Music / folk
Folk picks of the month: May 2015
May is traditionally big in the British folk calendar and Bristol’s longstanding Jack in the Green procession (Saturday 2) from the MShed to Horfield Common heralds the start of summer as well as the first day of the Bristol Folk Festival (Folk House/St George’s, Saturday 2-Sunday 3). BFF’15, as it’s apparently known, has a cracking programme of folk acts old and new, with the recently reformed Home Service rivalling The Full English for Best Folk Supergroup honours. The weekend kicks off with a ceilidh at the Folk House (Friday 1). For the less traditional-minded the month ends with Lau Land (Colston Hall, Friday 29-Sunday 31) a three-night world/folk/roots extravaganza curated by Scots folk innovators Lau and featuring artful troubadour Sun Kil Moon, desert bluesmen Tinariwen, Syrian dance music superstar Omar Souleyman, an improvising folk orchestra and much more besides.
In between those two weekenders the city will see a quartet of legendary names, with Al Stewart (Colston Hall,Thursday 7), Christie Moore (Colston Hall, Sunday 10), Don McClean (Colston Hall, Sunday 17) and Tom Paxton (St George’s, Saturday 23) all likely to have generations of fans in attendance. Those who prefer their nostalgia bang up to date might prefer to catch ‘viper blues’ revivalist C.W.Stoneking’s Trinity gig (Thursday 7) which will mark a welcome return to Bristol since he left us for his native Australia last year. Wiltshire lass Georgia Lewis has travelled less far (to Brighton) but is getting a deserved national name for her lively invigorations of traditional folk songs – you can check them out at this months Saltcellar Folk Club in Totterdown – and there’s sizzling Irish traditional music from Scots-based band Callahan at The Canteen (Friday 29).
Contemporary singer-songwriters feature across the board during May, with the Lantern hosting more than a few: obvious standout name is the musically adventurous Bella Hardy (Saturday 9) but Fairport scion Blair Dunlop’s excellent folk-rockery (Friday 1) should be tempting, too. Over at the Cube ‘indie folk troubadour’ Jamie Yorkstone’s improvisatory jazz and world fusion trio Yorkstone/Thorne/Kahn will be crossing innumerable boundaries (Tuesday 19), while David Ford’s brand of straight-up contemporary Americana will rock the boat at the Thekla (Friday 22) and the Folk House offers a big double bill of Emily Teague and Harry Keyworth on the same night.
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