What’s On

Your guide to folk events in Coventry and Warwickshire.

We’ve linked to a new calendar format which should make more local folk events accessible and easy to update. Just click on the maroon lettering below – or scroll down for individual listing of forthcoming events.

Cov & Warks Folk Events Listing

If you are planning any folk event in the CV postcode area – big concert, back-room singaround, online performance, dance display, or whatever, click here to email us, providing the following details:

  • Date, start-time and end-time
  • Name of venue
  • Type of event
  • Artists/performers appearing
  • Location including postcode
  • Description – including how to book tickets, web links, etc
Please note that information on this page is based on advertising and public announcements by the venues and/or events organisers.
While every effort is made to ensure that details provided here are correct, CVFolk cannot guarantee its accuracy which is why we include contact information for each event so that you can check and confirm if necessary,

Jul
10
Thu
Session w/The Quiet Men @ Temperance Café
Jul 10 @ 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm

The second Thursday of every month, The Quiet Men turn Temperance into a Cork bar!

Aug
6
Wed
Eleanor Dunsdon and Gregor Black @ Temperance
Aug 6 @ 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm

ELEANOR DUNSDON & GREGOR BLACK

DANNY KYLE AWARD WINNERS 2024, CELTIC CONNECTIONS

UKHA EMERGING ARTISTS 2024

Eleanor Dunsdon and Gregor Black are a Glasgow-based harp and percussion duo, who met during their postgraduate studies in Traditional Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2022. Blending their respective sounds of Scottish clarsach and Irish bodhrán, along with contemporary percussion and vocals, they form a dynamic and innovative new duo. Drawing on their shared experiences in classical, traditional, and jazz music, they aim to challenge perceptions of the clarsach and push the boundaries of the traditional music scene. The duo’s debut EP, ‘Let No Man’, released on 26th April 2024.

Danny Kyle Open Stage winners at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections 2024, the duo have been invited to perform at the festival next year. So far for 2024 the duo have featured as ‘Rising Stars’ at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival, played as FATEA’s featured artists at Southport’s Love Folk Festival, and will showcase at Purbeck Valley Folk Festival in the summer. The duo have also been selected as the United Kingdom Harp Association’s Emerging Artists for 2024, and will give concerts in London and Glasgow in the Autumn. Their music has featured on BBC Radio 3BBC Radio Ulster, FATEA’s Showcase Sessions and Celtic Music Radio.​

Eleanor and Gregor have been invited to present workshops at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival, and for students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In February 2024 they presented a workshop and concert at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland alongside Ukranian bandura player, Anastasiya Voytyuk, showcasing the fusion of their shared musical traditions and the relationship between the bandura and Scottish harp.

​Alongside their duo project, Eleanor performs with award-winning Irish alt-folk band, Ranagri, who in 2023 toured across Germany, France and the UK. In recent years she has performed at Manchester Folk Festival as part of the English Folk Expo, Costa Festival in Ibiza, and the World Harp Congress in Cardiff. In 2024 the band will perform at Cropredy Festival, Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Bristol Folk Festival and Wickham Festival. Throughout 2023 Eleanor was involved in a collaboration project with singer and musician Tony Christie, touring the UK and recording a studio album to be released in 2024. Eleanor is currently working on a project with students of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to commission new works by Scottish composers for an ensemble of classical string quintet, clarsach and fiddle, to be programmed alongside Sally Beamish’s work ‘Seavaigers’ for the same ensemble. This project aims to further explore the interplay between classical and folk repertoire and their place within the concert hall.

Gregor is a percussionist and bodhrán player, steeped in both classical percussion and the musical traditions of Scotland and Ireland. He has gained his BMus Hons in percussion from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance before relocating to Glasgow to receive an MA in traditional music from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He has performed at the BBC Proms in London, the Edinburgh International Festival, and was recently invited to attend Silkroad’s Global Musician Workshop in Boston. Living and working in Glasgow, he runs a series of traditional music sessions in the city as well as travelling often to London to perform with his Irish trio, Green Time Folk, and ceilidh band, Stroma.

 

Aug
9
Sat
Luke Concannon (Nizlopi) and Stephanie Hollenberg @ Temperance Café
Aug 9 @ 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm

We are delighted to welcome back Luke Concannon for another hometown gig at Temperance. Another very special Saturday matinee.

‘Luke is one of my three main hero’s along with Van Morrison’ Ed Sheeran

Renowned for his magnetic live performances and ‘direct-from-the-heart’ songs, #1 UK chart artist Luke Concannon has something special. Performing with his wife, the classically trained singer Stephanie Hollenberg, the duo present a concert of musical passion and audience participation that will become one of those gigs that live long in the memory. Somewhere between the Celtic soul of Van Morrison, and the deep lyricism of Leonard Cohen.

Aug
14
Thu
Session w/The Quiet Men @ Temperance Café
Aug 14 @ 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm

The second Thursday of every month, The Quiet Men turn Temperance into a Cork bar!

Aug
18
Mon
Lachlan Bryan and the Wildes @ Temperance
Aug 18 @ 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm

Over more than a decade LACHLAN BRYAN has built a reputation as a master storyteller, regardless of whether he’s performing solo, fronting his band The Wildes or collaborating with Country Music Icon Catherine Britt in The Pleasures. His songs range from hard hitting social commentary to deeply personal musings, but each contains a unique turn of phrase, dark humour and an ever-present sense of romance.

Lachlan has toured with icons such as Justin Townes Earle, John Hiatt and Shawn Colvin, as well as headlining his own tours and performing at festivals all over the world. He’s released five full length albums with The Wildes, all of which have received critical acclaim, featured in Yearly Top Ten lists and in some cases even charted strongly in the ARIA Official Australian Albums charts.

But it’s as a live act that Lachlan truly thrives. LACHLAN BRYAN & THE WILDES have built a devoted audience at home and are growing overseas thanks to their captivating performances – which have drawn comparisons to artists as disparate as The Bad Seeds and Wilco. As a solo act Lachlan slips effortlessly into troubadour mode, reminiscent of the Texas singer-songwriters who first inspired him.

If you haven’t caught Lachlan on his own or with the band, you may have seen him on the road as piano-player and co-conspirator with his friend Henry Wagons – the two have most recently been supporting Canadians The Dead South in theatres and arenas across the USA, Canada, the USA and Europe. Failing that, you may have heard the multi-award-winning Dream of America album which he co-wrote and produced for Muscle Shoals Southern Gothic Queen Hannah Aldridge. In any of his guises, Lachlan Bryan brings a warmth and wisdom to the stage and studio that wins over fans for life.

Lachlan Bryan and the Wildes @ Temperance Café
Aug 18 @ 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm

Over more than a decade LACHLAN BRYAN has built a reputation as a master storyteller, regardless of whether he’s performing solo, fronting his band The Wildes or collaborating with Country Music Icon Catherine Britt in The Pleasures. His songs range from hard hitting social commentary to deeply personal musings, but each contains a unique turn of phrase, dark humour and an ever-present sense of romance.

Lachlan has toured with icons such as Justin Townes Earle, John Hiatt and Shawn Colvin, as well as headlining his own tours and performing at festivals all over the world. He’s released five full length albums with The Wildes, all of which have received critical acclaim, featured in Yearly Top Ten lists and in some cases even charted strongly in the ARIA Official Australian Albums charts.

But it’s as a live act that Lachlan truly thrives. LACHLAN BRYAN & THE WILDES have built a devoted audience at home and are growing overseas thanks to their captivating performances – which have drawn comparisons to artists as disparate as The Bad Seeds and Wilco. As a solo act Lachlan slips effortlessly into troubadour mode, reminiscent of the Texas singer-songwriters who first inspired him.

If you haven’t caught Lachlan on his own or with the band, you may have seen him on the road as piano-player and co-conspirator with his friend Henry Wagons – the two have most recently been supporting Canadians The Dead South in theatres and arenas across the USA, Canada, the USA and Europe. Failing that, you may have heard the multi-award-winning Dream of America album which he co-wrote and produced for Muscle Shoals Southern Gothic Queen Hannah Aldridge. In any of his guises, Lachlan Bryan brings a warmth and wisdom to the stage and studio that wins over fans for life.

Aug
22
Fri
Merry Hell @ Temperance
Aug 22 @ 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm

Award-winning EIGHT-piece folk rock band

Multi-award winning Merry Hell offer joyful, uplifting folk-rock, with a message of hope for troubled times.

Native to the North-West of England, the 8-piece musical charabanc emerged from th eembers of the much-loved folk-punk band The Tansads, before developing a life and feel all of its own.

Their energy and passion are complemented by their love of what they do and desire to share hope and togetherness with as many people as possible. Through 6 well-received albums and hundreds of gigs, they’ve offered voices of hope and beacons of light to anyone valuing both melodyand positive humanity.

Their live appearances have won many admirers, a recent review referred to’every performance a celebration’ and they are currently holders of Folking.com‘s Best Live Band Award.

The group performs as either a full electric 8-piece or a slimmed down, more acoustic 6-piece but offer all the songs, all the spirit and all the energy. The most recent release, Let The Music Speak For Itself distils 12 years together, 6 albums and 100s of gigs into a history and introduction to the band in all its moods it followed their 2 previous releases into the upper reaches of the Official Folk Charts.

Their reputation grows internationally, with the 2021 single When We Meet Again hitting No.8 in the USA Folk Radio charts.

Established as festival favourites through uplifting live performances,all confirming that this is a band continually on the rise.A new album Rising Of The Bold will hopefully continue the trend through 2025!

Sep
2
Tue
Muireann Bradley – SOLD OUT @ Temperance Café
Sep 2 @ 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm

Muireann Bradley is a 17 year old folk and blues guitarist and singer from Ballybofey in County Donegal. She specializes in performing acoustic fingerpicking country, piedmont, and ragtime blues styles from the 1920s, 30s and 40s as well as later folk, country and Americana.

Her influences include Blind Blake, Rev Gary Davis, Memphis Minnie, Elizabeth Cotten, Mississippi John Hurt, Stefan Grossman, Ari Eisinger, John Fahey and Roy Bookbinder.

Her father started teaching her guitar when she was nine and then in 2020, she received an offer from Josh Rosenthal of Tompkins Square Records to record an album after he saw her on youtube. In December 2023 this album “I kept these old Blues” was released to rave reviews.

Before the end of 2023 Muireann had played a live session on Highland Radio which went viral and recieved a standing ovation when she performed on Jools Holland’s annual New Year’s Eve Hootenanny.

In 2024 she did live sessions for Cerys Matthews’ BBC Radio 2 Blues Show, the Stephen McCauley show on BBC Radio Ulster and Ray Cuddihy’s Mise Sessions on RTE Radio 1. She also performed live on The Late Late Show and filmed sessions for Other Voices Anam in Ormond Castle and Acoustic Guitar Magazine.

“I Kept These Old Blues” reached number 1 on the Amazon download chart U.K. and got into the top 10 on the ITunes chart UK and broke into the Amazon New Folk Music Chart in the U.S. Not bad for a debut album in a genre now considered pretty uncommercial.

Hard copies of her album have been selling out everywhere leading to a second pressing with a third now on the way.

Muireann’s performances online have been viewed over 2 million times and her Irish and U.K. gigs have sold out.

Sep
7
Sun
Izzie Yardley @ Temperance Café
Sep 7 @ 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm

Izzie Yardley is a light in the dark. With her music she creates a safe space, which she offers to the listener to explore perspectives on life, death, love and hardship. Her musical inspiration is drawn from the music of her childhood: the 60s/70s coffee-house scene, classical and jazz.

Izzie’s debut EP Imposter was released in June of this year on Karousel Buried Treasure/AWAL. It was recorded live at the Bert Jansch Studio in Somerset with producer Dom Monks (Big Thief, Flyte) and her band Nick Pini and Ethan Johns. The recordings led to backing from both the PRS Foundation’s Women in Music Fund and Help Musician’s Do it Differently; she is currently recording her debut album.

This year alone she has opened for artists like Beans on Toast, Ocean Colour Scene, Native Harrow, Supalung (Sam Brookes), played festivals like The Great Escape in Brighton, been invited to take part in Chris Difford’s songwriting retreats and this Autumn/Winter she is embarking on her own UK tour, as well as opening for Matt Deighton and Ida Mae.

Outside of her own music she plays live with Ma Polaine ‘s Great Decline and records vocals for others, recently including Tom Jones, Freddie and The Scenarios (The Vaccines), Elles Bailey.

Sep
11
Thu
Session w/The Quiet Men @ Temperance Café
Sep 11 @ 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm

The second Thursday of every month, The Quiet Men turn Temperance into a Cork bar!