Fellside Records

Fellside Records was a record label formed and is still run by Paul Adams and Linda Adams, in 1976 in Workington, Cumbria. Paul had toured semi-professionally with the Barry Skinner Folk Group in his teens. Paul and Linda married in 1974. Starting as a folk/acoustic label. They issued jazz under the name "Lake" and Children's records as "small folk". In 2007, BBC radio celebrated the company with a program called "30 Years of Fellside". The magazine "The Living Tradition" wrote "Bravo! Here's to the next thirty!". Three of their acts, 'John Spiers & Jon Boden', 'Nancy Kerr & James Fagan', and 'Kirsty McGee' were nominated for BBC Folk Awards and two of the acts were winners on the night.

Most of the Fellside catalogue was recorded and produced by Paul Adams which is an amazing achievement. The label has won many awards including 12 For Excellence from the Music Retailers Association. Paul Adams is widely regarded as one of the best recording engineers for acoustic music of his generation. Linda Adams' role as the office manager has meant that her singing skills have taken a back seat, but she is one of the best singers around and could have been the Kate Rusby of her day. A natural harmony singer she has over the years contented herself with the occasional track on a compilation or added harmonies to other peoples' albums

The Amazon website lists over 130 titles still in print, including albums by Spiers and Boden, Nancy Kerr & James Fagan, Dr Faustus, 422, Fribo, Hughie Jones, A. L. Lloyd, Peter Bellamy, James Keelaghan, Clive Gregson, The Queensberry Rules, Jez Lowe, Last Orders, Bram Taylor, and Grace Notes. Their anthologies have included songs by Maddy Prior, Richard Thompson, Frankie Armstrong, John Kirkpatrick and Martin Carthy. The company is probably among the top five labels for traditional music in the UK.

On the jazz side, Lake Records is the leading UK label specialising in British Traditional and Mainstram Jazz. Their roster includes George Melly, Digby Fairweather, Ottilie Patterson, Phil Mason, John Hallam, The Fryer-Barnhart International All Star Jazz Band, The Savannah Jazz Band, Spats Langham, Debbie Arthurs and Keith Nichols. In 2004 they started reissuing recordings from the defunct jazz label "Record Supervision". This included the reissue of deleted albums by Humphrey Lyttelton, Acker Bilk, Alex Welsh, Ken Colyer, Chris Barber, Terry Lightfoot, Sandy Brown, and Archie Semple. "Singsong" described this set of reissues as "A milestone in British jazz". They have a 'Vintage' Series as well as a series recorded at the legendary Dancing Slipper Jazz Club in Nottingham in the 1960s. "Lake" has won a "BT British Jazz Award" and Paul was nominated for a "BBC Jazz Award".