May 24th 2014 is the 73rd birthday of Bob Dylan and the 195th birthday of Queen Victoria. It’s also acclaimed folk songstress Bella Hardy‘s 30th.

To mark the occasion, Bella is taking the party on the road with her band The Midnight Watch, and embarking on an epic adventure to visit thirty of her favourite venues, celebrating her six solo albums to date.

“Unveiled, committed, uncontrived, persuasive, passionate, empowering, and utterly wonderful” – fRoots

Recently crowned BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer of the Year 2014, Bella Hardy’s captivating voice inhabits her characters and spins her stories with an equal balance of strength and sensitivity. Four time nominee at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and winner of Best Original Song in 2012 (for The Herring Girl), her songs range from fairytales to working class history, childhood nostalgia, myth, murder and the human condition, touching on both the fantastical, story telling elements of Kate Bush, and the lovelorn songwriting craft of Carole King.

Her latest album, Battleplan, won universal critical acclaim, with The Sunday Times describing it as “stunning”.