“A Genius” - Zoe Ball, BBC
"Loving crafted from English fine bone china, and lavishly adorned with twenty-two carat gold, Jon Loomes is magnificent.
Britain's greatest everything, Loomes' unparalleled skill as a musician, artist, poet, and swordsman is second only to his proficiency in the boudoir.
Handsome, charming, witty, and modest, his hobbies include short walks to the pub, sleeping for sixteen hours a day, and spouting hyperbole in the third person."
"A blackened shroud, a hand-me-down gown..."
“A Folk Hero” - James Fagan
Ely Folk Festival
Performing internationally since the age of sixteen, Loomes has toured all over the world. Taught piano by a line of composers stretching back to Beethoven, Loomes embraced traditional music when he realised how much free beer was available at his local folk sessions.
These days he takes a more holistic approach and plays a bit of everything. Primarily famous for playing guitar in a variety of cruel and unusual tunings, he also performs on cittern, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, five string banjo, piano, violin, viola, English concertina, melodeon, bagpipes, and hurdy gurdy.
He was a Musicians' Union Representative on the Folk, Roots and Trad Section Committee which successfully campaigned against the infamous "Two in a bar" legislation.
“Memorable” - EFDSS
"She sung to the wind, and she sung to the waves..."
Inspired by the great folk performers of the 1970's, Loomes treads a stylistic path somewhere between Nic Jones and Martin Carthy, increasingly specialising in traditional ballads of epic length played in mind-bending tunings on a guitar strung with telegraph wires.
He also makes musical instruments, composes for orchestra, writes sonnets, breathes fire, paints in the style of Botticelli, and runs a record label.
