Dan Whitehouse at Glasshouse Arts Centre, Stourbridge

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Fri 21 Oct 2022

Singer-songwriter Dan Whitehouse will launch his new album, Voices From The Cones, at The Glasshouse Arts Centre , Stourbridge, on October 21, 2022. The record was inspired by real stories from workers at the old Stourbridge Glassworks, which closed in the 1990s.



Black Country musician Dan was invited by Alan Ellsmore of the Ruskin Mill Trust in Stourbridge (a college built on the old Glassworks site) to research and write a narrated song cycle about the history and community of the glassworks in 2019. Using an archive of interviews with 100 former glass workers, talking about their memories of working in the glass trade, alongside new interviews, Dan and storyteller John Edgar (pictured below) crafted an emotive journey into the history and future of the glass industry.



The album sees Dan collaborating with a sparkling array of musical talent, including John Elliot, Chris Cleverley, Kim Lowings, Gustaf Ljunggren, Nicole Justice and Lukas Drinkwater. Gliding between electronica, country, rock, hip-hop, folk and pop, the songs celebrate the largely untold stories of Stourbridge's master craftsmen/craftswomen and their communities, the huge Glassworks production line, the distinctive cone-shaped furnaces that once filled the skyline, and unique pieces of glass created in more recent times. The narratives include tales of courtship, entertainment, fear, family, refuge, beer, skill, and more.



For over 400 years, the glassmaking industry nourished the communities of Stourbridge in the West Midlands, where – thanks to the skills of immigrant French Huguenots – it became the most important glassmaking area of the country.

In recent years the industry has faded away, with the last factory apprentice, Malcolm Andrews, now teaching artisan makers, who are the last link in this glassmaking chain.



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!date 21/10/2022 -- 21/10/2022
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