Angeline Morrison & Jon Bickley - Dear Polly

In 2023, Angeline Morrison (The Sorrow Songs), Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne (Granny's Attic) and Jon Bickley (Invisible Folk) came together to create new music marking the 250th anniversary of the writing of Amazing Grace by Anglican cleric and renounced slave trader John Newton. Jon Bickley headed a partnership between Invisible Folk, the Arts Council and the Cowper & Newton Museum (Olney, Buckinghamshire) in a project that explored the love people have for Amazing Grace including those descended from slaves that Newton shipped across the Atlantic in his former occupation. The new music that constitutes the album 'Grace Will Lead Me Home' was premiered by Angeline, Cohen & Jon on 24th June 2023 at an intimate concert in the gardens of the Cowper & Newton Museum. It was a glorious day with a wonderful atmosphere. The event was filmed by Minus Tone and three short films produced by Matt Fleming. This film features Angeline's song 'Dear Polly' a song constructed from Newton's copious letters to his wife. Angeline asked Jon to play guitar for her at the concert, so Jon learned it in her key and suddenly this arrangement was born – Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra in England, Johnny Cash and June Carter in Buckinghamshire!