Rachel Unthank and the Winterset

The Unthanks
Background information
Origin	UK
Genres	Folk
Years active	2004–present
Labels	Rabble Rouser, EMI (UK), Rough Trade (rest of the world)
Website	www.the-unthanks.com
Members	Rachel Unthank Becky Unthank Adrian McNally Niopha Keegan Chris Price
Past members	Belinda O'Hooley Jackie Oates Stef Conner

The Unthanks (until 2009, Rachel Unthank and the Winterset) are an English folk group known for their eclectic approach in combining traditional English folk, particularly Northumbrian folk music, with other musical genres. Their debut album, Cruel Sister, was MOJO magazine's Folk Album of the Year in 2005. Of their subsequent albums, seven have received four or five-starred reviews in the British national press. Their album, Mount the Air, released in 2015, won in the best album category in the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Originally an all-female band, Rachel Unthank and the Winterset made their debut performance at Towersey Village Festival in August 2004 and, on 11 May 2005, launched their debut album Cruel Sister at Holmfirth Folk Festival.Cruel Sister received support from a number of DJs on BBC Radio 2 and was subsequently awarded Folk Album of the Year by Mojo magazine.

Their follow-up album, The Bairns, released on 20 August 2007, was nominated for the Best Album award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2008 and was runner-up for the 2008 Mercury Prize. The album debuted in the UK Top 200 Albums Chart at number 178 in the week after the Mercury Prize award ceremony. Reviewing The Bairns for BBC Music, Mel Ledgard described it as "an album with a cinematic quality, huge in dramatic atmosphere". In a four-starred review, Robin Denselow of The Guardian nominated it as "one of the folk records of the year".

The band were nominated for three further BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2008 (Best Band, Best Live Act, Horizon Award), and were successful in one category, receiving the Horizon Award at the ceremony in The Brewery, London.

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