Grace will lead us home. A powerful, thought-provoking concert to mark Black History month John Newton was a bad boy teenager. Pressed-ganged at 17, he was sold as a slave himself to an African Princess; later became a slave ship captain and after being saved from a shipwreck devoted himself to God, writing the song that's become a worldwide symbol against oppression - Amazing Grace. To mark Newtons 300th birthday, Angeline Morrison; Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne; Jon Bickley and John Palmer explore his life; the inextricable link between Amazing Grace and the slave trade; its iconic status as a protest against oppression and its relevance today. Many of those singing it dont know the story of the man who wrote it. Many more cannot reconcile his early life with the sentiments of the song. Grace Will Lead Us Home uses traditional and new songs, linked by extracts from Newton's and Wilberforce's diaries and writings alongside other contemporary commentaries, to highlight all aspects of his life, how Amazing Grace became such an iconic statement of protest and what it means in the modern world. Its the latest chapter in a three-year Arts Council-funded project that's already produced a series of exhibitions, podcasts, videos, lectures, seminars and an album (currently being revised for the tour). The Guardian: Stirring and Imaginative Mojo Magazine: Echoes of Peter Bellamys The Transports the sounds here are sweet indeed ★★★★Songlines: Powerful compositions, gorgeous arrangements Folking: Heady StuffRoots Magazine: A truly triumphal experience KLOF Magazine: A fine album with themes remarkably relevant to today Angeline was born in Birmingham to a Jamaican mother and a father from the Outer Hebrides Her album Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of Black British Experience was The Guardian Folk Album of the Year in 2022. Cohen is of Barbadian heritage and he was brought up in Birmingham and Worcester. Twice nominated as BBC Radio Two's Folk Artist of the Year, his trio Granny's Attic are currently celebrating their 15th anniversary with a nationwide tour. Jon is a poet, singer, songwriter and broadcaster, who is the director of the John Newton Project. He has also recorded an album on John Newton and William Cowpers Olney Hymns John is a narrator, writer and producer who created Ghosts, Werewolves and Countryfolk Songs and Stories of Sabine Baring-Gould with Jim Causley and Miranda Sykes and the Vaughan Williams 150th anniversary Cathedral tour From Pub to Pulpit with Paul Hutchinson and Anna Tams Coracle and acapella Broomdasher