	Meet Jacey Bedford back to the main page
Contact: Jacey Bedford of Jacey Bedford Tour Management 01484 606230 agency(at)jacey-bedford.com Back to Home Who's Touring When Browse Whole List Artists Anthony John Clarke Appalachian Roots Bernard Carney Cara Luft with Hugh McMillan Cloudstreet Coyote Run Dan McKinnon Eileen McGann with David K Finest Kind James Keelaghan Jaime RT & Andy Hillhouse Mad Agnes The Outside Track Peggy and PJ Shep Woolley Tanglefoot Tania Opland & Mike Freeman William Pint & Felicia Dale	Professional Folk CV Jacey Bedford toured as one third of vocal trio Artisan from 1985 to 2005 and then as one fifth of the Brian Bedford Band through to the summer of 2006, playing thousands of gigs and hundreds of festivals across the UK, Germany, Belgium, the USA, Canada, Australia and even (once) Hong Kong. After the last Artisan gig she counted the stanps in her passport and realised she'd notched up thirty one North American tours in the last decade and decided she must be bonkers! She now sits at home and drives a desk - sending out other performers to do the hard work. Instead of thirty thousand miles a year the Bedford motor now does less than three. Probably just as well since it's not getting any younger! She can absolutely confirm that folk agents don't drive around in sleek BMWs - well -this one doesn't anyway. She knows a thing or two about clubs, festivals and venues. She even runs her own, putting on concerts at Birdsedge Village Hall and booking the acts for Birdsedge Village Festival as well as running the occasional bigger gig at the Paramount Cinema in Penistone, Nr Sheffield. Together with her partner Brian Bedford, she runs Bedspring Music, a small record label and publishing company with an in-house state-of-the-art recording studio. There aren't many hats on the folk scene that she hasn't worn. She's even been an arts development officer for Yorkshire Folk Arts and she's currently on the board of FolkWISE, the performers' development organisation. She's spoken on panels at conferences in the USA, Canada and the UK on a variety of folk business topics, delivered workshops, on the folk music business, on topics as diverse as how to get gigs, touring the UK for foreign performers, work permit applications, promoting folk music via the internet, use of databases to manage gigs and shameless self-promotion. She's mentored new agents and new performers on a one-to-one basis both as part of government funded schemes and privately (ask for rates if you're interested in anything from an afternoon 'get-started' session to a full course.) And pre-folk days she worked as a trainer, a librarian and a post mistress... always with the public... always in jobs where communication mattered. Folk Music 101. Jacey blogs occasionally on the agency myspace page on the business of being an agent. Some of it would be funny if it wasn't true. The Philosophy of being a folk agent Jacey says: I've got some fantastic artists on my books. With ten or twenty artists a week knocking on my door, you can bet that I only take on the best... and then only rarely. I won't say my books are closed (I've tried saying it and I still can't resist the occasional great artist that comes along), however i f you're an artist, please don't call me until you've read my article on Why you Don't Need an Agent. If you've got more gigs on the books than you can handle and you're never at home when the phone rings because you're out gigging, then... sure, call me. If you've never toured the UK before or are only just starting out in your career and have no British profile, I'm not likely to take you on. It's very hard work breaking a new act into the British folk scene and I don't have time for it right now unless you're very, very special. It's my job as an agent, to match-make artists and events. I'm not looking for 'gigs at any price'. Making the right connections helps both artists and bookers to get the best deal and build up ongoing relationships. A lot of the people I deal with are friends, or become friends in the course of our business relationship. Of course, some I know from my own touring days, others are phone-friends. Obviously if I never call or email a venue I'm not doing my job properly, so if you're a booker in the UK, expect to hear from me at least once or twice a year, possibly with a few emails in between. I still believe in print mailshots because I know bookers and festival organisers get inundated by email and - come on you know you do it - it's so easy to hit delete when your mailbox is overflowing. Besides, there's nothing nicer than a well designed leaflet with all the information at a glance and a demo CD you can listen to immediately... though I do have all that information on my website, too, of course for people who like to stay paperless. To all bookers and festival organisers: When I call you I want you to know that I will always take no for an answer. In fact, next to yes, no is a very good answer because it enables me to move on and call the next venue or festival. Those maybes and call-me-back-in-a-month answers are killers... unless of course, you really mean it. Unfortunately some bookers are dear sweet people who don't like to disappoint and who don't know how to say no. I hope no one ever feels they can't say no to me. Of course I like it best when you say yes, but to go round full circle... I really am not looking for gigs at any price. It's got to be the right gig at the right price so that everybody wins. That's what my job is about, creating a win-win situation for the venue, the artist and, oh, yes, for me too.

Meet Jacey Bedford

Contact:
Jacey Bedford of
Jacey Bedford Tour Management
01484 606230
agency(at)jacey-bedford.com

Back to Home
Who's Touring When
Browse Whole List

Artists
Anthony John Clarke
Appalachian Roots
Bernard Carney
Cara Luft with Hugh McMillan
Cloudstreet
Coyote Run
Dan McKinnon
Eileen McGann with David K
Finest Kind
James Keelaghan
Jaime RT & Andy Hillhouse
Mad Agnes
The Outside Track
Peggy and PJ
Shep Woolley
Tanglefoot
Tania Opland & Mike Freeman
William Pint & Felicia Dale

Professional Folk CV

Jacey Bedford toured as one third of vocal trio Artisan from 1985 to 2005 and then as one fifth of the Brian Bedford Band through to the summer of 2006, playing thousands of gigs and hundreds of festivals across the UK, Germany, Belgium, the USA, Canada, Australia and even (once) Hong Kong.

After the last Artisan gig she counted the stanps in her passport and realised she'd notched up thirty one North American tours in the last decade and decided she must be bonkers! She now sits at home and drives a desk - sending out other performers to do the hard work. Instead of thirty thousand miles a year the Bedford motor now does less than three. Probably just as well since it's not getting any younger! She can absolutely confirm that folk agents don't drive around in sleek BMWs - well -this one doesn't anyway.

She knows a thing or two about clubs, festivals and venues. She even runs her own, putting on concerts at Birdsedge Village Hall and booking the acts for Birdsedge Village Festival as well as running the occasional bigger gig at the Paramount Cinema in Penistone, Nr Sheffield.

Together with her partner Brian Bedford, she runs Bedspring Music, a small record label and publishing company with an in-house state-of-the-art recording studio. There aren't many hats on the folk scene that she hasn't worn. She's even been an arts development officer for Yorkshire Folk Arts and she's currently on the board of FolkWISE, the performers' development organisation.

She's spoken on panels at conferences in the USA, Canada and the UK on a variety of folk business topics, delivered workshops, on the folk music business, on topics as diverse as how to get gigs, touring the UK for foreign performers, work permit applications, promoting folk music via the internet, use of databases to manage gigs and shameless self-promotion. She's mentored new agents and new performers on a one-to-one basis both as part of government funded schemes and privately (ask for rates if you're interested in anything from an afternoon 'get-started' session to a full course.) And pre-folk days she worked as a trainer, a librarian and a post mistress... always with the public... always in jobs where communication mattered.

Folk Music 101. Jacey blogs occasionally on the agency myspace page on the business of being an agent. Some of it would be funny if it wasn't true.

The Philosophy of being a folk agent

Jacey says:

I've got some fantastic artists on my books. With ten or twenty artists a week knocking on my door, you can bet that I only take on the best... and then only rarely. I won't say my books are closed (I've tried saying it and I still can't resist the occasional great artist that comes along), however i f you're an artist, please don't call me until you've read my article on Why you Don't Need an Agent. If you've got more gigs on the books than you can handle and you're never at home when the phone rings because you're out gigging, then... sure, call me. If you've never toured the UK before or are only just starting out in your career and have no British profile, I'm not likely to take you on. It's very hard work breaking a new act into the British folk scene and I don't have time for it right now unless you're very, very special.

It's my job as an agent, to match-make artists and events. I'm not looking for 'gigs at any price'. Making the right connections helps both artists and bookers to get the best deal and build up ongoing relationships. A lot of the people I deal with are friends, or become friends in the course of our business relationship. Of course, some I know from my own touring days, others are phone-friends.

Obviously if I never call or email a venue I'm not doing my job properly, so if you're a booker in the UK, expect to hear from me at least once or twice a year, possibly with a few emails in between. I still believe in print mailshots because I know bookers and festival organisers get inundated by email and - come on you know you do it - it's so easy to hit delete when your mailbox is overflowing. Besides, there's nothing nicer than a well designed leaflet with all the information at a glance and a demo CD you can listen to immediately... though I do have all that information on my website, too, of course for people who like to stay paperless.

To all bookers and festival organisers: When I call you I want you to know that I will always take no for an answer. In fact, next to yes, no is a very good answer because it enables me to move on and call the next venue or festival. Those maybes and call-me-back-in-a-month answers are killers... unless of course, you really mean it. Unfortunately some bookers are dear sweet people who don't like to disappoint and who don't know how to say no. I hope no one ever feels they can't say no to me. Of course I like it best when you say yes, but to go round full circle... I really am not looking for gigs at any price. It's got to be the right gig at the right price so that everybody wins.

That's what my job is about, creating a win-win situation for the venue, the artist and, oh, yes, for me too.