We return to our normal third-Friday-of-the-month pattern in September after the excitement of our 10th Anniversary Celebration, but there's no drop in quality as we welcome one of the most exciting young duos in the country to kick off our Autumn/Winter series. 

FILKIN'S DRIFT reimagine traditional melodies through pizzicato grooves, intricate guitar tunes, and boundless improvisation. Their 870 mile foot-powered-tour, described as "committed and fascinating" by BBC 6 Music’s Cerys Matthews, has recently propelled them into the spotlight. This radical approach to sustainable touring has earned the duo global attention from major news outlets including BBC News, Billboard, The i, Radio New Zealand, Canadian Broadcasting Company, and The Times.

The music of Filkin’s Drift captures the essence of their 870 mile walk, "weaving together a tapestry of shared experiences" (Songlines). Their compositions are sophisticated, yet rooted in tradition. From delicate Welsh folk songs to traditional English dance tunes, the pair blend fiddle and guitar with their "gorgeous close vocal harmonies" (Folk Radio UK).

Seth Bye and Chris Roberts have earned widespread acclaim with extensive national airtime on BBC Radio 2, 3, 4, 6 Music, and BBC World Service. Renowned for their live performances, characterised as "utterly mesmerizing" (Bristol 24⁄7) and "hugely entertaining" (RnR), the duo have enchanted audiences across the UK including FolkEast, Warwick Folk Festival, St George’s Bristol, and Llangollen International Eisteddfod. 

In tandem with their groundbreaking commitment to sustainable touring, the duo’s latest endeavor involves the formation of Filkin's Ensemble, a 15-piece orchestral-folk band, which also includes MICHELLE HOLLOWAY, who will open the evening with a short solo set.

 

Peeling back the noise and focusing on the song itself has become a new focus point for Michelle’s work. She sings songs of past and present about women, social justice and Birmingham’s heritage. Fatea Magazine has praised her "extraordinary vocal work [which] acutely voices the song’s drama...[a] distinctive lead vocal taking no prisoners".

Tickets for the concert, which takes place at CHRIST CHURCH DOWNEND on Friday 20 September 2024, are available online HERE and from MELANIE'S KITCHEN in Downend (cash only). They are priced at £14 each in advance or £16 on the door. Doors open at 7.00pm and the music starts around 7.45pm. This even is also included in our Autumn/Winter Season Ticket.

There will be a bar, stocking cider, soft drinks, wine, hot drinks and real ale from locally-based HOP UNION BREWERY. Audience members are encouraged to bring their own glass/mug/tankard, as well as reusable bottles for water, as part of the drive to be more environmentally aware; there is a 50p discount for those that do. There will also be sweet treats available at the bar courtesy of Radstock-based THE GREAT CAKE COMPANY, as well as a prize draw, which helps to fund the support artists for each concert. 

For further information, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or find us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM or X.

BUY TICKETS

+++

We’re excited to announce our lineup for Autumn/Winter 2024. As usual, It’s a great mix of the traditional and the contemporary, the established and the emerging… the very best that the UK folk scene has to offer.

We kick off after our Summer break with FILKIN’S DRIFT, who return to headline on Friday 20 September, after performing a well-received support slot a couple of years ago. Seth Bye and Chris Roberts reimagine traditional melodies through pizzicato grooves, intricate guitar tunes, and boundless improvisation. Their recent 870 mile foot-powered tour, described as ‘committed and fascinating’ by BBC 6 Music’s Cerys Matthews, has recently propelled them into the spotlight. Opening the evening MICHELLE HOLLOWAY, who performs unaccompanied traditional songs and plays whistles alongside the duo in their 15-piece folk orchestra Filkin’s Ensemble.

RACHAEL McSHANE & THE CARTOGRAPHERS release a new album this Autumn, and their tour brings them to South Gloucestershire on Friday 18 October, for a show that will also be streamed live in partnership with LIVE TO YOUR LIVING ROOM. Rachael is a renowned folk singer, cellist, fiddle and viola player from the North East of England. She gained fame as an original member of the award-winning folk big band Bellowhead. Joined by guitarist Ian Stephenson (Kan, Baltic Crossing), and melodeon player Julian Sutton (Kathryn Tickell, Sting), they bring a powerful blend of traditional folk and contemporary sounds, with Rachael's stunning voice and instrumental skills leading the line. The evening will begin with a set Yorkshire’s JOHNNY CAMPBELL.

It’s hard to believe that GRANNY’S ATTIC have been playing together for 15 years, but they have… and their celebration tour brings them to Downend on Friday 15 November. The trio have been heralded for their lively performances and skilled delivery of traditional material, playing with verve, energy and their own inimitable style. Though grounded in tradition, they are keen to push new boundaries by exploring fresh approaches and writing their own compositions.. Described by Folk Radio as “one of the most exciting and accomplished English folk acts on the scene right now”, Granny’s Attic can hold audiences in the palm of their hand. They’ll be supported by HEATHER FERRIER, a fresh new talent from the vibrant Newcastle folk scene.

The Downend Folk & Roots Christmas concert has seen some incredible lineups take to the stage in front of some of our biggest audiences, but the one that our regulars have kept talking about is A WINTER UNION, and they return on Friday 13 December in a gig that will also be live-streamed by LIVE TO YOUR LIVING ROOM. Featuring members of The Willows, Gilmore & Roberts and Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage, this supergroup is now fast becoming thought of as the pre-Christmas knees-up for folk and roots music lovers all over the country. And, after the success of last year, we’re pleased to say that the brilliant folk-choir HEARTWOOD CHORUS will get us underway.

All four concerts will take place at CHRIST CHURCH DOWNEND. Seating is unreserved. The concerts are all individually priced, but you can also buy a season ticket for all four concerts for £55. All tickets are non-refundable. They are available online HERE, and they will also be available from MELANIE’S KITCHEN in Downend ahead of each individual gig. Please note that the shop can only take cash payments and season tickets are not available at the shop. There will be a full bar at all concerts, as well as a prize draw, all proceeds of which go towards booking our support artists. Doors open at 7.00pm for a 7.45pm start. 

We're really excited about this season, and we hope you will be too. Keep supporting live music! For further information, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or find us on FACEBOOK, X or INSTAGRAM.

BUY TICKETS

+++

In a time when live music venues are struggling, when any number of festivals have packed it all in, when musicians are finding it hard to make a living, this is something to celebrate.
 
Downend Folk & Roots (formerly Downend Folk Club) is ten years old and they're throwing a party. Three days of wonderful music, of dancing, of community action, three days of friendship, of laughter, of beautiful revelry.
 
 
Friday starts with a ceilidh, and it is an absolutely glorious thing. Young dance with old, pink mohicans dance with sensible cardigans, everybody smiles and laughs and smiles again. As THE MOLECATCHERS provide the square dances, so hands and feet twirl around in intricate little knots, up and back and back again, dancers weaving and spinning. Some of them do it right nearly all of the time. This is exactly what Downend has always been about; a sense of community and fun, an overwhelming love of the music but a refusal to take it all too seriously. By the end of the evening the party is well and truly underway, ready for a whole day of music on Saturday.
 
One of the more recent innovations at Downend has been the Saturday afternoon Family concert. A space where everyone is welcome, where the noise from little ones is celebrated and everyone is allowed to have a good time. KATIE GRACE HARRIS, a singer songwriter from Oxfordshire, fits the bill perfectly. Switching effortlessly between piano, accordion and dulcimer, as well as between trad and her own songs, Harris is never anything other than full of joy. Bedlam Boys and, Ralph McTell's Gypsy are toe-tappers made for joining in while her own songs lean heavily on her piano and have a Radio 2 smoothness. With Regret has a polite political under-tow, while The Ring is heartfelt and lovely, showing off her high, expressive voice. Throw in some audience participation with spoons and the Downend party is up and running. 
 
It just wouldn't have been right to throw this party and not invite ROAD NOT TAKEN. If this folk club has a house band, then they are probably it, although they have been on a self-imposed hiatus for the last few years. Formed in the club and featuring Ant Miles, Downend's founder, Road Not Taken are fantastic. Anita Dobson's voice has always been their focal point and, on I'll Weave My Love A Garland and Suzanne Vega's The Queen and The Soldier, it is as high, pure and expressive as ever. They take these wonderful, familiar, traditional songs and remind us just why we love them.
 
JANICE BURNS & JON DORAN also plunder the tradition, they do so with a gentleness that is simply beguiling. In a set stuffed with changelings, devilry, nature and the seasons, Burns and Doran cast a hazy warmth over the Saturday afternoon. Burns’ voice is a fabulous thing, giving a sense of defiant beauty to the Song of the Fishgutters, it is upbeat and pacey. As Doran lends her his harmony, the two voices blend seamlessly. Georgie and Love You No More are sublime.
 
 
Saturday afternoon ends with a Downend Folk & Roots favourite. JIM MORAY has been the club's patron since the very beginning and has played here twice before. To help with the celebrations he plays a set that is, more or less, one that he would have played in 2014. Even after 20 odd years of making music, folk is still startling in Moray's hands. He doesn't try to make things beautiful or nice, instead you feel the anger, the pain, the desperation when he sings. The storytelling on Lord Douglas and Jenny of the Moor is extraordinary, the simple electronics on Lemady still thrilling, the ferocity of Jim Jones in Botany Bay breathtaking. It is, however, Sounds of Earth that continues to be Moray's greatest (should have been a) hit. It is the best song that anyone plays all day, probably the best song that Downend Folk & Roots has ever heard. There are tears being shed at the back, the fact that he follows it with a version of Roy Orbison's Crying makes it even better. Touchingly Moray dedicates two Morris tunes to the much missed Downend stalwart Cliff Wooley, and in doing so he emphasises everything wonderful about this place.
 
After Moray's inventiveness, Saturday evening carries with it echoes of a more traditional Folk Club. It turns out that this is a brilliant thing. GAVIN OSBORN & THE COMMENT SECTION are delightfully funny, a throwback to those days of old when Billy Connolly and Jasper Carrott played folk music. His songs are smart and witty, if Billy Bragg was less annoyed by the world and more amused by it, he might be Osborn. The Comment Section is just one man, John Hare, but he adds keyboards, accordion and, best of all, trumpet. With his musical nouse and Osborn's clever songwriting they are gloriously entertaining. Bath Not Bristol is wry and knowing, What Kind of Thing endearingly self-deprecating and Albert Went Out to See Rock Bands is as intimate, heartwarming and delightfully observed as Victoria Wood or Alan Bennett. After their set, Downend whispered to itself, "How good were they?". The answer, simply, is that they were so good.
 
Equally as good were BRYONY GRIFFITH & ALICE JONES. Unlike every other act over the weekend, they haven't played Downend before, but they were welcomed like homecoming heroes anyway. As Yorkshire as a good strong cup of tea, Griffiths and Jones proved to be exceptional company. Every song had been collected from the White Rose County, each came with its own story and each was as honest, as real as only folk song can be. Often singing unaccompanied, or with the minimal backing of fiddle, guitar and harmonium, Griffith and Jones harmonise exquisitely. The Girl Who Was Poorly Clad may have a desperate sadness at its core but was rapturously received, My Johnny Was a Shoemaker featured some plastic-trousered body percussion and The Grey Goose and Gander sparked a singalong. If Downend is all about friendliness, the importance of community and some damn good stories, sung wonderfully then it's no wonder that Griffith and Jones were able to fit right in.
 
 
LADY MAISERY have a similar relationship with Downend. Over the years Hannah James, Hazel Askew and Rowan Rheingans have played here in so many different iterations that they were, really, the only band that could possibly bring the day to a close. True to form, they were exactly what was required. Mainly playing songs from their most recent album, Tender, Lady Maisery were as glorious as ever. Although their own songs are lovely - Birdsong being a glorious evocation of freedom and song - it is three cover versions that tie the whole of their set together. Lal Waterson's Child Among the Weeds is brim-full with delicious harmonies, Tracy Chapman's 3000 Miles has an intensity built around a banjo and Rheingans’ incredible voice but Bjork’s Hyperballad is jaw dropping. It is a cover that easily eclipses the original as James replaces Icelandic quirk with wide-eyed wonder. It is a song that makes your heart feel good.
 
Those hearts continued to feel good for the final day of this celebration. Sunday was a little more relaxed, starting with some local community action, taking in the very first band that ever played Downend Folk Club, continuing with Bristol’s finest folk choir and ending with Morris Dancing in the sunshine. 
 
 
The first band that ever played Downend were BRIGHT SEASON, the trio led by Michael J Tinker. They haven't really existed as a band for years, so this represented something pretty special. Tinker, Ella Sprung and Simon Dumpleton are consummate musicians, weaving traditional songs and sea shanties around folk tunes from around the world. Sprung's nyckelharpa beautifully jaunty on a Danish Jig, Tinker heart-wrenching on a darkly haunting version of Strange Fruit and Dumpleton helping bring something almost Lau-like to Arrival. The unbridled pleasure that they, clearly, got from being back in Downend was infectious, it was, after all, them that started this whole thing. They seemed to radiate a pride that we were all still here.
 
Finally, the celebration was brought to a close by HEARTWOOD CHORUS, a choir that is becoming synonymous with celebration at Downend Folk & Roots. In the past they have sung a handful of songs at a couple of Christmases so it was a pleasure to see them do a full set. Christ Church Downend is the perfect venue for rejoicing with thirty voices, the perfect venue to worship at the temple of song, and Heartwood were more than ready to play their part. From traditional songs to contemporary folk classics, the choir raised the roof, voices in glorious harmony, a dynamic, overwhelming experience. The traditional Byker Hill sits comfortably next to Bjork’s Cosmogony, Heartwood effortlessly showing that a great song is a great song regardless of where it comes from.
 
At a time when things can sometimes feel uncertain and unfriendly, Downend Folk & Roots has embodied everything that is good in the world over the last ten years. A welcoming community, a friendly face, a brilliant song, a wonderful singer, Downend gives us all of these things. As I walked away on Sunday afternoon, the sun on my face, the sound on Morris bells still in the air, I realised that Downend Folk & Roots is one of my favourite places in the world. This weekend was the perfect celebration. 
 
Words: Gavin McNamara
Photos: Barry Savell
+++
  1. NEXT AT DOWNEND FOLK & ROOTS: 10th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION WEEKEND
  2. REVIEW: "SIMPLY ONE OF THE FINEST GIGS THAT THIS PLACE HAS SEEN"
  3. NEXT AT DOWNEND FOLK & ROOTS: NANCY KERR & JAMES FAGAN + DAVID MITCHELL
  4. REVIEW: "GOOD HABITS CREATE A WORLD WHERE EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK"