Levellers to make Royal & Derngate return as part of Together All The Way acoustic tour

Levellers will return to Royal & Derngate next month as part of an 18-date tour to support their new album.

The band will release Together All The Way on March 10 and headline the Northampton venue three days before on Tuesday, March 7.

The acoustic record is the follow up to 2018’s top 20 record We The Collective and the first single from the album, Down by the River ‘O’, was released at the end of last year and was written by friend and collaborator Rev Hammer about the Great Flood of 1968 in Buntingford.

The last ‘Collective’ album was recorded at Abbey Road with the legendary John Leckie five years ago and resulted in their highest chart position in 20 years.

Levellers always planned to do another album where they acoustically reworked songs from their back catalogue, but eventually came to the conclusion not to try to top what they achieved with We The Collective, but instead to go another way.

So, they decided to strip everything right back and go for a more traditional folk approach as they reimagined various songs from their past.

They reconvened the collective - this time with Sean Lakeman producing and Al Scott mixing - at their own Metway Studios in Brighton.

Everything was recorded live, with the musicians playing through the songs until they had versions they were happy with.

Talking about the record, the band said: “It was truly a fun record to make, under the rigorous guidance of Sean.

“Sean’s a musician himself, always bringing ideas and get out of jail free suggestions when we got stuck.

“It’s a stripped back, raw iteration of the collective with deep folk leanings.

“As energetic as the first one but definitely different.”

Levellers were joined again by Hannah and Ollie from the Moulettes on cello, vocals and percussion plus Dan Donnelly on his first official Levellers recording.

This year, Levellers will be celebrating 35 years of being a band and it will also be the 20th anniversary of their acclaimed Beautiful Days Festival, one of the biggest independent music festivals in the UK.

Joining Levellers at Royal & Derngate will be special guests Moulettes, Wilswood Buoys and Jess Silk. Tickets are available from www.myticket.co.uk and www.royalandderngate.co.uk/whats-on/the-levellers and cost from £27.50 before fees.

For more information, visit www.levellers.co.uk