FRANK TURNER & THE SLEEPING SOULS with Special Guests' Trapper Schoepp & The Shades Mick Leonardi Blackbird Sing Frank Turner’s meteoric rise to success continues this year with news of award nominations, special intimate shows, festival appearances and details of a fourth studio album scheduled for release this summer. It’s going to be another exceptional year… As well as being confirmed for a plethora of exciting UK, US and European festivals – including Main Stage at Reading and Leeds Festival, headlining the Third Stage at Download Festival on 12th June and headlining Blissfields on 1st July - the summer will see the release of his highly anticipated fourth studio album ‘England Keep My Bones’. Recorded in Crouch End’s stunning Church Studios, Frank has laid down fifteen tracks with his band The Sleeping Souls - Ben, Nigel, Tarrant and Matt - and producer Tristan Ivemy for a record with the quintessential English sound he has been searching for. Unsurprisingly for an artist who spends the majority of his time travelling around the world,‘England…’ has a nostalgic feel to it – an homage to his homeland, friends and family he often has to leave behind. With the acoustic guitar very much at its core, the album is more folky than predecessor ‘Poetry Of The Deed’ and even includes an a cappella song done in a traditional English style. Featuring contributions from ex-Hold Steady keyboardist Franz Nicolay, folk singers Emily Barker and Chris T-T, and Unbelievable Truth’s Andy Yorke, he covers themes of mortality, relationships and religion in what is a bold, ballsy yet beautiful album. The album will be released in the UK on 6th June and on 7th June for the rest of the world. Frank was recently nominated for two NME Awards. Firstly for the impressive Best Solo Artist alongside Paul Weller, Florence And The Machine, Laura Marling and Kanye West and secondly for Best Band Blog or Twitter for recognising Frank’s openness with his fans. To celebrate the nominations Frank played a very intimate and packed show at London’s Borderline on 18th February. A full album tour has also just been announced. These special solo performances see Frank return to smaller venues where fans can enjoy an up close and personal evening with this rising star. The past twelve months has seen Frank reach new dizzying heights of success that has included a support slot for Green Day at the vast Wembley Stadium in June; scooping the prestigious ‘Spirit Of Independence’ Kerrang! Award in August and headlining a sold out Brixton Academy show back in December; as well as spending the year touring extensively not just in the UK, Europe and America but also as far a field as New Zealand, Australia and China. It’s a far cry from his tentative beginnings five years ago when, after the demise of previous band Million Dead, Frank took to the road as a fledgling solo artist armed only with an acoustic guitar. With a DIY work ethic, and a passion for plying his trade with integrity and honesty Frank toured up and down the country playing backs of pubs, people’s front rooms and anywhere else that would have him. With a handful of catchy folk/country/punk songs and enough charm and charisma to win over any crowd, he amassed more and more fans and a fevered cult following soon formed. With the support and backing from Indie label Xtra Mile Recordings in the UK, Frank has slowly but surely blossomed from an underground hero to a bona fide mainstream success story. And this is now starting to be echoed internationally with the help from US indie label Epitaph Records who Frank signed to in 2009. Having released previous albums ‘Poetry Of The Deed’and ‘Love Ire & Song’ and got Frank out on the road on US tours with the Offspring and Social Distortion, Frank’s popularity across the Atlantic is growing and growing selling out his own headlining shows including the famous Troubadour venue in LA. With the release of his new album and a summer chock full of gigs and festival appearances 2011 is shaping up very nicely indeed and Frank’s path to total world domination will continue..