Frankie Armstrong beloved British folk singer and educator, will be coming to the Bay Area in August.  She’ll be on tour with Linda Allen, songwriter and educator.

Born in Cumbria, England, Frankie began singing when the skiffle boom hit Britain in 1957, and then became involved in the folk revival.  Since 1962 she has built up a repertoire of British songs and ballads, which, along with contemporary British songs, still form the basis of her musical vocabulary. Frankie owes much of the early development of her singing style to the influence of A.L. Lloyd and the traditional women singers of the UK and Ireland.

Her repertoire includes rural, industrial music hall and contemporary songs; those of her own and other songwriters such as Sandra Kerr, Leon Rosselson and Bertold Brecht.  She selects and interprets songs that explore and express personal and social relationships, especially those that focus on the experiences of women.

Songwriter Linda Allen, from Washington State, is one of those rare performers who combine story and song into a rich and generous flow. Her songs are rooted in tradition and honed by years of commitment to an art that both informs and transforms. She has released nine original recordings and two Northwest songbook collections. In addition, she is a Certified Clinical Musician and directs a choir whose purpose is to sing at the bedside of those who are seriously ill or dying.

Allen has most recently been touring with her multi-media production, Here's to the Women! Both the silencing of women's experience and the empowering of women's voices are showcased, featuring songs, stories, and readings with a special emphasis on the struggle for the vote one hundred years ago. She recently released her ninth CD, Here's to the Women!