web.mac.com/sallybarker/poozies/Home.html Official website]