It's Jo and Danny is the musical electronic / folk duo of Jo Bartlett and Danny Hagan. In 2000, they released their self produced debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

''Lank Haired Girl to Bearded Boy'' on their own Double Snazzy

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

. Rave reviews and daytime UK national radio play on from

Jo Whiley Johanne Whiley-Morton (born 4 July 1965), better known professionally as Jo Whiley, is an English radio DJ and television presenter. She was the host of the long-running '' Jo Whiley Show'' on BBC Radio 1 and has since been presenting her weekd ...

on her lunch time show on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

led to a worldwide

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

. Their debut album ‘Lank Haired Girl To Bearded Boy’ received generally positive reviews It's Jo and Danny only performed live 30 times. They used several different line ups, from just the two of them and a lap top for programmed beats to an eight piece band. Their debut gig was a sold out show at

The Water Rats The Water Rats is a live music venue at 328 Grays Inn Road, Kings Cross, London, England. Until 1992, it was known as The Pindar of Wakefield and was famous for its regular old time music hall entertainment. Bob Dylan played his first UK gig ...

in London. This performance was attended by several major record companies and led to their deal with RCA. Live UK performances included appearances at the

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

Reading and Leeds Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festi ...

and

T in the Park T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused ...

, with international shows at Crossing Borders in Amsterdam with

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...

, and

Les Inrockuptibles ''Les Inrockuptibles'' (), abbreviated as ''Les Inrocks'', is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. As of 2021, it returned to a monthly format. In the beginning, rock music was the magazine's prim ...

festival in Paris with

Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...

. In 2003, they released ''But We Have the Music'' in the UK, Spain, Germany and Japan, and received Album of the Week in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

''. Jo and Danny toured Germany as a duo to promote the album's release on Kontext Records in 2004. Specially made films were projected over them while they performed. The Berlin show was attended by

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his lengthy ...

who went back stage to congratulate them afterwards. ''The Quickening'' was recorded with Scottish/Irish/Californian folk outfit Daimh along with other musicians and was released in 2005. Once again, it was critically well received and awarded four stars by

Peter Paphides Peter Paphides (born 1969 as Panayiotakis Paphides or Panayiotis Paphides) is a British journalist and broadcaster. Early life Paphides was born in Birmingham to a Greek Cypriot father, Chris, and a Greek mother, Victoria. He has an elder bro ...

in ''The Times''. This UK tour featured Mathew Priest from the band

Dodgy Dodgy are an English rock band formed in Hounslow in 1990. The band rose to prominence during the Britpop era of the 1990s. They are best known for their hits "Staying Out for the Summer", "If You're Thinking of Me", and " Good Enough". "Go ...

on drums and Rudy Carroll on guitar. The four would later form The Yellow Moon Band. In 2003 Jo and Danny founded the

Green Man Festival The Green Man Festival is an independent music, science and arts festival held annually in mid-August in the Brecon Beacons, Wales. Green Man has evolved into a 25,000 capacity week long event, showcasing predominantly live music (in particular ...

in Wales, which they ran until they sold the festival, after the 2011 edition. They grew the festival from 350 attendees for one day in 2003 to 15,000 attendees for four days and nights in 2011.

Discography

*''Lank Haired Girl to Bearded Boy'' (2000) *''Thugs Lounge'' (2001) *''But We Have the Music'' (2003) *''The Quickening'' (2005)

References

External links

The Times online
* The Guardian online {{DEFAULTSORT:It's Jo And Danny Musical groups established in 1999 English electronic music duos Folktronica musicians British dream pop musical groups 1999 establishments in England