Music / Previews
Bristol’s month in folk and roots – June
You can almost feel the Folk and Roots world taking a deep breath in June, as it prepares itself for the festival season.
Even as it breathes in though, there are so many many brilliant gigs as we start the summer.
June in Bristol is especially good for Americana and all things country-tinged.
is needed now More than ever
Iona Lane is playing at St George’s as part of their latest Rising Folk season – photo: Ian Cleverdon
Rumour has it that, over the last ten years, Downend have been desperate to get Nancy Kerr and James Fagan onto their stage. Finally, on June 21, that hope becomes reality. The duo are stone cold folk royalty and, very simply, make some of the finest traditional folk music around.
Members of the remarkable Melrose Quartet, they have twice been awarded a BBC Folk Award for best duo. Kerr played with The Full English and was named BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer of the Year in 2015.
Downend has seen some of the great folk musicians over the last ten years. Almost none are greater than Kerr and Fagan.
What a brilliant month June is at St George’s. Alt-Country legends Lambchop play on June 2. This tour sees Kurt Wagner stripping down some of his classic tracks to just a piano and his incredible voice and, as his songs are always beautiful, this is likely to be utterly spine-tingling.
Another legend of American roots music Asleep at the Wheel play on June 3. After 50 years of touring this represents the last time that the band will play in the UK. Their take on western swing and honky-tonk country remains superb.
Performing as part of the Festival of Voice season, Olivia Chaney plays on June 6. The owner of a quite extraordinary voice, she returns to the venue for the first time in five years.
Grammy award winner Aoife O’Donovan’s voice is equally wonderful. Possibly best known as the singer in Crooked Still and brilliant folk trio I’m With Her, her latest album is dedicated to Carrie Chapman Catt, an American suffragist from 1916. Expect lush, ambitious and harmonious American roots music.
For something a little more folky, Iona Lane plays, as part of the Rising Folk season, on June 14. Jude Rogers, the Guardian’s folk reviewer, says: “Her sweet voice recalls Emilíana Torrini, while her lyrics and musical arrangements crackle with wide-eyed curiosity.”
Finally, Jake Blount is one of the foremost interpreters of Black folk music and also shines a light on the contribution of indigenous and LGBTQ artists to American roots music. He appears on June 21.
Not to be out done by their Park Street cousins, there are some fantastic gigs at the Folk House too.
Northumbrian duo The Brothers Gillespie are almost as exciting as contemporary folk music gets. Full of wild, nature-infused songwriting and glorious harmonies, the brothers play on June 7.
Boston’s Golden Shoals combine bluegrass, Americana, folk, jazz and some serious foot-stomping tunes to surely put on a fantastic show on June 9.
The last time Charm of Finches played at the Folk House they were absolutely extraordinary. Somewhere between forest bathing, folkish acoustic loveliness and a bit of First Aid Kit, their harmonies are worth the price of admission alone. Find them on Friday, June 14.
Dom Flemons is best known as part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops but he’s also a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, actor, slam poet, music scholar, historian, and record collector. He has a Grammy, has been nominated for two EMMYs and has a brilliant new album, Traveling Wildfire, out now. His show on June 25 will be absolutely brilliant.
Another Americana legend, Josh Rouse, plays on June 29 to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the releases of his breakthrough album 1972. I love that record – it’s full of melancholy Americana, poppy handclaps and radio-friendly brilliance.
‘Absolutely extraordindary’ Charm of Finches are at the Folk House on June 14 – photo: Jeff Anderson
Early this year Anglo-French band Topette!! released an album that was recorded live at the Jam Jar. Full of incredible playing, glorious acoustic folk and upbeat tunes that are perfect for dancing, it is infectious and fun – everything, in fact, that a night watching Topette!! can be.
While it’s not absolutely mandatory that you dance, it’s pretty hard to sit still when the melodeon, violin, bodhran, stand-up bass and French bagpipes kick in. Head for the Jam Jar dancefloor on June 15.
For all of the incredible musicians, brilliant Americana and top-drawer folk that the rest of Bristol has to offer in June, there are a couple of things that are just really, very interesting going on over at the Crofter’s.
Justin Adams & Mohamed Errebbaa play Moroccan Gnawa and Afro desert blues on June 3. Adams was Robert Plant’s sideman on lead guitar in the 2000s and has produced the likes of Tinariwen and Rachid Taha. Errebbaa is a master of the three-stringed Gnawa bass lute. Together they have played in all sorts of places, from WOMAD to Shambala and this special show is a fundraiser for Bristol Refugee Festival. For that reason alone, you should probably go.
Warped folk-ish experimentalists Orbury Common play an album launch show on June 9. I’m not saying that this is going to be a straight-up folk show, but it will be brilliant. For proof, just have a listen to the re-mix they produced for Boss Morris of Constant Billy. Oh my!
Other things and other places
Last seen in Bristol supporting UK Americana superstars Morganway, Alyssa Bonagura is back at the Louisiana on June 7 before heading out on tour with The Shires and playing the Black Deer Festival. She writes insanely wonderful country-pop songs that, if there were any justice in the world, should be huge, million selling records. Go and see her before she plays stages much, much bigger than this one.
Melodeon and fiddle duo Brown Boots play The New Room on June 20. Over in Bedminster, Angel Snow is at Hen & Chicken on June 21 with her sweeping folk melodies and bluesy guitar riffs.
Finally, Bristol’s own Fritillaries play St Ambrose on June 28 – they incorporate elements of the English folk tradition, Appalachian string band and Americana. Expect beautiful song writing and a performance showcasing their unique ability to draw you into another world.
Main photo: Topette! by Les Bringuebalants
Read next:
- Review: Kathryn Williams and Withered Hand, Folk House – ‘Jigsaw-puzzle perfect harmonies’
- Bristol’s month in World Music – June 2024
- Bristol’s month in jazz – June 2024
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