Blair Dunlop plus special guest Ellie Gowers For a man still in his twenties whose debut album Blight & Blossom, won the coveted Horizon Award at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, whose 2010 debut EP is now a collector’s item, and who was declared the “vital bridge between Brit folk's first and latest flowerings” by Q Magazine, one might think it easy to rest on the laurels of an already successful career but that’s certainly not the case;…

The Young’uns’ live shows are renowned roller coaster rides. With heart-on-the-sleeve storytelling, beautiful lyrics, warm harmonies and relentless repartee, Sean Cooney, Michael Hughes and David Eagle (the award-winning stand-up comedian) write and sing folk songs for today. Born from empathy, crafted with care, fired by hope, and shared with joy, The Young'uns' songs have been described as ‘a heartfelt secular hymnary for these troubled times and a rallying call for humanity’ (The Scotsman). They have led the band to three…

Seven-time winner at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, including 2018 Folk Singer of The Year, Karine Polwart’s latest project is a collaboration with renowned jazz/folk pianist Dave Milligan. Piano and voice isn’t a combination that you hear often in the folk idiom, and yet it can be just as potent, if not more so, than a full band, and the duo’s new album is just this - an intimate, stripped-back collection of songs performed entirely with voice and grand piano.…

Performing together for over 10 years, much loved Yorkshire folk duo Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow were  propelled into newfound fame for penning the theme tune for Sally Wainwright’s hit BBC1/HBO drama ‘Gentleman Jack’, earning them global admiration, appearances on TV, Radio 4 Woman’s Hour and concerts that sell out months in advance.  Belinda and Heidi’s boundless songwriting has been described by The Guardian as ‘exceptional’ and The Independent as ‘defiant, robust, northern, poetical, political folk music for the times…

Ground-breaking, chart-topping, genre-bending, globetrotting, instantly enthralling... it’s little wonder that Talisk rank highly amongst the most in-demand folk-based groups to emerge from Scotland in the last decade and more. Mohsen Amini (BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ Musician of the Year 2018), Graeme Armstrong and Benedict Morris (BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2019) fuse concertina, guitar and fiddle to produce a truly innovative, multi-layered signature that has captivated audiences around the globe. At its core, three seemingly…

Hey! Manchester and Manchester Folk presents The Unthanks “The Unthanks are capable of such beauty that sometimes I can hardly bear to listen to them.” - Martin Freeman “There are few times when you discover a band and they stalk immediately to the heart of everything you love and hold dear.” - Maxine Peake “They run from the very root of folk music to the very tip of the branch.”  - Elvis Costello “It’s quite a rare thing now. They’ve…

Nick Hart is an award-winning singer and multi-instrumentalist whose work with English folk song is rapidly gaining him a reputation as one of the most acclaimed performers of his generation. His considered approach to accompaniment is informed by a deep respect for the nuances of traditional song and his captivating live performances are a testament to the importance he places on story-telling. Nick has released two solo albums, Nick Hart Sings Eight English Folk Songs (2017) and Nick Hart Sings…