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,
CVFolk is working in partnership with Folk21 Midlands region and any event listed here will also appear in their own events listing.
Hannah and Toby met in Summer 2018 at Floating Castle festival in Slovenia and it was clear that these two musicians shared a common approach to music making and a real artistic chemistry.
Award-winning folk musician, dancer and composer Hannah James is complemented perfectly by the virtuoso cello of Toby Kuhn. Known for her work with Lady Maisery, Maddy Prior, Sam Sweeney, Seasick Steve and Songs of Separation (with Eliza Carthy and Karina Polwart and more), Hannah is one of the key figures in the modern UK folk scene. Rooted in the English Tradition but enriched by her collaborations all over Europe, her charismatic blend of accordion, vocal and clog dancing forged an instant artistic chemistry with impressive French cellist Toby Kuhn.
Toby is a crossover musician with a taste for improvisation and folk music of all persuasions. Always on the lookout for new ways to play his instrument, his unorthodox approach has won admiration and acclaim wherever he goes. He regularly tours Europe and the world, bringing with him the full potential of the cello on a journey across style and invention.
Together, their music is soulful, original and conversational. The combination of accordion and cello allows for a huge palette of sounds and textures which lift James’s pure voice and deeply honest songwriting. In the next breath they switch to choppy rhythms and joyful interplay between cello and percussive dance. This duo deliver a diverse, playful and hugely original performance. Their debut album “Sleeping Spirals” has just been released to considerable acclaim.
Katie formed Little Sparrow in 2010, a title that came from Elbow front man Guy Garvey. He affectionately called her ‘Cockney Sparrow’ which lead onto her stage name ‘Little Sparrow’.
She performs regularly with a band of talented musicians that provide a mix of harmonies, strings, guitars, pedal steel and percussion.
The self release of her debut album ‘Wishing Tree’ in 2014 had tracks featured on BBC Radio 2, BBC 6 Music, BBC Introducing Manchester, Merseyside & Devon along with regular regional and international play.
2015 proved to be a great year with her playing Manchester International Festival, Liverpool International Music Festival & Blackthorn Festival.
2016 saw Little Sparrow film a series of live videos with her band – using innovative, state of the art 360 degree technology, filmed at MediacityUK, dock10 studios, which can be found via YouTube.
Katie went on to play Kendal Calling Festival, Sidmouth Fringe Festival and Green Gathering. Laurel Canyon Music website voted her ‘New Artist of The Year’ and 2017 started with her being invited to play on BBC Breakfast TV.
2018 saw a gentle return to music after the birth of her son in 2016.
Little Sparrow released a 3 track EP called ‘Just 3‘, a collaboration with pianist and composer Robin Dewhurst (father to Josh Dewhurst from band Blossoms), and cellist Sarah Dale. Katie met Robin at Kendal Calling in 2016, they performed at the Tim Peaks Diner and were asked to cover ‘Baggy Trousers‘ by Madness by the Tim Peaks Team. This created a lovely new musical relationship which went on to create ‘Just 3’.
All three songs received airplay, Chris Hawkins from BBC 6Music played ‘Tender’ and ‘Baggy Trousers’. Blue’s and Roots Radio of Canada made ‘Dry Your Eyes’ a ‘Daily Featured Artist’ track for six weeks.
Katie played Liverpool Philharmonic in April, then Theatre Clwyd, Wales later in the year singing alongside Bonnie Dobson and Elfin Bow. She sold out her return appearance in Manchester, her home town, at The Bridgewater Hall in late November, with rave reviews.
2019 Katie released ‘Corner Of The Room’ a single which displayed a new musical direction for her, certainly darker than previous works – with a video to match – and although the same glorious, soaring voice that characterises all her songs is still there, it is in a more dramatic direction that much of the new album is travelling.
2020 saw the release of ‘Tears’, a song originally written by her father Mick Ware. Her father enjoyed a successful music career back in the 70’s and was a huge influence on Katie’s songwriting when growing up. This included a home studio and recording with her father regularly when only a little girl.
With sold out shows and a support slot with Eddi Reader, this encouraged Little Sparrow to put more dates together in 2022.
Latest release ‘Alone’ was out July 2021, it will feature on the forthcoming album ‘Feather Moon’.
Raised in the East Yorkshire flatlands on the fringes of Hull, Katie Spencer’s landscape has always been that of open skies and widening rivers. Industry still shapes the city here. The people, as with the land, are moulded by tides and stark horizons. Stand in the same place for long enough and you can watch the sun rise over the North Sea and then sink into crop fields, glowing auburn in late summer sun. It is this sense of space and movement that flows through Katie Spencer’s music.
The songwriting and most notably her guitar playing stems from a time when the steel-stringed instrument was truly finding its voice. Artists like Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and perhaps most evidently Michael Chapman flow into her sound, carrying with them the warmth and idealism of the early 70’s folk and songwriter movements.
Katie Spencer’s widely celebrated new album, The Edge of the Land (2022), follows her debut release, Weather Beaten (2019) which was praised for its unique song-craft, spell-binding musicianship and crystal sonic clarity as she brought together fans of music from all backgrounds and walks of life.
The inclusivity found in her recorded works is most apparent when on stage, with a personal connection and humour that allows the listener time to appreciate the emotion of the music. Her historical gig list is extensive, taking in the world-renowned Celtic Connections and Cambridge Folk Festival, whilst performances with Danny Thompson and Alan Thomson have left audiences in awe of her confidence and craftsmanship.
As live music has returned to our world, we can expect to see Katie Spencer where she belongs once more, eyes closed, in the moment, performing.
Our new art exhibition is by local artist, Rupam Barthakur. It celebrates song and dance. You are invited to join us for the public launch on Sunday 2nd April from 2pm-5pm. A chance to meet the artist, enjoy the art and network with other art lovers. There will be live music. Free entry – please register (click on green link above) so we know numbers. See you there!
We are very excited to announce that our new exhibition is by local artist, Rupam Barthakur and the theme is “Song and Dance”. We’d like to invited all our friends to the public launch party next Sunday. Free entry but please register (click on green link above) so we know numbers. This is a great chance to view the exhibition, meet the artist and enjoy some live music.
14:00 Doors
14:20 Jenni B
14:40 Bob Cooper
15:00 Jonathan Waller
15:20 Rupam Barthakur – introduction to exhibition
15:40 Abi Rowberry
16:00 Mick Cox
16:20 Bill Bates
16:40 Close
Very much looking forward to seeing you here!
Anna worked as a session/ function singer and backing vocalist for 25 years during which time she gigged across Europe and did live Radio 2 sessions with Brian May. Her first solo EP ‘An Idiots Guide to Love’ recorded in 2019 in Nashville and produced by Grammy Award Winner Bob Britt went straight to Number 5 in the UK country charts.
Anna has just released her debut album ‘The Friday Night Club’ named after a facebook live stream she started from her front room during lockdown which went on to have nearly 2 million views. The album produced by Lukas Drinkwater at Polyphonic studios is made up of 11 self penned songs telling tales of lockdown loneliness and human triumph described as ‘Americana with a very British twist ‘ The Friday Night Club’ was released across all platforms on the 25th March on the Absolute Label ( Sony/Universal )
‘Angels Among Us’ the first single released from the album became song of the week across BBC the South with ’ The Friday Night Club ‘ itself becoming one of Maverick Magazines Top Picks
In this show songwriter and musician M G Boulter plays music from his 2021 album ‘Clifftown’, which charts his personal history of growing up in the seaside suburbia of Southend-on-Sea in Essex. Here you will find the neon lights and burnt sugar smells of a Saturday night seafront but also the solitary Essex noir of the salt marshland. With stories collected from his time creating the companion podcast series ‘The Clifftown Podcast’ and accompanied by a full band M G will bring his unique take on the English seaside to the stage.
Serving his apprenticeship in numerous bands in the hotbed of the Southend-on-Sea pub rock scene (the precursors of which were household names such as Dr Feelgood and Eddie and the Hotrods), M G has been quietly working at creating rich and evocative story songs since 2013. M G creates vignettes of suburban lives and seaside communities and is a contemporary voice in the long tradition of the singer-songwriter. Often referred to as the artist’s artist M G has been a much sought after collaborator in the folk and Americana scenes, having significant tenures in the Simone Felice Group, The Duke and the King, Emily Portman’s Coracle Band, Blue Rose Code and The Owl Service. Having previously released two albums and numerous EPs, Clifftown is M G’s most complete work to date creating an immersive world rich with ordinary lives glimpsed through fairground grease and mindless 9 to 5 jobs. As much social commentary as an honest picture postcard of his hometown, Clifftown is an exquisite and life-affirming exploration of modern suburbia and the British seaside by one of the UK’s finest songwriting talents.
Bella Gaffney has played Temperance twice before. One with Painted Sky and again with her band The Magpies. We are very happy to welcome her back again.
2016 Celtic Connections Danny Kyle Award winner Bella writes folk inspired songs which she performs along with her own original arrangements of traditional pieces. 2023 will see the release of Bella’s new album which is inspired by connections made over the lockdown period. Her latest single, ‘Blood in the Earth’, a duet with Leesa Gentz (Hussy Hicks) was released in this year to great acclaim along with airplay on BBC radio 2.
Dan Webster has been described as ‘one of the U.K’s best kept musical secrets and one not to miss!’, ‘Achingly lovely, like sun breaking on a rain swept highway…’ RnR and an ‘An insightful lyricist with a great voice’ Acoustic Magazine. According to Americana UK – ‘He is the missing link, the joining point, where folk fuses with country – as good as you’ll hear on any record out of Austin or Nashville – beautiful – he is Anglicana’. Dan is a road-seasoned English singer-songwriter and guitarist, his music is influenced by the sounds and storytelling traditions of Americana, which he uniquely melds with an honest Northern English perspective in his songwriting. His sound is unashamedly influenced by the US – his heart remains a Yorkshireman’s.
Dan, like his band, is a formidable live performer – inspiring attention; pulling you into his work with finely crafted melodies and lyrics – delivered with a powerful and honest vocal.
‘Daoirí Farrell is singlehandedly spearheading a resurgence of the authentic in Irish folk music…he is rightly in demand all over the world.’ Irish Music
It’s commonly accepted that Dublin-born singer and bouzouki player Daoirí Farrell is one of most important singers to come out of Ireland in recent years.
A product of Dublin’s famous club An Góilin Traditional Singers, since launching his own solo live career at the 2016 Celtic Connections, Daoirí Farrell has gone from strength to strength. On the verge of releasing his fourth solo album in early 2023, he can boast numerous honours from BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards to ALSR Celtic Music accolades.
He has received endorsements from the likes of Christy Moore (‘Daoirí has assumed the mantle of Luke [Kelly]’), Mark Radcliffe (‘What a voice’) and Dónal Lunny (‘Daoirí is one of the most important traditional singers to emerge in the last decade’), with his music and live performances earning the acclaim of respected publications including MOJO, The Irish Post, Songlines and more.
On stage Daoirí’s live work sees the 2013 All Ireland Champion Singer touring far and wide, performing regularly at festivals around the globe including in Canada, Australia and Europe. He has also toured the USA as vocalist for Lúnasa, performed in the UK in the line-up of the renowned Transatlantic Sessions and played to a live and TV audience at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards at London’s Royal Albert Hall.More recently, March 2020 saw him live stream from what he called ‘The Covid Corner’ of his kitchen in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day. It was followed by an additional twenty-five consecutive weekly online performances, attracting worldwide audiences with over 15,000 views each week and resulted in an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme.
As well as touring internationally, Daoirí still hones his art with regular unannounced visits to the many sessions across the city of Dublin.
Angeline Morrison is a vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and morris dancer, originall from the Midlands, now based in Cornwall, who believes in the inherent beauty of sad songs. Angeline’s homespun sonic aesthetic, deeply emotive writing and layered vocal harmonies are all stitched together to make small, tender, often dark stories in song.
The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of Black British Experience is the new record by Angeline Morrison. Released on 7th October, 2022 and has been described as “a gift and landmark folk album,” by Folkradio.co.uk.
Produced by Eliza Carthy and featuring some of her beautiful, soaring string arrangements, The Sorrow Songs was recorded in Cornwall at Cube Studios and is a work of what Angeline calls ‘re-storying’: “The traditional songs of the UK are rich with storytelling, and you can find songs with examples of almost any kind of situation or person you can think of. But whilst people of the African diaspora have been present in these islands since at least Roman times, their histories are little known – and these histories don’t tend to appear in the folk songs of these islands.”
Angeline Morrison began to wonder if she could discover more about the lives of these ordinary and extraordinary Black ancestors, and create an album of songs in the sonic style of UK folk and traditional music, in the hope that this silent space could then begin to be filled with stories. With the help of Arts Council National Lottery funding, Angeline began what became a year of research into this neglected area of Black British history. The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of Black British Experience is the result.
Releasing to commemorate Black History Month, this powerful record is intended to honour these Black ancestors who lived in these islands, and to act as a gift to the folk community. Angeline tells, “What I would really love is for people to want to sing these songs. I wrote each song with a chorus or refrain that I hope will be singable, so that people might want to sing them in folk clubs, and in doing so these stories will continue to be re-told in song.”
The album title is inspired by W.E.B du Bois’ 1903 classic of African American literature, ‘The Souls of Black Folk’, which Angeline re-read after the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Chapter xiv, ‘Of The Sorrow Songs,’ is all about the folk songs of enslaved Africans in America and their descendants. Angeline, a descendant of enslaved African people, explains that: “This chapter speaks to the fact that this body of folk song acts as a container for the history of the enslaved populations in America, as a way of communicating their unspeakable pain, and a way of giving voice to a people who had been rendered voiceless.”
Angeline made her television debut on ‘Later…with Jools Holland’ in October 2022, and there’s a major interview with her in The Guardian.
Sarah is a cellist-singer and activist, creating music and poetry deeply rooted in nature and place. Her music has been played on BBC Radio 2, BBC Look North, and has been used for environmental campaigns by Greenpeace, COP26 and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. Prior to her solo career, she toured and recorded internationally with renowned artists such as Michael Chapman, Bridget St John, The Mediaeval Baebes, Gren Bartley, King Creostoe, The Magpies and many more. This led her to appear at many mainstream and folk festivals across the globe such as Primavera Sound, Shambala, Greenbelt, Cambridge, Green Man, Larmer Tree, and Folk Alliance International.
More recently, Sarah’s music video ‘Atlas’ was featured at COP26 as part of the IUCN Peatland Pavilion, with the aim of creating awareness about Yorkshire’s fragile and important peat bogs. ‘Atlas’ also received airplay on the BBC Radio 2 Folk Show (“deeply lovely” – Mark Radcliffe), was featured on BBC Look North and COP26tv.
Her collaborative work with environmental organisations has also seen her providing Greenpeace with a Save the Arctic anthem in 2017, and teaming up in 2021 with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to create music videos in the wild for an ongoing project called Wild Music. This project will feature more single videos to be released in collaboration with YWT, filmed in different environments.
Further to this, in 2021 Sarah was commissioned by the Ensemble Team at Lancaster University to write a theme song for their “Entangled” Festival. Using their environmental research as inspiration, she wrote and recorded a song-poem called ‘Sinking Sand’, and filmed a music video at Heysham Head near Morecambe.
Sarah also draws inspiration from places that are remote and offer alternative lenses with which to view our connection to nature. In 2018 she travelled to Iceland by boat, via Orkney, Shetland and the Faroes, in order to collect natural sounds and songs from each island to make into a sound-map. These experiences have culminated in an entrancing solo show that explores human relationships with nature, climate change and sense of place through music, poetry and spoken word. Sarah’s solo performances are imbued with visceral story-telling, bristling with atmosphere created with looped cello, haunting melodies and deeply felt lyrics. Audience members are left feeling transported and mesmerised, with sounds and rhythms that are never too far from the sea.