Review: Bristol Folk Festival – ‘From Senagalese Kora to Americana, the festival made a triumphant return’

Oh Bristol Folk Festival, you lovely, friendly, eclectic thing!  It’s so good to have you back, we’ve missed you!

Look at all the people you’ve reeled in too – there are little kids with massive ear defenders, grizzled warriors from the great folk rock wars of the 70s, floaty folk princesses with flowers in their hair and little bunches of friends, all smiling, chatting, laughing. More than anything they’re all just folks, which seems kind of perfect.

On Friday, the chilly cavern that is Clifton Cathedral welcomed all of those Folk folks for the first time. O’Hooley and Tidow are festival favourites by now and their powerful, piano driven songs mixed with earthy Northern humour was just the way to start proceedings. Songs are picked from across their catalogue but it’s the final one, the theme from the BBC programme, Gentleman Jack, that brings a welcome glimmer of warmth. As utterly fantastic as they undoubtedly were, it was with the arrival of Kate Rusby that we were reminded just who is the rightful Queen of Folk. Celebrating 30 years of creating some of the loveliest music imaginable, she effortlessly held the entire audience spellbound.

O’Hooley and Tidow are festival favourites by now. Credit: Paul Blakemore

By Saturday the sun was out, the chill had receded and the folk were swarming up Park Street and into St George’s. The bar was packed from early afternoon, entertained by the glorious Bristol Folk Singers and a riotous Rapper Crew – big men, dancing tight and intricate patterns whilst twirling swords and each other.

By two o’clock almost every seat in the place was taken for Good Habits. The duo were stranded in New Zealand for almost two years thanks to Covid but returned with a suitcase full of new songs, great stories and some very dodgy dungarees. It would be difficult to pigeonhole this as strictly folk – there’s jazz, klezmer, cabaret and a seriously brilliant cello and accordion cover of The Stone Roses’ She Bangs The Drums – but Bonnie Schwarz’s voice is as good as anything on the stage all day.

Granny’s Attic have played the Folk Festival before and were welcomed with rafter-shaking applause. A wildly talented three piece of violin, guitar and various squeezeboxes, they are quintessentially Folk (with a capital F). Trad tunes attacked with jack-in-the-box excitement and a kid’s TV presenter glee (there were more dungarees in evidence prompting the curt question “Are you Mr Tumble?”). Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne’s voice has echoes of some of the greatest Folk singers from way back and St George’s offered their beautiful songs a place to breathe.

Granny’s Attic are a wildly talented three piece of violin, guitar and various squeezeboxes. Credit: Paul Blakemore

By the time Medicine Creek had finished their set people were staggering out of the hall, shellshocked; “Her voice…it’s just…incredible”. The “her” in question is Nuala Honan; Bristol legend and seriously mighty band leader. Adding something very special to the Americana, Bluegrass and Old Timey stew, Honan and her band were a huge highlight of the whole weekend.

Another highlight was, surely, Amadou Diagne. A Senagalese Kora player who reminded us that it’s not just England or America that has Folk music. His lyrical, fluid playing was simply mesmerising. Subtle beats, loops and grooves were gently laid beneath dizzying playing that led to restrained shoulder shimmies, softly choral singalongs and cacophonous whoops by the end. He’s a wonderfully engaging presence and the perfect juxtaposition to the rest of the day.

His lyrical, fluid playing was simply mesmerising. Credit: Paul Blakemore

All of which led us, inevitably, to one of Folk’s superheroes. Jon Boden was the circus master, the ringleader of the towering Bellowhead. He’s here with his Remnant Strings, a virtuoso four-piece of three violins and a cello, that give us something a little more restrained than the Bellowhead madness. Sam Sweeney is still by his side though and, when they start with a version of old favourite Rigs of Time, you just know this is all going to be alright. There’s plenty of material taken from Boden’s post climate change album trilogy which highlights his great ability as a storyteller and writer of modern folk classics. If things take a while to warm up, by the time the band hits their stride the atmosphere in this beautiful old place is amazing.

There was probably an inevitability that, after a week of fabulous weather, May Day would come shuffling in with drizzle in its hair. Not that that deterred the morris dancers on Sunday afternoon one bit although, sadly, there wasn’t a Maypole in sight.

Daisy Chute has a voice like the first rays of sunlight through a Paris window, it’s pure and bright and warming. There’s the smallest hint of chanson in Second Hand Heart and more than a touch of the literary about Cradle Song. Everything that she touches oozes class which is what you’d expect from someone who has worked with Radiohead and Aardman. The Last Inklings feel like the sort of band that would stumble out of that pub in The Detectorists. They’re a little bit twee, a little bit literary, a little bit Lord of the Rings. Songs hint at the destruction of the planet, animal rights, the mythology of bees and they teeter dangerously close to the edge of parody.

Rachel McShane and the Cartographers, however, are about as authentic as you can possibly get with Trad songs of Lords and Squires, revenge and jealousy. Yet another Bellowhead alumnus, her songs are homely and warm. You want to invite them ’round for a cup of tea and a piece of cake. The fact that even the cosiest ones have a delightfully dark underbelly only adds to their charm. She is a consummate violin player, making everything look, and sound, effortless. She’s very ably backed up by Ian Stevenson on guitar and Julian Sutton on accordion.

Rachel McShane and the Cartographers are about as authentic as you can possibly get. Credit: Paul Blakemore

Whilst Gadarene were tearing up The Folk House with some high octane dub/folk/electronic madness Jack Rutter and Kitty MacFarlane brought things to a very grown up and dignified close at St George’s. Both are utterly extraordinary in their own ways with Rutter a seriously gifted guitar and bouzouki player and MacFarlane getting better and better with each passing tour. Her songs have a delicate, feather-like quality, celebrating nature and beauty. She never misses a step and has the crowd rhapsodising about her in the bar after hours.

With everything covered from Senagalese Kora to Americana, from straight up singer songwriting to good old fashioned Folk music, Bristol Folk Festival was triumphant and full of shiny, happy people.

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Main photo: Paul Blakemore

Read more: Seven acts not to miss at Bristol Folk Festival

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