A duo who have become firm favourites of South Gloucestershire’s music lovers return for a fourth visit, due to unprecedented demand, as they headline our first concert of 2026.
If you were of the belief that THE BLACK FEATHERS are named because of their love of dark humour and the smooth blending of harmony, you’d be wrong.
If you were told that the name is more concerned with recognition of their gentle souls, a predilection for dark clothing and the sonic tumult of the plethora of (mainly US) progressive-metal bands doing mega-business around the world in the 1990s and beyond, you might doubt those who said so, but they would be accurate.
You’d be wrong as to the name, BUT you would be utterly correct that the sonic architecture of their lyrics and musical composition takes its imperious scope from a love of blended vocal harmony and idiosyncratic guitar shapes.
Americana to some, folk to others, The Black Feathers have those qualities in expansive quantity. Sian Chandler’s soaring, dramatic, melodious but powerful voice is a perfect counterpoint to Ray Hughes’ piquant vocals and his sparkling and occasionally spicy guitar motifs. This is a duo who love what they play and play what they love with panache, humour, delight and rather a lot of commentary on the downside of being a human.
Seeing and hearing them will leave you with a smile on your face and a glowing heart of delight. You might not think that is possible when you’ve just spent some time hearing the themes of the songs they lay before an audience but it is testament to their sunny dispositions, infectious laughter and amused self-deprecation that you can only come away from a gig feeling a whole heap better about yourself and life.
Opening the evening’s music will be HANNAH WOOD, a Bristol vocalist and songwriter who draws influences from folk, soul and pop to create dreamy, sometimes haunting, sounds. Melancholic vocals and introspective lyrics mirror and bring comfort to our shared struggles.
Hannah recorded her second EP Rabbits at Sloe Flower Studio and released it in May 2025. Rabbits delivers intricate melodies with nostalgic themes and earthy rhythms that seem to stretch back through time. Blending elements of folklore with personal experience, the EP makes for immersive and emotive listening.
Tickets for the concert, which takes place at CHRIST CHURCH DOWNEND on Friday 16 January 2026, are available online HERE. 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 event is also included in the Spring Season Ticket.
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, 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.
Will you look at this place? Gorgeous lighting throwing a regal glow up the walls, two hundred friends chatting in the pews, sparkles and smiles all around, mulled wine scents tugging at noses. The Downend Folk & Roots Christmas is, simply, one of the best nights of the year (and not just because it always marks the end of the school term). It has, for lots of us, replaced Noddy's yell of “It's Christmas!!!!” as the festive starting gun.
Entirely fitting, then, that BRYONY GRIFFITH & ALICE JONES are our guests this year. They are as Yorkshire as a good strong cup of tea and are brimming with feelings of fireside and friendship, of harmony and happiness. Griffith plays fiddle, Jones tenor guitar and when they sing together you can feel the crackling warmth of a really good pub hearth.
They are wonderful company, filling the space with stories, poking gentle fun at one another and spreading a festive radiance to all corners. The ‘ollins and the Ivin is a northern take on an old song. It is as honest as the day is long, Griffith’s voice strong and rooted in place. Fiddle and guitar snow-drift around, the thickest, cosiest blanket imaginable. Equally, Hark, How all the Welkin Rings takes the familiar and sprinkles it with Parkin crumbs. Jones’ voice is high, reaching heavenwards, until joined by Griffith when they glide together.
With her tongue, more-or-less, in her cheek, Griffith describes much of their festive album, Wesselbobs, as "full of Yorkshire misery, of children and begging". The Yorkshire Wassailing Song falls, nicely, into all three categories. It might be sombre but it has a strange, kaleidoscopic refraction that those weird, wintery 80s TV dramas had as their soundtrack. Think Box of Delights with added piano-y drones. Time to Remember the Poor also keeps those most in need firmly in mind, although it is accompanied by Jones’ rubber trousered body percussion (she spent the evening dressed as a most spectacular Christmas pudding, complete with remarkable holly head-dress).
There's cheekiness, too, in The Tailor's Britches and Change for a Guinea. Both are wonderfully sprightly, light-hearted and have exuberance spilling out of them, like an over-stuffed pie. The fiddle and their harmonies twirling joy through the church as the foolishness of men is held up for amused ridicule.
The Downend faithful sing buzz-ily on Hagman-Heigh, piling up festive treats into a great throne of goodies, while a gentle guitar ushers in the fuzziness of Christmas. Griffith’s fiddle sounding as though it were being beamed in from a Yorkshire ale-house, from centuries ago.
This is the very essence of a Downend Christmas. There are nods toward the Solstice, to remembering others, to friends and to the spirit of Christmas itself. It is all utterly magical.
The only thing that could possibly make it better is the traditional Downend appearance of Bristol's greatest folk choir, HEARTWOOD CHORUS.
Almost thirty-strong and just as glorious as ever, they sing beautifully. Layers of twinkles dusted across songs that are winter-y rather than simply Christmas-y. They breathe as one for I'd Rather Be Tending My Sheep, three female soloists exquisite but the whole choir purring like a drowsing cat. There just aren't enough superlatives for John Tams’ Snow Falls but it is a beacon of Solstice hope, a heart-bursting glory, while Hail Smiling Morn is just heavenly and comes with the promise of brighter days once the year has turned. No one does Christmas quite as well as Heartwood do, God bless them.
In these days when it feels like almost anything could be called a tradition, the Downend Folk & Roots Christmas show is, truly, the most wonderful time of the year. Merry Christmas everyone.
Words: Gavin McNamara
Photos: Barry Savell
Photos: Barry Savell
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NEXT AT DOWNEND FOLK & ROOTS: BRYONY GRIFFITH & ALICE JONES + HEARTWOOD CHORUS #LIVETOYOURLIVINGROOM
December’s concert is always a special one, and this year looks set to be no different!
After stealing the show and capturing the hearts of the audience during the 10th Anniversary Celebration last Summer, powerhouse Yorkshire folk duo BRYONY GRIFFITH & ALICE JONES are back with their sensational seasonal tour Wesselbobs, in a concert which is certain to sell out. We will be live-streaming in partnership with LIVE TO YOUR LIVING ROOM though, for anyone that misses out or can't get to Downend.
Following the success of their 2023 album of the same name, Bryony and Alice present a unique collection of winter songs and tunes sourced from their beloved native county. Together they have unearthed a treasure trove of traditional gems, featuring uniquely local versions of more classic seasonal songs and showcasing the traditions, tales and winter rituals of the richly diverse musical culture in which they are immersed.
Hailing from West Yorkshire Bryony and Alice are both long-time purveyors of English folk music, united by a fascination with local folk song and tune collections.
In 2019 they came together as a powerful new duo and have taken the folk scene by storm. Featuring fiddle, harmonium, tenor guitar, body percussion and intricate vocals in their distinctive regional accents, they combine their respect and understanding of tradition with their own contemporary style of performance, imparting their extensive knowledge of the material with wit and humour to present a unique repertoire of harmony, heritage and northern banter.
As is now traditional, the evening’s music will begin with a set from HEARTWOOD CHORUS, a folk choir, based in Bristol, who sing original arrangements of songs whose murky origins stretch back centuries and centuries, songs their grannies taught them and future classics from the thriving contemporary folk scene.
Tickets for the concert, which takes place at CHRIST CHURCH DOWNEND on Friday 19 December 2025, 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 event is also included in the Autumn/Winter Season Ticket, if you've bought one already.
There will be a bar, stocking cider, soft drinks, wine, hot drinks and real ale from Bristol’s HOP UNION BREWERY, and, for this month only, mulled wine. 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 those that can’t make it to Downend, or miss out on tickets, this concert will also be live-streamed in partnership with LIVE TO YOUR LIVING ROOM, so you can watch from the comfort of your own sofa! Head to livetoyourlivingroom.com for more information on live-stream tickets.
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.
ADVANCE SALES CLOSED. LIMITED BALCONY TICKETS AVAILABLE ON THE DOOR.
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