Winter Wilson on Friday 7 December

2018 has been a great year for Winter Wilson. Their tour with folk-rock legends Fairport Convention was an outstanding success and their new album ‘Far Off on the Horizon’ is their best selling to date. Now in their 6th year as full-time musicians, Kip Winter and Dave Wilson bring a sense of intimacy, blending superb, often hard-hitting original songs, stunning harmonies and musicianship with sometimes hilarious tales of life on the road.

Every show is different. Kip (vocals, accordion, guitar, flute) ‘simply has a voice to die for’ (John Roffey, Maverick Magazine), whilst Dave (vocals, guitar and banjo) is now recognised as being amongst the top tier of British songwriters, with his songs covered by some of folk’s ‘greats’. 

Sam Brothers

Support is provided by New Roots finalist 2018, Sam Brothers, a talented 24-year-old singer-songwriter based in the South of England, who has spent the last two years busking and playing in a variety of venues, including music festivals. Sam’s songs are invested with echoes of Dylan, Jeff Buckley, Nick Drake and Van Zandt and his first album, ‘Farewell to My Old Days‘ was released in 2017.

Tickets £11 (£9 club members) can be reserved by emailing us via the contact page, or you can just turn up on the night. Bring your own drinks. Teas and coffee available in the kitchen, 50p. The evening runs from 8–11 pm.

 

Ninebarrow on Friday 16 November

Ninebarrow are a multi-award-winning folk duo who are impressing audiences across the country with their innovative and captivating take on the folk tradition. Described by Mark Radcliffe as sounding ‘like two halves of one voice’ and by Kate Rusby as ‘absolutely amazing’, Jon Whitley and Jay LaBouchardiere combine breath-taking vocal harmonies and melodies, delivering original songs that are inspired and rooted in the landscape and history of the British Isles. As well as crafting unique and engaging original material, Ninebarrow also take a wide-range of traditional folk songs and rework them in their own distinctive way, accompanied by tenor and octave mandolas, ukulele, two reed organs and piano.

In 2017, the duo were nominated at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in the ’Horizon’ category for ‘Best Emerging Artist’. One of the highest accolades in their genre, it was made even more exceptional because it was only a few months prior to this that Jon and Jay relinquished their jobs as a teacher and GP in favour of a full-time music career. Farewell Shanty

Tickets £11 (members £8) can be reserved via the email box on our contact page. Pay on the door. Bring your own drinks. Teas and coffee available in the kitchen (50p).

Steve Turner on Friday 19 October

Steve Turner is known as a pioneer of highly sophisticated English concertina song accompaniments, stretching the boundaries of traditional forms, with one of the best voices in the business. He is a multi-instrumentalist, who also accompanies himself on the cittern, and also plays mandolin and banjo.

In the F/Roots August/September 2014 edition Nancy Kerr in her Rocket Launcher interview, when asked “what was the best gig you ever saw?” answered “the best spot I’ve seen recently was Steve Turner – total intensive musical focus and a vast serious repertoire”. Video: By the Dry Cardrona 

Reserve tickets £11 (£8 members) by emailing via our contact page. Bring your own drinks. Teas and coffee available in the kitchen.

 

Ewan McLennan on Friday 21 September

Ewan McLennan has come to be known as a guitarist at the very forefront of his generation; a troubadour, balladeer and storyteller cut in the old style; a singer that can move audiences with his passion and pathos; and a songwriter for whom social justice is still a burning issue.

From a BBC Horizon Award to his performances on the acclaimed Transatlantic Sessions, recent years have been marked by numerous awards and accolades for his music.

Ewan’s most recent project entitled Breaking the Spell of Loneliness – a collaboration with renowned author and journalist George Monbiot – seeks to use music and word to open up the issue of loneliness. Their UK tour and concept album have received wide acclaim and been featured widely, including live appearances on BBC Two’s Newsnight, BBC Radio 4’s Front Row and BBC Radio 3’s In Tune. New video, just released: Shelter from the Storm

Tickets £11 (members £8) can be reserved by emailing contact@norwichfolkclub.net. Bring your own drinks. Teas and coffee available in the kitchen.

Pete Morton on Friday 20 July

Pete Morton is one of the finest original songwriters on the folk scene. Perhaps best known for one of his earliest songs ‘Another Train’, Pete is constantly producing new material, sharing his unique view of our place in a changing world.

Pete’s most recent CD, ‘The Game of Life’, is a compilation of his most popular tracks, performed with the band Full House, and includes both up-tempo and serious songs, including ‘Seven Billion Eccentrics’, ‘The Shepherd’s Song’, and ‘The Luckiest Man’, as well as ‘Disobedience’ and ‘Shores of Italy’, written in 2003 but still sadly topical.

Tickets £11 (£8 members) can be reserved by emailing contact[at]norwichfolkclub[dot]net. Bring your own drinks. Teas and coffee available in the kitchen.

 

Sam Kelly and Jamie Francis on Friday 22 June

Sam Kelly is a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winning Bristol-based singer, song-writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. Coming from a family largely made up of Norfolk dairy farmers has left Sam Kelly with an unmatched experience of singing in front of hurtfully disinterested Friesians, and his meandering musical journey has ranged from reaching the final of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent as a teenager, to being selected for the first ever EFDSS Artist Development Scheme.

Sam was nominated in the Best Singer category at the 2015 Spiral Earth Awards and won the BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award in 2016. Sam Kelly and The Lost Boys were nominated for the Best Band category in 2018. Sam will perform at the club with Lost Boys band member and talented banjo player Jamie Francis, whose playing has been described as ‘fantastic’ (Mike Harding) and ‘exemplary’ (Folk Radio). Golden Vanity

Tickets £13 (£10 for club members) can be reserved by emailing via our contact form or to contact{at}norwichfolkclub[dot]net Bring your own drinks. Teas and coffees available in the kitchen.

John Conolly on Friday 8 June

Lincolnshire singer-songwriter John Conolly is a long-established member of the folk community. John originally found his way into folk music through the skiffle route, but is best known for what many think is a traditional song, ‘Fiddler’s Green’, performed here with Dave Fletcher and Bill Whaley. John’s other well known songs include “Punch and Judy Man“.

“If there were ever a Campaign for Real Folk-Singers, John Conolly would be the sort of act it would promote – his well-crafted songs sit well with his easy-going charm and sense of humour, making him a firm favourite with both audiences and fellow-musicians.” (Topic Folk Club, Bradford)

Tickets ( £7 members, £10 non-members) can be reserved by emailing: contact [at] norwichfolkclub [dot] net. Bring your own drinks. Teas and coffee available in the kitchen.

Chris Sherburn and Denny Bartley with Emily Sanders on Friday 27 April

Chris Sherburn and Denny Bartley have been bringing their unique sound to audiences across Europe and America since the early 1990s, when a chance meeting at a music session created one of folk music’s most enduring partnerships. The duo were founder members of the band Last Night’s Fun, which achieved international fame.

Chris (concertina) grew up surrounded by folk music of all kinds – his home was a regular haunt for passing folk singers and musicians. Denny (guitar and vocals), born in Co. Limerick, is drawn to the inheritance of age-old slides, slow airs, slip jigs and wild reels. The duo are joined by wonderful fiddle-player and singer Emily Sanders.

Let us know if you are planning to come along via the email on our contact page. Tickets £11 (£8 members) can be reserved and paid for on the door. Bring your own drinks. Teas and coffee are available in the kitchen (50p). Some parking is available immediately outside the Christ Church Centre – please double park to help us get more cars in!

Tony Hall on Friday 16 March

We look forward very much to welcoming local celebrity, melodeon player and modest wit Tony Hall back to the Folk Club on Friday 16 March. Summed up by Islington Folk Club as: ‘East Anglian melodeon player with a distinctive, quintessentially English style, who played on the iconic ’80s Nic Jones release Penguin Eggs. Hall’s sets are laid-back affairs, interspersed with his dry, sometimes gently surreal humour.’

Please let us know if you would like us to save tickets £9 (£6 members), via the email on the contact page. Bring your own drinks. Teas and coffee available in the kitchen.

The Norwich Folk Club AGM, which was postponed from 23 February due to illness, will now be held on Friday 23 March at 8 pm, to be followed by a song session, open to all, from around 9 pm.

Jackie Oates duo on Friday 16 February

Since appearing as a finalist in the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards 2003, singer and fiddle-player Jackie Oates has performed extensively at festivals and venues across the country and beyond, in a solo capacity and with her band. A founder member of Northumbrian group and Mercury nominated Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, Jackie is now a permanent member of the folk super-group The Imagined Village, as well as touring in her own right.

Jackie has several albums, including ‘The Spy Glass and the Herringbone‘, which contains lesser known but life-affirming songs from the English tradition and was released in 2015. In researching her 2013 album, ‘Lullabies’, Jackie invited submissions over the internet and the collected songs are housed at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library at Cecil Sharp House in London, home of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. Poor Robin

Tickets £11 (£8 members). Reserve by emailing via the contact page. Bring your own drinks. Teas and coffee available in the kitchen. Please double park to allow as many cars in the carpark as possible.