Skip Navigation
“...the unique
performance venue”
Acapela Studio
tel: 029 2089 0862
info@acapela.co.uk
Menu

Jo Harman

After an amazing concert at Acapela in June 2017, Acapela is delighted to announce the return of Jo Harman.

Come and hear Jo and band perform and see why she was rewarded with such enthusisatic applause and a standing ovation. A night not to miss.

Soul. Blues. Gospel. Beatles-worthy pop. These are the core ingredients of Jo Harman’s People We Become, a modern album rooted in the classic, timeless music of past generations.

“I’m not trying to fit in anywhere,” admits Harman, whose super-sized voice fills the record’s 10 tracks. “I’m just trying to write classic songs, and present them with classic production. When you try to chase what’s going on at the moment, then it’s going to sound old very quickly.”

Raised in Southwest England, Harman found success on her own terms with her debut, Dirt On My Tongue. The album was released independently in 2013 and supported by a touring schedule that found Harman sharing the stage with icons like Patty Smith, Joan Baez and Sinead O’Connor. Wildly successful for an independent record, Dirt On My Tongue was embraced with particular devotion by the blues community in the U.K., with Harman racking up more than a half-dozen nominations from the British Blues Awards. Looking to expand her horizons beyond any single genre, though, she began teaming up with her longtime co-write, Mike Davies, to write new songs that took their cues from some of the classic artists — including Carole King, Cat Stevens and David Bowie — whose music had filled her childhood home. She wasn’t looking to be a throwback artist; instead, she was narrowing her focus to the building blocks of ageless music, from powerful melodies to organic, natural-sounding arrangements.

Released worldwide on February 3, 2017, People We Become marks the biggest leap of Harman’s career. To make it, she headed overseas to Nashville, Tennessee, where she found a trusted collaborator in producer Fred Mollin. While a winter storm raged outside, Harman and Mollin holed up inside the city’s famed Sound Emporium Studio for three weeks, focusing on a warm sound — full of upright piano, Rhodes, unaffected bursts of electric guitar, and the soulful sweep of Harman’s voice — that contrasted with the town’s snowy weather. Shortly after the album’s release, she’ll return to Nashville again, this time as part of her first American tour.

Poignant and personal, tracks like “Silhouettes of You,” “Changing of the Guard,” and “Person of Interest” find Harman moving through the stages of a breakup. She’s heartbroken one moment, forever reminded of a relationship that’s fizzled out, and empowered the next, eager to explore what lies ahead with emboldened purpose. Other tracks cast a broader net, with the stomping, percussive “Reformation” taking influence from Harman’s work with Amnesty International. Backing her up are some of Nashville’s best session players, whose contributions bounce between smoky, soulful ballads and brassy, Motown-tinged anthems.

On an album that features performances by award-winning players like Tom Bukovac, Greg Morrow, and Gordon Mote — as well as a guest appearance by the Doobie Brothers’ frontman, Michael McDonald, who lends his harmony vocals to the Seventies-worthy soul of “When We Were Young” — the most striking instrument is Harman’s voice. It’s an instrument that’s been sharpened by her years on the road, and it’s never sounded better.

“I’ve learned how to express myself a bit better, and to convincingly put across the stories that I’m telling,” Harman says. “It’s a natural progression. My voice has matured, in the same way that the songs have matured, and the production has matured. I’ve only ever tried to be me, and that’s whatPeople We Become is. It’s me.”

Book a table for pre-concert dining

Acapela Studio provides pre-concert dining between 6.00pm and 7.30pm from our pizza oven. To view the current menu visit here.

Please purchase your concert tickets first before booking a table. We will not accept any table bookings that do not have a corresponding ticket purchase.

Then return to the event page to book your table, by selecting the date of your event, number of diners and time you require table. The times shown are the only vacancies left.  Please complete your email and phone number as this is required to ensure your table is allocated. You will receive confirmation of your booking by email and text.

If on the date you have chosen no tables are available - no times will be shown and the booking system will revert you back to todays date - PLEASE ENSURE YOU BOOK THE CORRECT DATE!

PLEASE NOTE THE VENUE RELIES ON THE INCOME FROM DINING TO ENSURE WE CAN BOOK ALL THE GREAT ACTS PERFORMING.

Income from the provision of pizzas is very important to the venue and if you have booked a table it is a requirement that all people sat at tables order food - a salad alternative is available to pizzas. Please do ensure that all individuals will be ordering on your table - if  this is not the case please cancel your table so others who are looking to dine can do so. Our apologies to raise this but recently we have had many tables (some very large) where less than 50% of those sat at tables have ordered food. Financially this is a real problem to the sustainability of the venue. 

  • All seating at tables must purchase a pizza - so please do not book a table if everyone is not eating.
  • Please ensure that you arrive 10 minutes before the time slot allocated to order your pizzas prior to your booking time.
  • Tables not seated within 15 minutes of the allocated time may be lost and allocated to other audience members wishing to order pizzas.
  • If you wish to book a table for 6 or more please email info@acapela.co.uk

Please note that all of our pizzas are made fresh to order and cooked in an authentic wood-fired oven. It may take up to 45 minutes to be served during busy periods.

IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO BOOK A TABLE YOU CAN STILL ORDER PIZZAS ON THE NIGHT (USUALLY ON BUSY NIGHTS NO LATER THAN  7.15PM) AND WE WILL SERVE THEM TO YOU WHEREVER YOU ARE SAT IN THE VENUE - IN A PIZZA BOX.  

Back to top