The Jar Family hail from (broadly speaking), Mrs M’s neck of the woods, being an ‘industrial folk’ band from Hartlepool.

We liked them before we heard them simply because their debut single, Poolie Strut became the most requested song in Radio Hartlepool’s history, and has since been played at all of Hartlepool United’s home matches, leading to the home faithful chanting the song on the terraces. That, in the MM world, is pretty cool!

Irrespective of all that, the even better news is that they ply a frank and refreshing brand of typical rootsy English folk, tough, uncompromising, but still coloured by occasional lighter, whimsical touches. Above all, their sound is shot through with honesty and an authenticity that is borne from down-to-earth reflections on the economic hardships of their hometown.

Previously famed for the local’s exploits in monkey hanging, The Jar Family may well be about to change all that for Hartlepool. Download free track Getting Better via their Soundcloud page below and keep an eye and ear out for forthcoming single Broken Minded.

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