Music / Folk & Roots
Bristol’s month in folk & roots – January 2024
After all of the fun and silliness at the end of the year, January always feels a little bit sleepy.
Fortunately there are still some brilliant folk and roots gigs for those that are desperate for a bit of live music to see in the new year.
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The first show of 2024 at Downend is a bit of a special one. Kitty MacFarlane doesn’t play live all that often these days but she brings her songs of rewilding, climate change, migration and the changing face of the natural world to Christ Church on January 19.
Folk Radio describe her voice as “controlled yet wild” and, in the last five years, she has racked up BBC Folk Award nominations and was voted FATEA magazine’s Female Artist of the Year. Detta Kenzie, a folk singer from Devon, is in support.
After the triumphant return of the Beacon at the end of 2023 things start to get pretty busy over there. As lovely as the main hall is, it looks as though there is going to be plenty to keep folk fans interested in The Lantern this year.
They start with the wonderful singer-songwriter, Martyn Joseph, on January 19. He is a fantastic storyteller and some consider him the “Welsh Springsteen”.
The Olllam (January 29) are a transatlantic collective that mix traditional Celtic sounds with things a little more contemporary, a little more experimental.
Uilleann pipe player, John McSherry, was in Lunasa and Coolfin while Mike Shimmin, Tyler Duncan and Joe Dart are likely to offer complex, trance-like melodies.
John Martyn is, sadly, no longer with us but the superb John Martyn Project play St George’s on January 29.
Featuring six incredible musicians – including Reprazent vocalist Pete Josef, guitarist Kit Hawes and John Blakeley and Jon Short of Sheelanagig – they will celebrate the huge, diverse catalogue of the great man.
Thea Gilmore tours her brand new, self titled, album in the early part of the new year and the Bristol show, on January 31, is the first date of that tour.
Incredibly, she has made 20 albums in 25 years and the new one is stunning. She’s always been a captivating performer so this is likely to be fantastic.
Late January sees an “Urban wassail” at The Exchange on January 19. This may, or may not be, just an excuse to drink cider and jump around to Skimmity Hitchers and The Shinkickers. Whatever it is, it’ll be loads of fun.
John Francis Flynn plays on January 27 and will, without a doubt, be the highlight of January’s folk and roots gigs.
His most recent album, Look Over the Wall, See the Sky, is superb. Yet another classic folk album from out of Ireland in 2023 (along with Lankum, The Mary Wallopers and Lisa O’Neill), Flynn’s vision is of traditional folk songs, pushing boundaries, creating something new. His latest album is an instant classic and, live, these songs should be extraordinary.
The other gig that’s going to be a bit special is the postponed Ye Vagabonds show (January 31). This should have taken place in October and is sold out.
Ye Vagabonds is an Irish Folk duo from Dublin. They won three awards at the 2019 RTE Radio 1 Folk Awards and are at the forefront of the new wave of Irish Folk music (along with the aforementioned Lankum, The Mary Wallopers and John Francis Flynn). They will fit this gorgeous venue perfectly.
Marika Hackman might not be strictly folk but she’s a brilliant singer-songwriter. The Rough Trade show (January 16) will be solo and acoustic to launch her latest album Big Sigh, an album that is somewhere between her lovely debut and the more pop oriented Any Human Friend from 2019.
She will play at Strange Brew in March as part of a full UK tour.
If there’s one thing that January should be made for then it’s getting out and seeing something local.
Josie Blakelock is a confessional, honest singer-songwriter from Bristol.
She has a wonderfully cinematic sound and a great voice and plays on January 14 alongside indie folk songwriter, Popz Grieve, and Bristol based collective Foxwhelp.
Main photo: Ania Shrimpton
Read next:
- Bristol’s month in folk & roots – December 2023
- Bristol’s month in folk & roots – November 2023
- Bristol’s month in folk & roots – October 2023
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