“Unstoppable… When Our Atlantic Roots play, you listen” - BBC Radio Cornwall
“The audience were mesmerised!… Our Atlantic Roots delivered one hour of pure magic.” - Cornwall Folk Festival
“One of the pleasant surprises of my summer music festival season… a synergy of poetic songs and intense harmonies, Our Atlantic Roots exuded an effortless and charming natural stage presence. Expect to hear more of them.” - Geoff Lakeman
“An emerging folk act who certainly have our attention.” - Ear To The Ground Music
Mac and Laura Johnston, ‘Our Atlantic Roots’, fuse together poetic and beautifully authentic lyrics with incredibly tight harmonies. The blend of their vocals make it almost unbelievable that they are individually from countries that are thousands of miles apart, with Mac originally from North Carolina, USA and Laura from Yorkshire, UK.
The transatlantic, husband-wife duo now live in Cornwall (the wild Atlantic south-west coast of England) but spend much of their time travelling across the UK, sharing their songs and stories with audiences in an abundance of settings, from theatres to festivals, in barns, bars and even on beaches! They have a special gift to write songs that connect with people of many ages and generations as they creatively present a blend of the cultures they are individually from, by merging various genres characterized by their country and folk roots. The duo have taken sonic inspiration from bands such as The Paper Kites, First Aid Kit and The Hollow Coves, and are often compared to the likes of Us The Duo, The Shires, and The Civil Wars.
‘Our Atlantic Roots’ have over 3 million streams on their releases to date, and are currently working on various song writing and recording projects to be released throughout 2024, one of which is a new EP with BBC award winning folk producer, Andy Bell (Sam Sweeney, Bellowhead, Spell Songs). Media appearances include: BBC Spotlight (BBC1-Regional News), BBC Songs of Praise (BBC1), Regional BBC Radio and UCB Radio. Recent festival appearances include: Between The Trees - South Wales, The Americana UK Music Week - London, Beardy Folk Festival - Shropshire and Cornwall Folk Festival.
Our Atlantic Roots have played hundreds of shows and been featured in various national media since they started releasing music at the end of 2017. From small campfire sing-alongs, to live TV and festival main stages. Some of their highlights include supporting the Cornish Sinfonia Orchestra on Lusty Glaze Beach, performing at the 2022 British Country Music Festival, being invited to showcase at the 2023 AMA-UK music week in London, playing at various folk festivals and at folk clubs around the UK, sharing the line up at festivals with the likes of Passenger and Tom Odell and being asked to perform live on BBC Spotlight News and BBC Songs of Praise.