It’s bluegrass night in South Gloucestershire this month as a highly-rated four-piece travel from Newcastle to headline our February concert.

THE OFTEN HERD transcend the traditional boundaries of bluegrass music. Although they might resemble an American string band, complete with driving energy, tight vocal harmonies and dazzling instrumental interplay, their vibrant, transatlantic sound is deeply coloured by their surroundings; the striking natural and industrial landscapes of Northern England. This unique approach won them the title of “Best European Bluegrass Band 2018” at the prestigious La Roche Bluegrass Festival in France.

Rupert Hughes (guitar) and Evan Davies (mandolin), write songs steeped in personal experience whilst drawing from a wide pool of influences ranging from old-time to psychedelia. American-born fiddler Niles Krieger and jazz bassist Sam Quintana add fiery instrumental skills to the mix, launching the band’s arrangements into the stratosphere. Together, their sound is both boldly contemporary and soothingly familiar, taking time-honoured traditions to new places with a fresh perspective. Flock to the herd, you won’t be disappointed.

Opening the evening’s music will be GREEN TREE. Vibrant improvisation, impressive musicianship, dynamic stage-work: Abbey and Rory bring energy to the stage like no other duo. With both members hailing from prominent UK bluegrass band Old Baby Mackerel, it’s no surprise the confidence and virtuosic music these two share with an audience. Abbey’s award-winning mandolin playing (Blue Lass) is punchy with tasteful melodic lines, moving between strong traditional licks and sparkly backing parts. Rory shreds through burning-hot licks on his guitar, adding tasteful groove through his rhythmic backing alongside well-crafted and technically-challenging solos. 

Green Tree sets encompass traditional and more contemporary bluegrass songs, including the duo’s original material, featuring the members’ strong voices and love of tight harmonies, alongside varied stand-out instrumentals, giving a chance for each musician’s playing to shine. The end result is a performance built on two passionate musicians whose styles and playing work in harmony. 

Tickets for the concert, which takes place at CHRIST CHURCH DOWNEND on Friday 20th February 2026, are available online HERE or from Downend Cards and Gifts (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. For information on getting here and parking, please click HERE.

There will be a bar, stocking cider, soft drinks, wine, hot drinks and real ale from Bristol’s HOP UNION BREWERY. Audience members are encouraged to bring their own glass/mug/tankard, as well as reusable bottles for water; there is a 50p discount for those that do. Sweet treats at the bar are courtesy of Radstock-based THE GREAT CAKE COMPANY.

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, BLUESKY, YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.

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We are delighted to announce our programme for Summer 2026. As usual, we’re bringing you the very best from across the folk, roots, acoustic and bluegrass genres; we’re sure you’ll agree that this is one of our best seasons yet.

We kick off the season on Friday 17 April with a visit from THE SAM KELLY TRIO. Sam  is a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winning musician, singer, songwriter, and producer from Norfolk. Described by legendary folk broadcaster Mike Harding as ‘one of my favourite singers ever’ and by Cara Dillon as ‘an amazing singer with so much soul’, Sam has become one of the most accomplished and well-respected performers on the UK folk scene. He will be joined by long-term collaborator Jamie Francis and virtuosic multi instrumentalist and one of the finest button accordion players in the UK, Archie Churchill-Moss. Opening the evening will be Bristol’s own LOU SHEPHERD, a rising folk singer-songwriter whose emotive voice - “moss-soft and sun-tinged” (Bristol 24/7, FATEA) - has confirmed her place as one of the UK’s most exciting emerging folk artists.

We continue with an evening of modern bluegrass on Friday 15 May. THE CHARLOTTE CARRIVICK BAND brings together four of the most exciting musicians in the UK today. Charlotte Carrivick is a flatpicking guitarist of international renown. Joining Charlotte is in-demand fiddler Kieran Towers; master of tone and taste, Evan Davies on mandolin; and the firm hand of bassist Eleanor Wilkie. Together, their music is at times joyous, poignant, dark, pensive or exuberant with virtuosic instrumentals and close harmony singing. Getting us underway will be ERIKA OLSON. Heralded by Americana Highway as “a modern-day troubadour” with “impeccable musicianship and vocals,” Erika brings a distinctive blend of folk, Americana, and pop to the stage, forging a powerful connection with audiences through her intimate live performances.

Rounding the season will be BELINDA O’HOOLEY, who headlines on Friday 19 June. Belinda is an acclaimed pianist, singer, songwriter and composer celebrated for her expressive and distinctive musicality. Best known as one half of O’Hooley & Tidow, with her wife Heidi Tidow, she has been nominated four times for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Her piano playing - elegant, inventive, and emotionally charged - has made her a sought-after collaborator. Joining Belinda on the evening’s bill will be GREN BARTLEY. Forever evolving and adapting, and with unmatched guitar work, he is a modern day troubadour, using his influences from older folk and world music traditions, to bring something new and unique to his audience. 

All three concerts will take place at CHRIST CHURCH DOWNEND as usual, and seating is unreserved. Tickets are £15 in advance (£17 on the door) and are available online HERE, and from Downend Cards & Gifts (correct cash only). There is also the option to buy a season ticket for all three concerts for £40, which saves a few pounds as well as booking fees. All tickets are non-refundable. 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, it’s becoming more and more important with every passing month! 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, BLUESKY, YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.

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People who make new year's resolutions are just boring, aren't they? What's wrong with being happy with who you are, with what you are, right now? What's wrong with embracing your favourite thing, not searching for something new? What's wrong with looking back, not forward?
 
At Downend Folk & Roots this month it's, very much, a case of New Year, Old Favourites.
 
UK Americana superheroes THE BLACK FEATHERS have played here three times in the last ten, or so, years and a packed room is delighted to welcome them back again.
 
 
Sian Chandler and Ray Hughes have, clearly, decided that there's no need for resolutions either. This might be the first show that they've played in three months but they are just as glorious, just as heart-wrenching, just as perfectly imperfect as ever.
 
Down by the River is taken from their 2016 debut, Soaked to the Bone, and has lost none of its ability to wrap you up in the Black Feathers world. There are wonderful harmonies, the lazy strum of an acoustic guitar, the shadow of melancholy cast by the Country sun and a tune that gently lodges itself into your psyche. It might be ten years old but, when things are this good, why bother with anything else?
 
The same goes for Hurricane (from 2022's Angel Dust & Cyanide) and Strangers We Meet (from their very first EP); they are old friends that you simply wouldn't want to do without. These are songs where the emotions are right on the surface, barely kept in check by two voices working together beautifully.
 
Don't go thinking, though, that there's nothing new here. Tonight marks the first time that they have played a cover of Adele's When We Were Young. Hughes reckons he's “terrified” but it doesn't show, instead it becomes the sort of thing you could find on the soundtrack from one of those John Hughes movies from the '80s. Chandler's voice is gravel-dipped-in-honey while Hughes replaces Adele's lachrymose piano with delicate, sensitive acoustic guitar and an effortless foundation.
 
 
It is this symbiosis that makes The Black Feathers so remarkable. There is no doubt that Chandler's voice is an astonishing thing - part heart-broken Country, part Soul stirring sister, part evangelist abandonment - but when she sings on her own she turns the dial down. Sometimes it sounds as though she's singing in another room, she's vulnerable, hesitant. It is when Hughes joins her that you catch your breath. It's as though she just needs a hand to hold, a ledge to lean on. Then, she blazes. 
 
On Goodbye Tomorrow she adds steely strength to a classic chorus, on Perfect Storm she plumbs the depths of misery while Hughes shimmers and twinkles. The two make a perfect whole, you need them both.
 
A new song, probably called Return to my Trees, encapsulates all of this. Chandler is exposed, halting, struggling with the weight of melancholy as the song begins. Perhaps it is because it's new, perhaps because they've barely ever played it live but her voice catches, is uncertain... until Hughes joins her. Then there is power and colour and an incredible sense of balance. If this is where the new album is going to take us, it's going to be so good.
 
There are, of course, a couple of brilliant cover versions in amongst all of the Country-got-Soul beauty. Portishead's Glory Box continues to be a sassy stomper in the hands of Chandler and Hughes. Less a smoky noir-ish femme fatal, more a technicolour Hollywood tempt-er-ess. Spirit in the Sky is performed off mic for the well-deserved encore, and has the fervour of a Pentecostal revivalist meeting, Chandler testifying with the best of them. With a couple of Munsters’ finger clicks they are gone and, inevitably, you can't wait to see them again.
 
 
If The Black Feathers show us the value in remembering old friends, then HANNAH WOOD represents an exciting new year's resolution for most. A Bristol-based singer-songwriter, she is a seriously good teller of tales. There's a delicious spookiness to The Ash Tree, all Victorian lace and flitting shadows, while Sweet Reprieve has a chorus that is almost hymn-like and a tune that relishes its Old Grey Whistle Test folkie vibe. Fundevogel is inspired by one of Grimm's Fairy Tales and has echoes of Suzanne Vega in its word-y swoops; it is delightfully complex and wonderfully clever. The title track of Wood's latest EP, Rabbits, sways gently, her voice as clear and pure as a crisp January day. It casts a shaft of sunlight across the melancholy. 
 
In 2026, if you must make a resolution, make it this - remember your old friends but make new ones too. Downend Folk & Roots will help you.
 
Words: Gavin McNamara
Photos: Barry Savell

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