FOLK big band Bellowhead are on Part One of their two farewell tours, playing Harrogate tonight, backed up by a compilation of the best-loved tracks from their five studio albums.

Released this autumn on Navigator Records, Pandemonium – The Essential Bellowhead features 13 tracks selected by the 11 band members, designed to represent high points of their stellar 11-year career.

Crowd favourite New York Girls, from Hedonism, opens the track listing, having been issued as a single in September. Further tracks are 10,000 Miles Away, Betsy Baker and Roll The Woodpile Down from Broadside; Roll Alabama, Gosport Nancy and Let Her Run off Revival; Fakenham Fair and Whiskey Is The Life Of Man from Matachin; Yarmouth Town and Cold Blows The Wind off Hedonism; Prickle-Eye Bush from E.P.Onymous and Burlesque number London Town.

Early in 2015, lead singer Jon Boden decided to step down from the band and the rest of Bellowhead felt they did not want to continue without him. "The shows always finish on a high, and so should we," they announced.

Jon, nevertheless, had not foreseen the domino effect that would culminate in the bell tolling for Bellowhead. "I have to say I didn't expect the band to stop because of my decision," he says. "Though I precipitated the decision to break up, maybe it just felt right for everyone else, though I can't speak for everyone, but it does mean we all get to finish Bellowhead together, and in a way it feels good to end on a high and at the time of our choosing, when no-one has fallen out!"

Bellowhead, who headlined Pocklington's Platform Music & Comedy Festival in July, are at Harrogate International Centre tonight, when Keston Cobblers Club will be the support act, and once 2016 beckons they will sign off with another tour in the spring.

Formed in Oxford in 2004, Bellowhead went on to headline major British and international festivals, sell out prestigious concert halls and notch up in excess of 250,000 album sales. They hold the record for the highest-selling independent traditional album of all time, 2010's Hedonism, and the highest-charting independent British album, 2012's Broadside.

"When we started, we just thought we'd do a few folk festivals, so it's always been full of surprises for us, but as we've gone on the tours have just grown bigger and bigger," says Jon.

"I think the inherently exciting thing about Bellowhead is watching lots and lots of people on stage playing instruments live, creating a visual spectacle as well making a lot of noise, so there's plenty going on, turning it into a multi-sensory experience.

"We started as a party band but over the years, we've seen the experimental side come through, though we always want the audience to have fun, so the experimental side can be dropped into that and the two things can help each other."

Jon will never forget Bellowhead's first ever gig at Oxford Town Hall, where they will play the last show too on May 1 next spring. "I think I probably nearly suffered a heart attack on the day. Belowhead was a crazy thing to do: we'd only met up the previous December for one session, where we did three tracks, one of which we then dropped," he says.

"The next time was the day before the gig for just one day's rehearsal. Justin [trombonist Justin Thurgur] broke two ribs but he carried on and played in lots of pain, and we also had a lot of stress getting all the arrangements finished, but I managed to do that, so everyone learned their parts on the day.

"The Oxford Town Hall is rather echoey, which meant it wasn't the ideal venue, but the audience were really into it and on the recording we made a lot sounded good, so we knew we had something there. I remember afterwards feeling spaced out but elated."

York Press:

Bellowhead, in Harrogate tonight

Over the years, Bellowhead's live shows have tended to surpass their albums, for which Jon has a theory. "Where the albums suffer by comparison, is that if you put 11 people on stage, it's an impressive sight and sound, but if you put 11 musicians on an album, you have to compress them," he says.

"When I did my solo album, I played all the instruments, whereas Bellowhead on record is constrained by having 11 players, which means we have to make records in a very old-fashioned way.

"On Hedonism, we had all the band playing live in the studio at Abbey Road; for the last one [Broadside], we did it half with the band playing live, and half with the same instruments put on top."

Jon has plenty of ideas for the future and he and melodeon player John Spiers have talked of reviving their Boden & Spiers duo, although any plans are yet to be formalised. "What I don't want to do is rush back into that, because I don't want to be in that cycle of having to do an album every two years, having done that process for 15 years," he says.

"I'm keen to pull back from that rigid structure, especially as there's a stuff I've had on hold. I used to make my living as a composer for theatre, and I'd like to do more as the only one I've done in the last five years was The Winter's Tale for the Royal Shakespeare Company [as heard at the Grand Opera House in York in March 2013].

"This summer, I was commissioned by the Erebus Ensemble for a choral piece at the Bristol Proms in July, and I'll be doing more classical pieces, though I have no particular arc of a plan for anything, but having said no to a lot of projects, I think I'm going to start saying 'yes' again."

Jon intends to make a new solo record too. "I haven't written songs for a while, as I haven't done a solo record since 2008, and in a funny sort of way, though it's difficult to compare things, it's arguably the most important record I've done, though it's not sold as many copies, but the subject matter feels central to me as a musician, so I want to go back to that."

Meanwhile, what can Harrogate expect on the set list tonight, after the "more dancey" festival shows of the summer? "Rather than a greatest hits set, we need to construct fitting farewell sets that cover all the albums, and we'll be doing some surprising things too," says Jon.

Should you miss out on Harrogate tonight, two Yorkshire shows remain on the Bellowhead calendar: Sheffield City Hall on April 21 and Halifax Victoria Halls on April 25 next spring, but don't delay in booking because they are sure to sell well.